WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS :::::::: Documentary Film Series and Groundbreaking Reports Highlight Racial Disparities In California's Marijuana Arrests and Tax Revenue Spending Activities
SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Urban Partnership and The Institute for MORE is proud to release a preview of WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS (WTSC). WTSC is an upcoming mini documentary film series that will tell eye opening stories about the history, money, pain and politics of weed. It will shed light on the burden still carried by Black people and communities of color as they attempt to repair the damage of racialized law enforcement in the age of a new multi-billion dollar legal marijuana industry.
Produced in collaboration with a Public Health Advocates, UC Davis Center for Regional Change, Million Dollar Hoods and UCLA project to study and map marijuana arrests in the state, the film project highlights the findings of a report that bears the same name. The series will feature the voices of Drug War impacted children, families and ex-offenders, the perspectives of elected and grassroots community leaders, and powerful mapping study illustration and references. By humanizing the mapping data with testimonies of real drug war victims (the formerly incarcerated and their families), we hope to compel a broad cross-section of policymakers, opinion leaders, key stakeholders and the public to become engaged in advancing a framework for racial and health equity in marijuana policy at the local and state levels in California. Also complementing the film is a second report on tax revenues, released by our partners Youth Forward and Getting it Right from the Start (a project of the Public Health Institute). This analysis details how in cities and counties where local taxes have been enacted, revenue has been a windfall for police departments across the state. “Rather than use the revenues to address the concerns around criminalization that drove legalization, these local governments are investing a substantial portion of it toward expanding the already-massive criminal justice system and opening up new fronts in the War on Drugs,” said Jim Keddy of Youth Forward. Click on the Images Below to Download the Reports
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