You are so right. Tying cannabis consumption to race is really stupid. 30% of everyone I've every met has smoked weed. Race didn't matter. But, in the work world using race to justify something no doubt increases the odds of it being accepted. After all, no one wants to be a "racist" for not approving weed use.
The issue there is that many people hold the belief that non-whites are arrested for marijuana offenses more than whites based solely on skin color.
While that might sometimes happen, I personally believe based on first-hand observation in NYC, that young white smokers are a more discrete when smoking in public and less likely to draw LEO attention than young non-white smokers. Further, they were more argumentative and tended to be more pushy/aggressive with the police.
I'm not speaking to the stop and frisks stuff in NY, just an everyday person smoking a joint in the park. The stop and frisk snared more non-whites than whites because they were out in a group and looked suspicious.
The key to getting away with things is to be very innocuous in appearance and have nothing in hand that could be construed as a weapon, illegal item, or something forbidden in that area. If you look squeaky clean, police tend to look elsewhere.
On another note, I have no issue with a jurisdiction deciding to forbid retail/medical sales in their community. Their town, their right. But, they should receive no state monies from the sale of marijuana.
Inane reasoning, but whatever works.