SEATTLE — An analysis of the first six months of Seattle police enforcement under new marijuana laws finds homeless people and African American males are more likely to be ticketed for public pot use than anyone else.
The report released Wednesday says officers issued 82 tickets for public possession and use between Jan. 1 and June 30. Most of the citations were issued in public parks in the downtown core, where some homeless people hang out. One person was ticketed twice.
Almost all the people cited are men with an average age of 34. Although more than two-thirds of the people ticketed are younger than 40, people as old as 77 have been ticketed for marijuana infractions during the past six months.
The researchers caution that the numbers and time span of their study make their conclusions preliminary.
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