Marijuana Arrests Keep Drug Enforcers in Business

Wednesday, September 21, 2011
More than half of all drug-related arrests in the U.S. last year involved marijuana, prompting advocates for the legalization of the controlled substance to complain that the war on drugs is largely driven by “minor” offenses.
 
Law enforcement made more than 850,000 arrests in 2010 that had to do with marijuana, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics. This total accounted for 52% of all drug arrests, and 46% of all drug arrests were for offenses related to marijuana possession.
 
Of those charged with marijuana crimes, 750,591 (88%) were for possession.
 
“Today, as in past years, the so-called ‘drug war’ remains fueled by the arrests of minor marijuana possession offenders, a disproportionate percentage of whom are ethnic minorities,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “It makes no sense to continue to waste law enforcements’ time and taxpayers’ dollars to arrest and prosecute Americans for their use of a substance that poses far fewer health risks than alcohol or tobacco.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 

Comments

Charles Queen 12 years ago
and just what are they really acomplishing by doing this?absolutely nothibng at all except to cost tax payers more abs more wasted moeny and wasted time on the shoulders of law enforcement.this so called war has beennothing more thana huge failure and nothing more.currently the fs are literaly throwing mega billions a year down the toilet trying to sto marijuana from getting into the hands of the people.yields continue to out do every pervious years yields and thats not even adding in whats smuggled here from mexico.at the state level the amount of totaly wasted money is at the mega millions and they are having the exact same results that the feds are having which is nothing at all.the smart thing for us to do as a country would be to legalize marijuna for adult use nation wide.all of those wasted mega billions would certainly go a very long way in helping with other much needed social proghrams and the samewith the state as well.going by what other country';s that have already legalized it we would be ssing the same significant drops in drug related crimes as well as the same ignificant drops in the numbers of teens using it as well.the tax revenuse from it alon would wipe out the natinal deficit withing 3-4 years easily and would also put every single state n the black again within 2-3 years easily.there's so very much more involved with legalizing it than a person using it legaly.tghe positive aspects are just way to many to list on here but there is certainly a very huge amount of them
robert ronald 12 years ago
obama can be a hero. if one looks at what products that can be made from the hemp plant they would be amazed.1,000's of items including fuel,clothes,plastics to name a few without using all the dangerous chemicals needed for processing. take just one moment of your life and do a web search on what can be made from marijuana (hemp) talk about jobs there would be 100's of 1'000 new jobs and obama could be a hero. please just take one minute and google what can be made from marijuana(hemp) and i'm totally sure you'll have a change of mind. even food can be made. take just 1 moment of your life and get an education that you never knew. tks rhino ron
Brandt Hardin 12 years ago
the war on drugs failed $1 trillion ago! this money could have been used for outreach programs to clean up the bad end of drug abuse by providing free hiv testing, free rehab, and clean needles. harmless drugs like marijuana could be legalized to help boost our damaged economy. cannabis can provide hemp for countless natural recourses and the tax revenue from sales alone would pull every state in our country out of the red! vote teapot, pass it, and legalize it. voice you opinion with the movement and read more on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html

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