cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Use Rises While Arrests Fall
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Marijuana Use Rises While Arrests Fall
Posted by CN Staff on February 11, 2015 at 18:19:16 PT
By Keith Humphreys
Source: Washington Post
USA -- There's been a general principle guiding drug policy for years: drug laws are enforced in tandem with the drug's use. But recent enforcement of marijuana laws has not followed that principle. The federal government’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that in the aggregate Americans used marijuana on over 3.5 billion days in 2013, a rise of 57 percent since 2007. But over that same period, the FBI Uniform Crime Report recorded that marijuana possession arrests fell 21 percent to 609,000.
The net effect of these two trends is a 50 percent drop in marijuana enforcement intensity, from roughly one arrest for every 2,900 days of use in 2007 to about one arrest for every 5,800 days of use in 2013. The average twice a week marijuana user could thus today reasonably expect to be arrested less than once per half-century.Recreational marijuana wasn’t legalized anywhere in the U.S. until 2012, so why did marijuana enforcement begin waning well before that? Internationally respected marijuana policy expert Dr. Beau Kilmer of the RAND Corporation attributes it to multiple factors, including “the increasing legal protections offered by medical marijuana laws and the decriminalization of possession in California."Kilmer also points out that the soaring number of days Americans use marijuana is only partially accounted for by more people using the drug: “The number of people who self-reported using marijuana for the first time increased from about 2 million in 2007 to 2.6 million in 2011 and then fell back slightly to 2.4 million in 2013. What's really driving the change in use days is the large increase in the number of daily/near-daily marijuana users.”The marijuana using population is thus evolving to include a higher proportion of people who use the drug on a regular basis. In the coming years, this group will face a higher risk of negative health consequences as a result of their heavy, regular drug use, but will face a lower risk of legal consequences as the risk of arrest continues to fall.Keith Humphreys is a Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health Policy Director at Stanford University.Source: Washington Post (DC) Author: Keith HumphreysPublished: February 11, 2015Copyright: 2015 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/ERI3PyjPCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by Oleg the Tumor on February 15, 2015 at 06:20:35 PT
But what drug could he be referring to?
"The marijuana using population is thus evolving to include a higher proportion of people who use the drug on a regular basis. In the coming years, this group will face a higher risk of negative health consequences as a result of their heavy, regular drug use, but will face a lower risk of legal consequences as the risk of arrest continues to fall."Could he be referring to cannabis? The safest, most therapeutic substance known? In edible form? In vape form? And whose business is it regarding my own health risks, anyway? Nobody else's I assure you!At least the last half of his comment is good news. I don't look forward to passing on as an uncaptured federal criminal just because monied interests preferred it that way.We are all biodegradable, every one of us, remember that. The process of creating the free will is not over until it passes through the fire to remove all imperfection. Then, you are truly free to be whatever you want to be.For those who are made unclean by what comes out of their mouths, this last process is, well, Hell. There's no other way to describe it.
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Comment #4 posted by schmeff on February 14, 2015 at 10:06:54 PT
609,000 Arrests in 2013
For possessing a plant. Whew. Good thing that figure represents a 21% DECLINE in arrests. Otherwise, one might get the impression that it is the police making all those arrests who are the real criminals.Oh wait...
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on February 12, 2015 at 18:44:16 PT
interesting case in CA
Could the courts eventually help repeal Prohibition? Anyone who passed Law 101 in school could see that Schedule 1 is not only a total lie but also totally unjust and unconstitutionalÉÉ..http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-usa-california-judge-marijuana-idUSKBN0LG06B20150212>>> A federal judge hearing the case of nine men accused of illegally growing marijuana in California said Wednesday she was taking very seriously arguments by their attorneys that the federal government has improperly classified the drug as among the most dangerous, and should throw the charges out.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on February 12, 2015 at 18:28:43 PT
victory
arrests are on the way down! Going to drop every year now. yeah!it's interesting what happened in Canada. 15 years ago everyone though they would legalize first. The prohibitionists succeeded in stopping reform up there. I haven't heard anything about Canada legalizing. Will be interesting to see when they start moving. I'm sure some border states legalizing will help them along!
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on February 12, 2015 at 05:03:40 PT
Mo pot = less cigs and booze is good.
Smoking's Death Toll May Be Higher Than Anyone Knewhttp://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/02/12/385498822/smokings-death-toll-may-be-higher-than-anyone-knew-0-If cannabis use increases, will booze use decrease? (I think studies have indicated that is true) If so wouldn't that be better?By extension, would cigaret use decrease? Wouldn't that be better?-to use a substance which has never been shown to cause any type of death in over 5,000 years of documented usage.-0-Here in Colorado, when I see someone smoking cigs, sometimes I wonder how on earth they're smoking that death stick when cannabis is perfectly legal... and then I realize, once they put the death stick to their lips it's practically over since nicotine is one of earths most addictive substances.
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