cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Arrests Hit Record High Marijuana Arrests Hit Record High Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2004 at 14:23:34 PT By Paul Armentano, AlterNet Source: AlterNet With everything else going on last year, police still found time to arrest more than 755,000 Americans for smoking pot. It's safe to say that the drug war isn't working. Police arrested an estimated 755,187 persons for marijuana violations in 2003, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 45 percent of all drug arrests in the United States. "These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 42 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources, costing American taxpayers approximately $7.6 billion dollars annually. These dollars would be better served combating serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."Of those charged with marijuana violations, 88 percent – some 662,886 Americans – were charged with possession only. The remaining 92,301 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes all cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. In past years, approximately 30 percent of those arrested were age 19 or younger."Present policies have done little if anything to decrease marijuana's availability or dissuade youth from trying it," Stroup said, noting that a majority of young people now report that they have easier access to pot than alcohol or tobacco.The total number of marijuana arrests for 2003 far exceeded the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.Marijuana arrests for 2003 increased 8 percent from the previous year, and have nearly doubled since 1993.The new arrest report comes eight days before voters across the U.S. will consider a variety of measures to reform marijuana laws.Voters across the country will consider a variety of marijuana policy reforms on November 2. A medical marijuana proposal is on the ballot in Montana, while Oregonians will consider broadening their existing medical marijuana law to allow patients to obtain their medicine from state-regulated dispensaries. Alaskans will vote on replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation.Oakland, Calif., voters will also decide whether to endorse taxation and regulation while making private, adult marijuana offenses the lowest priority for local law enforcement. An assortment of other marijuana reform proposals are on local ballots in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Columbia, Missouri, as well as in 12 legislative districts in Massachusetts.In the past decade, more than 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, more than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming combined. Nearly 90 percent of these total arrests were for simple possession, not cultivation or sale. During much of this time, arrests for cocaine and heroin have declined sharply, indicating that increased enforcement of marijuana laws is being achieved at the expense of enforcing laws against the possession and trafficking of more dangerous drugs."Marijuana legalization would remove this behemoth financial burden from the criminal justice system, freeing up criminal justice resources to target other more serious crimes, and allowing law enforcement to focus on the highest echelons of hard-drug trafficking enterprises rather than on minor marijuana offenders who present no threat to public safety," Stroup said."It's safe to say that the drug war isn't preventing people from using marijuana," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "It's time to acknowledge this reality by taxing and regulating marijuana. A responsible system of regulation will do a better job of keeping marijuana away from kids and end the pointless persecution of adults who use marijuana responsibly." Paul Armentano is the senior policy analyst for the NORML Foundation in Washington, DC. - http://www.norml.org/Source: AlterNet (US)Author: Paul Armentano, AlterNetPublished: October 25, 2004Copyright: 2004 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/DL: http://alternet.org/drugreporter/20289/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by Ferre on October 27, 2004 at 10:21:30 PT Nature IS legal! Jailing people for a God given plant is a crime against humanity! Cannabis - THC - Ministry Amsterdam [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by mayan on October 26, 2004 at 18:28:50 PT Shishaldin You're welcome. Glad you were able to make it! I believe it's something we should all be aware of. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by Shishaldin on October 26, 2004 at 10:57:05 PT mayan mayan-Thanks for posting the CROSSING THE RUBICON - What's Happening to Slow a Bestseller? link. I was there at the Santa Cruz event last week, and it was an eye-opener (you can see my back in the bottom photo on the site, look for the KZ on the left). I was familiar with Mike Ruppert's excellent investigative reporting regarding our government's dirty dealing in drugs and oil, but his live presentation blew me away. I highly recommend anyone reading CNews to check out his site and pick up his book Crossing the Rubicon. I consider them essential reading for these wild and wooly days. Forewarned is forearmed: http://www.fromthewilderness.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by FoM on October 26, 2004 at 07:19:30 PT Nicholas I removed your post. Please don't post things like that again here. Thanks. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by siege on October 25, 2004 at 19:56:26 PT doc. The head phyciatris for PTSD no med. and hart Doc. a water pill he say 2 day but I take 1 every 5 days. Doc. at the V A here says that marijuana is not a drug and let it go on by as self medication and they work with you. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on October 25, 2004 at 18:50:38 PT siege I remember the Doctor at the VA asking questions like that but they didn't get the test scheduled. He goes every six months for a check up with the VA. He just went so it will be almost 6 months until he gets to see the Doctor again. They are amazed that my husband isn't on any medications. They go you don't have to take any prescription medicine and he smiles and says no. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by siege on October 25, 2004 at 18:43:30 PT FoM a little help the test is where wear you? in nam what years? what was your job? did it rain on you, what did they tell you, did it rain on you when you where eating,**did you wash your hands before eating **YES** then a lite physical toch here and there, then a blood test. get your answers down before you go. and any paper work showing you wear there if you have it. don't show unless you have to the paper work. if not don't weary about it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 25, 2004 at 18:02:55 PT Uniform Crime Reports http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 25, 2004 at 17:56:27 PT Here's The Link From NORML's Web Site Thank you siege. Here's a link.http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6313 [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by siege on October 25, 2004 at 17:52:21 PT NORML E-Zine NORML E-Zine Volume 7 Issue 41.1October 25, 2004Marijuana Arrests For Year 2003 Hit Record High, FBI Report Reveals Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 42 SecondsWashington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 755,187 persons for marijuana violations in 2003, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 45 percent of all drug arrests in the United States."These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said Keith Stroup, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 42 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources, costing American taxpayers approximately $7.6 billion dollars annually. These dollars would be better served combating serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism." [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on October 25, 2004 at 17:23:01 PT No Surprise In the past decade, more than 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, more than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming combined. Nearly 90 percent of these total arrests were for simple possession, not cultivation or sale. During much of this time, arrests for cocaine and heroin have declined sharply, indicating that increased enforcement of marijuana laws is being achieved at the expense of enforcing laws against the possession and trafficking of more dangerous drugs.It has been well established that elements of the U.S. government have been smuggling cocaine and heroin into the country for years. It's no surprise that they focus their resources towards the arrest of small-time cannabis users. Why would the government want to put it's best hard-drug customers behind bars?The way out is the way in...CROSSING THE RUBICON - What's Happening to Slow a Bestseller? http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/102504_slow_bestseller.shtmlCarol Brouillet confronts Richard Clarke on 9/11-War Drills: http://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=926TRUE BELIEVERS: The 9/11 Truth Movement questions our new day of infamy http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=200410221539283159/11 Mom: An Open Letter to George W. Bush http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041022163700758The truth about Zelikow and the 9/11 cover-up commission: http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=14947&repository=0001_article [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 25, 2004 at 14:39:07 PT Dankhank Me Too! I even clapped and clapped and clapped! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Dankhank on October 25, 2004 at 14:37:14 PT Agreed MY vote, too ...On another note, saw Bill speaking for Kerry, today and noticed one thing ...I smiled while listening ... don't do much of that when hearing any other politician... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 25, 2004 at 14:25:48 PT Time To Legalize Cannabis That's my opinion! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment