ACLU Racial Disparity Data — SC Had the 2nd-Highest Possession Arrest Rate in the Nation

Last verified: May 2026

The 2020 ACLU Report Headline

The American Civil Liberties Union’s April 2020 report, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, used FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data from 2010-2018 to document the post-Colorado / post-Washington reform era’s racial-disparity arc. The South Carolina-specific findings:

• 2nd-highest marijuana possession arrest rate in the nation in 2018.
• 3.5× Black/white statewide arrest disparity.
• 52.8% increase in marijuana possession arrests from 2010 to 2018, in a period when many states were moving toward decriminalization or legalization.
• 38,289 total marijuana arrests in 2018; 34,229 (89%) for possession; ~48% of all drug arrests in the state.
• Chester County: highest per-capita marijuana possession arrest rate of any U.S. county in the dataset (over 2,000 per 100,000 residents).

What the County-Level Numbers Show

The county-level disparity numbers are striking even by Southern-state standards:

• Charleston Police Department (city policy) — 9.4× Black/white arrest disparity. ACLU SC reported that CPD made a substantial share of its arrests for low-level offenses including marijuana, and that CPD arrested Black residents for marijuana possession at 9.4 times the white rate during the period studied.
• Pickens County (Upstate, conservative) — 8.4×.
• Oconee County (Upstate) — 8.3×.
• Horry County (Myrtle Beach) — 6.8×. Tourist-driven enforcement.
• Lexington County (Midlands) — 5.8×.
• Charleston County (countywide) — 3.7×.
• Berkeley County (Charleston-MSA) — 3.7×.
• Dorchester County (Charleston-MSA) — 3.6×.
• South Carolina statewide — 3.5×.

Beyond the disparity ratios, several SC counties had per-capita possession arrest rates among the top 20 nationally: Chester (#1), Newberry, Darlington, Marion, Laurens, Kershaw, and Colleton.

Frank Knaack and the ACLU SC Framing

Then-Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina Frank Knaack framed the report’s findings:

"Our marijuana laws are justified using code words like ‘law and order’ and ‘tough on crime’ — code words long used to maintain a racist system that stops, arrests, and convicts Black people at staggering rates compared to white people."

The ACLU SC framing has been picked up by SC reform-coalition organizers and academic researchers, particularly in the context of the Compassionate Care Act’s legislative-equity arguments and the broader decriminalization debate. See no statewide decrim page.

The 2024 NIBRS Update

Per FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data published in 2024, South Carolina recorded:

• 10,325 marijuana possession arrests in 2023
• 1,185 marijuana sales arrests in 2023

This is a substantial decline from the 2018 peak (34,229 possession arrests) but remains among the highest absolute totals nationally. SLED’s 2024 Crime in South Carolina publication reported a 12.5% decrease in drug-law violations from 2023 to 2024, with marijuana the single most common drug type at 49.7% of drug offenses in 2023, with stimulants second at 19.8%.

The 2018-2023 decline reflects multiple converging factors: solicitor-level discretion (Charleston County Solicitor Scarlett Wilson reports simple possession "dropped dramatically and is no longer the most frequently occurring charge booked"); the spread of Pretrial Intervention referrals; the partial shift of low-level marijuana enforcement away from arrest-and-book toward citation-only; and the parallel rise of hemp-derived intoxicant retail (which has shifted some former-marijuana enforcement attention).

What Has Not Changed

Despite the absolute decline in arrest numbers, structural factors driving racial disparity have not changed:

• The criminal-misdemeanor floor under § 44-53-370(d)(4). No statewide decriminalization. See no statewide decrim page.
• The one-ounce PWID felony cliff. Possession over 1 oz is prima facie PWID felony. See PWID felony cliff page.
• The mandatory 6-month driver’s license suspension under § 56-1-286 on any marijuana / hashish conviction.
• The 2018 SC Court of Appeals invalidation of city decrim ordinances in S.C. Public Interest Foundation v. City of Columbia, which preempts local-level reform.
• Civil-asset forfeiture under § 44-53-520, which incentivizes high-volume drug-interdiction stops on I-95 and I-26.
• The absence of citizen ballot initiative. Voter sentiment showing 76% medical-cannabis support cannot bypass the General Assembly. See no citizen initiative page.

The Civil War / Reconstruction / Jim Crow Backdrop

South Carolina’s racial-policy history — slavery; secession (December 20, 1860, the first state to secede); Reconstruction; Jim Crow; the modern civil-rights era — shapes contemporary criminal-justice policy. The state’s marijuana-law enforcement disparities sit on top of this history, not separate from it. The ACLU SC and academic researchers have placed the 3.5× statewide and 9.4× CPD disparities in this historical context.

The Gullah-Geechee Lowcountry

South Carolina’s Sea Islands — running from St. Helena Island down to Hilton Head and Daufuskie — are the heart of Gullah-Geechee culture, a distinct African-American culture descended from West African enslaved people that has retained its own creole language, cuisine, and cultural practices. The Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was federally designated in 2006. Cannabis policy intersects with Gullah-Geechee communities through the broader pattern of racial-disparity enforcement; the disproportionate impact on Black Lowcountry residents is documented. See Gullah-Geechee page.

The Structural Reform Pathway

Reform-coalition arguments built on the ACLU disparity data include:

• Decriminalization (H.3110, 2025-26). Convert simple possession to a civil infraction. Has not advanced. See no statewide decrim page.
• The Compassionate Care Act (S.53). Medical-cannabis enactment as a step toward broader reform. Stalled. See Compassionate Care Act page.
• Federal preemption pressure. The April 28, 2026 DOJ Schedule III rescheduling order may, under S.C. Code § 44-53-160(c), force a state schedule change — a non-disparity-based but disparity-relevant policy shift. See federal rescheduling mirror page.