Over the past year, Break the Chains has collaborated with Harry G. Levine, a sociology professor at Queens College on a project examining the reasons for and impact of the disproportionately high numbers of marijuana possession arrests in New York City.

Over the past decade members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) have made more arrests of people for possessing small amounts of marijuana than police in any other city in the United States. These arrests have fallen disproportionately on youth of color, especially Black and Latino youth living in the poorest communities.

On average NYPD officers have arrested about 100 Whites, 200 Latinos, and 400 Blacks every week for the last ten years. Break the Chains plans to release a report summarizing our findings and recommendations soon.