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NORML Releases Most Comprehensive Analysis Of US
Marijuana Arrest Data To Date
Washington, DC: US marijuana policies, which rely primarily on
criminal penalties and law enforcement, are wholly ineffective at
controlling the use and sale of marijuana, concludes a comprehensive
report issued today by the NORML Foundation. The report, entitled "Crimes
of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," includes a
detailed examination of the fiscal costs associated with the enforcement
of marijuana laws at the state and county level, as well as a complete
demographic analysis of which Americans are most likely to be arrested for
violating marijuana laws.
Among the reports' findings:

* The enforcement of state and local marijuana laws annually costs US
taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion, approximately $10,400 per arrest. Of
this total, annual police costs are $3.7 billion, judicial/legal costs are
$853 million, and correctional costs are $3.1 billion. In both California
and New York, state fiscal costs dedicated to marijuana law enforcement
annually total over $1 billion.

* Marijuana possession and sales arrests disproportionately impact
black adults. African Americans are among the demographic groups most
adversely impacted by marijuana law enforcement. While adult African
Americans account for only 8.8% of the US population and 11.9% of annual
marijuana users, they comprise 23% of all marijuana possession arrests in
the United States.

* Marijuana possession and sales arrests disproportionately impact
younger Americans. One out of every four marijuana possession arrests in
the United States involves a person age 18 or younger. Seventy-four
percent of all US marijuana possession arrests are for people under the
age of 30. Marijuana users who are white, over 30 years old, and/or
female are disproportionately unaffected by marijuana possession arrests.

* Over one million US teenagers sell marijuana. The enforcement of
state and local marijuana laws has neither reduced adolescent demand for
marijuana, nor has it reduced the number of teens supplying marijuana to
other adolescents on the black market.

* Marijuana prohibition fails to produce intended results. Total US
marijuana arrests increased 165% during the 1990s, from 287,850 in 1991 to
755,000 in 2003. However, these increased arrest rates have not been
associated with a reduction in marijuana use, reduced marijuana
availability, a reduction in the number of new marijuana users, reduced
treatment admissions, reduced emergency room mentions of marijuana, any
reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the price of
marijuana.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the report an
official "indictment" of US marijuana policy, noting that present US
marijuana strategies resoundingly fail when measured against the federal
government's handpicked drug use and public health indicators.
"Public policies are measured by their ability to produce intended
results," St. Pierre said. "The stated goal of criminal marijuana
prohibition is to deter marijuana use and promote public health. As the
data show, the current prohibition-oriented policy clearly does neither.
Rather, the enforcement of state and local marijuana laws unnecessarily
costs American taxpayers billions of dollars annually, disproportionately
impacts the lives of young people and African Americans, and encourages
approximately one million teenagers to become entrepreneurs in the
criminal drug trade."
The report and analysis lists states and counties by rank for
categories such as for marijuana possession and sales arrests; and total
arrests versus per capita arrest rates. For example:

Top five states for all marijuana arrests:
1) California (60,111 marijuana arrests)
2) New York (57,504 marijuana arrests)
3) Texas (51,563 marijuana arrests)
4) Illinois (41,447 marijuana arrests)
5) Georgia (23,977 marijuana arrests)

Top five states for marijuana arrests per capita (National Average = 239
marijuana arrests/per 100,000 citizens):
1) Nebraska (458 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
2) Louisiana (398 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
3) Wyoming (386 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
4) Kentucky (364 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
5) Illinois (359 marijuana arrests per 100,000)

This report is available online from the NORML website:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm

_________________
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Cant agree more, bob

I watched a documentary recently on weed... it traced its history in the US from the early part of the last century in California etc... Throughout it looked at the costs of enforcement, over roughly decade intervals, the imprisonment for possession.... making someone into a criminal on a whim... and of course the religious zealots who went about trying to enforce the ban and make it illegal on some inconclusive manufactured evidence... it was hilarious to say the least.

The lives that have been ruined over this and the waste of public money in enforcement....

Meanwhile Clinton has a go with the Kosovo liberation movement, and his cocaine smuggling ops at Medina... The amount of heroin coming out of Afghanistan has seriously increased since the US occupation.... and Bush is extremely cushy with Uribe in Columbia... most likely to be doing deals with FARC for a bit of merchandise on the side too.

This is utter bullsh/t and more hypocrisy 101w from the mouthpiece of the esteemed administration/regime

I Rest My case. This law has got to be the Dumbest law I've ever seen.

_________________
They Shackled our minds when we're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost.

Zack De-La Rocha

Visit addasong.com

Man made booze, God made weed.
Who do YOU trust?


Mick

_________________
"We're no longer a nation that looks to the media to inform us. We've become a nation that looks to the media to affirm us."
--Unknown

"Summer's going fast, nights growing colder...Children growing up, old friends growing older.
Freeze this moment a little bit longer...Make each sensation a little bit stronger."
--'Time Stand Still', Rush

"That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it, too."
--Abraham Lincoln

God's responsible for both. I think it's a matter of time before it's legalized. I support legalization because we throwing so much money and resources down the drain.

The war on Mary Jane
Is money down the drain
Whay can't the government refrain
From being so mundane?

Friday afternoon lunacy.

_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference"

Surprising, we all agree.

The problem with the government having the control over the growing operations is they want to control the plant types. You won't see the gov cultivating high grade sativa for profit. Currently in Flin Flon, Manitoba, their is an old mine shaft that has been turned in to the largest growing operation in the world. It is owned and operated by the Canadian government. They grow plants for people who are suffering from a debilitating illness. I myself have smoked this 'Cancer Weed' as its been dubbed, and its nothing to write home about. They won't be growing high potency weed because the patients don't need it. They need the relaxation, the munchies (to eat) which can come from any smoke... It doesn't 'cure' illness, it helps the patients cope with the pain.
In turn, even with legalization, their will still be 'illegal' growing operations, cultivating the high potency weed we've all came to love.
The legalization of marijuana in Canada? As far as I am concerned its been legal for a long long time...
Anyone who is busted usually gets a slap on the wrist.
I think people imagine going in to a gas station and buying a 25 pack of joints, like cigs. That won't happen. Another scary thing I have heard is the governments do control it, it will have additives like cigarettes.

Im happy to announce that your talking to 1 of the 458 people that was pulled over about 2 years ago for having posession under an ounce. My smoking days are over though.

_________________

For christians seeking truth.

The universe burst into something from absolutely NOTHING- ZERO, nada, And
It got bigger, it became filled with even more stuff that came from
abolutely nowhere.

Ahh the mind of an evolutionist. Who will avoid at all costs God.

http://www.bccla.org/prohibition/Law%20Enforcement.htm