You go to federal prison for that shit real fast, too. It's just harder to prosecute because of the complexity of the law on these kinds of matters. Also, white collar crime is relatively uncommon (not many people in position to do it). Speaking personally, I have smoked weed and drove 60 in a 55. I have never laundered profits using fraudulent banking practices. That's how it goes.
Those crimes may be more uncommon but it seems the punishment for them (or just the actions that can lead to them) is extremely light. Look at all the banking CEOs that shat up the economy who ended up getting promotions and bonuses. Doesn't help the program(s) the Obama admin put in place to bring about reparations and repercussions were not very effective. It's disheartening to see how on-the-ball law enforcement and the judicial system is with minor infractions (particularly so with minorities) but how aloof and downright glacial they are with white-collar crimes.
The complexity of them shouldn't be an issue; the law is supposed to have the best and brightest among its ranks, regarding legal experts. They should be able to handle those cases better than they do. If anything it's bureaucratic red tape that makes everything a slow-moving mess.
But there is a political process, if there were large scale nationwide protests against police brutality, I'm certain serious steps would be taken. It's just that most people are completely apathetic and are only interested about quick solutions like voting in presidential elections - if they can even do that.
Your problem is, you put too much faith in the political process. America's political system is phucked up at its core, in a very fundamental way. If disenfranchised citizens of any creed tried to take the "proper channels" to make real change for themselves in this country, they will not get a lot done. That's the reality. That's especially true if there are very few people like them on the other side of the matter (i.e in power), because an immediate sense of (superficial) relatability is now gone.
A lot of people are moreso apathetic because they realize the standardized process is not designed to benefit them, not without severe compromises that usually undermine the entire point. Just look at the joke that became Occupy Wall Street.