Prince George's County Must Pass an Ordinance that Centers Reparations for the "War on Drugs"

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Take action, Prince George’s County! Last year, the Maryland General Assembly created the Community Repair and Reinvestment Fund (HB 837). From the recreational marijuana market, at least 35% of the state tax revenue will be used to repair, heal, and reinvest into the communities that have been most harmed by the dangerous “war on drugs.”

Now, Prince George’s has the chance to create a Board that centers reparations when deciding how to distribute these funds.

The dangerous and racist “war on drugs” drove the mass incarceration and over-policing of Black and Brown people for decades. Urge your Councilmember to help fix this by creating an ordinance in Prince George’s County that centers reparations in the local Community Reparations and Reinvestment Fund.

Message Recipients:
Prince George's County Councilmembers

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Subject

Dear County Councilmember,

Our community is calling for reparations. Last year, the Maryland General Assembly created the Community Repair and Reinvestment Fund. This year, each county must adopt a local ordinance outlining the process for distributing resources from the fund.

You can make a difference by passing Bill Number CB-88-2023, an ordinance that creates a permanent Board made up of members who have 1) rigorous expertise in reparations and 2) lived experience with the effects of the "war on drugs." We need these experts to decide how the money will be spent to repair local communities, like ours.

Message Body

This is an important racial justice issue. Back in 2010, Black people were nearly 3 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite lower rates of lifetime usage than white people and similar rates of past year usage. Black people said for decades, even before 2010, that they were being targeted and over policed in their communities.

Yet today in Maryland, Black people are still more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. Once arrested, Black people are still disproportionately convicted. Once convicted, Black people receive longer sentences than white people for both misdemeanor and felony marijuana offenses.

Keep with the reparative spirit of the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund. Moving away from the dark period in our state’s history requires that we repair and rebuild the communities destroyed by the criminalization of marijuana.

By passing an ordinance that centers reparations, Black people in Prince George’s County who have been targeted by police for incarceration can build self-sustaining social and financial systems to help to remedy the decades of destruction the war on drugs left behind within their communities.

Please pass an ordinance in Prince George’s County to distribute the Community Repair and Reinvestment funds in a reparative way.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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Prince George's County Must Pass an Ordinance that Centers Reparations for the "War on Drugs"

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