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Legalized MJ Makes It Harder for Police to Search 
Posted by CN Staff on June 26, 2017 at 12:33:46 PT
By Christopher Ingraham
Source: Washington Post
USA -- Drug policy experts often say that the health risks of marijuana use are relatively minor compared to the steep costs of marijuana enforcement: expensive policing, disrupted lives, violence and even death.Law enforcement agencies, however, have often been at the forefront of opposition to marijuana legalization. One reason is that the drug, with its pungent, long-lasting aroma, is relatively easy to detect in the course of a traffic stop or other routine interaction. It's an ideal pretext for initiating a search that otherwise wouldn't be justified — even if that search only turns up evidence of marijuana use and nothing more.
New data on traffic stops in Colorado and Washington underscore this point: After the states legalized pot, traffic searches declined sharply across the board. That's according to the Open Policing Project at Stanford University, which has been analyzing public data of over 100 million traffic stops and searches since 2015.“After marijuana use was legalized, Colorado and Washington saw dramatic drops in search rates,” the study's authors explain. “That’s because many searches are drug-related. Take away marijuana as a crime and searches go down.”In Colorado and Washington, traffic searches of black, Hispanic and white drivers fell significantly after legalization, according to the Open Policing Project's analysis. That pattern didn't hold for states where marijuana use remained illegal.The Project's data encompasses traffic searches initiated for any reason but excludes searches following an arrest. This makes the data a good barometer of searches initiated at an officer's discretion. The numbers changed dramatically after legalization, as we see in the above chart, suggesting, as the researches do, that suspected marijuana use is often a factor in these searches.As the chart also shows, legalization didn't eliminate racial disparities in the searches. Black and Hispanic motorists are still searched at considerably higher rates than white motorists. But following legalization, they are searched less often than they were before.In 2014 a Washington Post investigation detailed how highway police often use suspicion of marijuana as justification to search drivers' vehicles and ultimately seize cash and property from them, regardless of whether any drugs are ultimately found. From 2002 to 2012, the federal government seized roughly $1 billion in cash and other assets related to marijuana cases, according to the Wall Street Journal.That figure doesn't include seizures made by state and local law enforcement authorities who handle most of the nation's drug enforcement.If legalization leads to fewer searches, that means fewer seizures of cash and property, which could have a significant negative impact on the finances of police departments that have come to rely on those seizures to pad their budgets.Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.Source: Washington Post (DC)Author:  Christopher IngrahamPublished: June 26, 2017Copyright: 2017 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/Fm5qnPORCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 28, 2017 at 21:16:36 PT
Still no overdose EVER for cannabis.
UN Drug Office can’t find a single cannabis drug overdose, despite it being most widely-consumed drugCannabis is also the world's most widely cultivated drug, the most confiscated and the most likely to land a user in treatmenthttp://www.thecannabist.co/2017/06/28/united-nations-drug-office-cannabis-consumption/82564/
In the Denver Post website...-0-Realize, those in treatment are often choosing it / or are forced into it, rather than jail time & NOT IN TREATMENT BECAUSE IT IS NECESSARY.-0-Still no overdose EVER for cannabis. EVER!-In the time You read this, there is a strong possibly someone died from alcohol usage.  It is disappointing that people are limited to choices which kill them and do not allow responsible adults to use a substance that doesn't kill them. Shame on government and the people in positions of trust who are responsible.
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on June 28, 2017 at 14:40:14 PT
Part of what our grandfathers fought for
during the Revolution against Great Britain, one of the main things, was freedom from freaking searches and seizures. Any British soldier could barge into your home or frisk you anytime and take anything he wanted. Because he could. It was their right.Two of my six times great grandfathers fought and suffered to change that. They didn't like it and I don't either.Now the literal worshipers of an earthly crown are doing all they can to crush the will of free people to be free of the constant and overreaching government search and seizure. I've heard different ones of them complain about this before. "Law enforcement agencies, however, have often been at the forefront of opposition to marijuana legalization. One reason is that the drug, with its pungent, long-lasting aroma, is relatively easy to detect in the course of a traffic stop or other routine interaction. It's an ideal pretext for initiating a search that otherwise wouldn't be justified — even if that search only turns up evidence of marijuana use and nothing more." 
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Comment #1 posted by Vincent on June 27, 2017 at 08:29:43 PT:
Incentives
This article illustrates exactly why the pigs -- oops! I meant the, ah, "police" -- are against legalization...no more freebies for them!!! That is one of the main reasons why the War on the American People -- oops! I meant the "War on", ahem, "Drugs" -- is such an incentive for these ANIMALS. That's the reason why these ANIMALS -- oops! I meant, ah, "Prohibitionists" -- are gonna fight against us herb-smoking, Multicultural, TRUE Americans all the way. The pigs -- oops! I meant, ah, "Gendarmes" -- have a lot to lose. Not to forget the most simple-minded reason for the most simple-minded among us (cops)-- the Macho act that these cops love to put on display, in order to look like big, "tough" cops!
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