Preliminary findings Toronto Star analysis of TPS marijuana data (2003-2013)

Overall takeaways

Between 2003 and late 2013, Toronto police noted 40,634 offences for marijuana possession (possession and possession for
purpose of trafficking), involving 27,635 individuals (34,646 arrests) in its arrest and charges database. Police note that
individuals arrested are not always necessarily formally charged with the offences and can be unconditionally released. Police
note that 5,000 of those arrested were released unconditionally, yet the offences noted remain in police data. When mentioning
offences and charges in this analysis, these reflect what is noted in the police data.

The total offences noted, with a couple blips, rose gradually over the years, peaking in 2012, the same year carding did.

Looking at young people, 8,611 of the offences noted were against people aged 12 to 18. That represents 21.2 per cent of all
offences. Looking at arrests, people aged 12 to 18 represent 22 per cent of all arrests for possession.

We looked at individuals who were charged with one count of possession under (Section 4(5) of the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act), had no prior conviction noted, and were not on bail or parole or probation. If a person had multiple arrests of
this type, we counted their first of such arrests. Of those 11,299 people, 8,899 were released at the scene on a Form 9 or
unconditionally. In releasing the requested data, the Toronto Police Service pointed to an important caveat: Additional
charges associated to an occurrence can impact "RELEASE TYPE", if dealt with in courts concurrently with drug charges. In
an additional email to the Star, police state: It is worth noting that 53.5% of cases involved criminal charges other than
marijuana possession or possession for the purpose. While we cannot with certainty know if individuals in this group were
charged simultaneously with another, non-marijuana offence, to be released this way suggests that if there was another charge
it was not serious, or there was only the marijuana charge. Looking at that same criteria, 3,622 of these people were 18 or
younger, and of those 2,894 were released on Form 9 or unconditionally.

Looking at skin colour, 33.8 per cent of all marijuana possession and possession for the purpose of trafficking offences were
noted against people with black skin; 13.3 per cent people with brown skin; 9 per cent with other skin colour; and 43.9 per
cent white skin.

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 Looking at the skin colours of individuals of all ages noted for one count of possession under (4(5)), had no prior conviction
noted, and were not on bail or parole or probation, 25.2 per cent are Black; 15.7 per cent brown; 6.3 per cent other; and 52.8
per cent white. For youth aged 12 to 18, the breakdown is: 21.7 per cent Black; 14.6 per cent brown; 6.6 per cent other; and
57.1 per cent white.

Other caveats

Because Toronto police switched to a new computer system in late 2013, the marijuana data is not complete for that year.
Looking at skin colour descriptions for unique ENTITY_IDs or individuals arrested more than once, skin colour
descriptions can sometimes be classified differently in different arrests.

Example:
Query1
ENTITY_ID SKIN_COLOUR CountOfID
79 Brown 1
79 Other 1
79 White 1

Query1
ENTITY_ID SKIN_COLOUR CountOfID
130 Black 1
130 Brown 1

Patrol zone data for where the arrests took place is missing for more than a quarter of charges laid (12,807 of 40,634).
Charges where skin colour was not specified, or left blank, were not included in analyses involving skin colour. Skin colour is
identified by police as being either White, Black, Brown, or Other.
In order to make comparisons to the general population, we have chosen to use StatsCan data from the 2006 Census to
compare the arrest and charge numbers with, since it falls within the timeframe and is considered more reliable than 2011 NHS

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data. This is far from perfect, since StatsCan does have non-visible minority (white) and Black, but no breakdown by Brown
or Other. As weve done in the past, we examined the police data for clues as to what ethnicities fit into Brown and Other
(mainly by looking at which non-Canadian birth countries are mentioned).

Ages 12 to 18 from 2006 Census for Toronto CD

Female Male Total
# % # % # %

Total 96,550 100.0% 102,725 100.0% 199,275 100.0%

Black 11,965 12.4% 12,210 11.9% 24,175 12.1%

White 42,110 43.6% 44,590 43.4% 86,700 43.5%

Brown (S. Asian, W. Asian, Arab) 16,675 17.3% 18,510 18.0% 35,185 17.7%

Other 25,800 26.7% 27,415 26.7% 53,215 26.7%

Total Population from 2006 Census for Toronto CD

Female Male Total
# % # % # %

Total 1,283,235 100.0% 1,193,335 100.0% 2,476,565 100.0%

Black 113,195 8.8% 95,360 8.0% 208,555 8.4%

White 675,495 52.6% 638,440 53.5% 1,313,935 53.1%

Brown (S. Asian, W. Asian. Arab 179,235 14.0% 184,385 15.5% 363,615 14.7%

Other 315,305 24.6% 275,150 23.1% 590,460 23.8%

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 Police have criticized the Stars use of Census data for comparisons to carding of citizens in the past and they have made the
same criticism for comparing the marijuana arrest data. In an email to the Star, the service said it continues to believe the
comparison between the ethnicity of those charged with a crime and the ethnicity breakdown of the city based on census data
is misleading. This is not to suggest that there is not a continued need for education and training on the issue of disparity and
fair and impartial policing, of which the TPS is committed. The Star has used the Census data as a benchmark because it is
the only benchmark available.

This analysis and report was prepared in 2017 by Star data specialist Andrew Bailey and reporter Jim Rankin. Any questions can
be directed to Jim Rankin. He can be reached at 416-869-4431 and at jrankin@thestar.ca)

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Charges noted
All TPS marijuana possession charges - by year - by skin colour
ARREST_YEAR White %White Black %Black Brown %Brown Other %Other Total
2003 915 48.7% 603 32.1% 214 11.4% 148 7.9% 1,880
2004 1,382 43.0% 1,071 33.4% 406 12.6% 352 11.0% 3,211
2005 1,174 42.7% 946 34.4% 300 10.9% 330 12.0% 2,750
2006 1,596 44.9% 1,179 33.2% 457 12.9% 324 9.1% 3,556
2007 1,511 44.8% 1,126 33.4% 417 12.4% 316 9.4% 3,370
2008 1,601 44.0% 1,318 36.2% 440 12.1% 283 7.8% 3,642
2009 1,587 44.9% 1,162 32.9% 406 11.5% 379 10.7% 3,534
2010 1,973 45.7% 1,320 30.6% 580 13.4% 447 10.3% 4,320
2011 2,014 41.9% 1,683 35.0% 726 15.1% 382 8.0% 4,805
2012 2,252 43.4% 1,803 34.8% 776 15.0% 354 6.8% 5,185
2013* 1,770 41.7% 1,496 35.3% 644 15.2% 332 7.8% 4,242
Total 17,775 43.9% 13,707 33.8% 5,366 13.3% 3,647 9.0% 40,495
*2013 is not a complete year

All TPS marijuana charges noted - by skin colour - 2003 to 2013

CHARGE White %White Black %Black Brown %Brown Other %Other Total
Possession of Marihuana (under) C.D.S.A. 4(5) 12,141 44.9% 9,555 35.3% 3,853 14.3% 1,488 5.5% 27,037
Possession for the Purpose Marihuana (under)
C.D.S.A. 5(4) 2,544 40.1% 2,491 39.3% 738 11.6% 567 8.9% 6,340
Possession for the Purpose Marihuana (over)
C.D.S.A. 5(3)(a) 1,676 41.0% 803 19.7% 399 9.8% 1,205 29.5% 4,083
Possession of Marihuana (over) C.D.S.A 4(4) 1,355 46.4% 825 28.3% 361 12.4% 378 12.9% 2,919
Possession of Marihuana N.C.A. 3(2) 51 49.5% 30 29.1% 13 12.6% 9 8.7% 103
Possession for the purpose Marihuana N.C.A. 4(3) 8 61.5% 3 23.1% 2 15.4% 0.0% 13
Total 17,775 43.9% 13,707 33.8% 5,366 13.3% 3,647 9.0% 40,495

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People

Overall, there were 34,517 arrests involving marijuana possession, of all types, in Toronto, where skin colour was specified. (Multiple
arrests of individuals are counted multiple times)

Skin colour Arrests Per cent

Black 11,698 33.9%
Brown 4,639 13.4%
White 15,400 44.6%
Other 2,780 8.1%
34,517 100.0%

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We looked at individuals charged with one count of possession under (4(5)), no prior conviction noted, and who were not on parole,
probation or on bail. If a person had multiple arrests of this type, we counted their first of such arrests.

All ages

Result White Black Brown Other Grand Total

Form9-Release 2,642 1,029 737 286 4,694
Unconditionl-Release 2,184 1,034 700 287 4,205
Detention-ShowCause 381 433 131 53 998
Form11pt1-Release 418 192 110 46 766
Form10-Release 174 84 53 18 329
Unknown 119 38 30 12 199
YouthReferPr-Release 22 8 11 6 47
Form104-Release 16 15 3 34
Form134-Release 4 5 1 2 12
Form6-Release 4 4 1 9
ReleasdAnPAg-Release 2 2
ReltoImmig-Release 1 1 2
ProvOffncTck-Release 2 2
Grand Total 5,968 52.8% 2,843 25.2% 1,777 15.7% 711 6.3% 11,299
Uncondtional Rate 36.60% 36.40% 39.40% 40.40% 37.20%
Form 9 Rate 44.30% 36.20% 41.50% 40.20% 41.50%
Detention Rate 6.40% 15.20% 7.40% 7.50% 8.80%

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18 and under

Result White Black Brown Other Grand Total

Unconditionl-Release 913 321 215 100 1,549
Form9-Release 818 245 191 80 1,334
Form11pt1-Release 161 62 34 26 283
Detention-ShowCause 66 117 45 11 239
Form10-Release 33 15 13 10 71
Unknown 36 9 14 5 64
YouthReferPr-Release 22 8 11 6 47
Form104-Release 6 1 1 8
Form6-Release 2 1 3
ProvOffncTck-Release 1 1
Grand Total 2,058 57.2% 778 21.6% 525 14.6% 238 6.6% 3,599
Uncondtional Rate 44.4% 41.3% 41.0% 42.0% 43.0%
Form 9 Rate 39.7% 31.5% 36.4% 33.6% 37.1%
Detention Rate 3.2% 15.0% 8.6% 4.6% 6.6%