Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 42 Seconds

[nightperson]

Even if you disagree with William F. Buckley, Jr., National Review, et al and think marijuana should stay illegal, you have to look at these numbers and ask "Where are the priorities?" :crazy:, right? Seriously, how can we even afford a "War On Terror" when so many resources are allocated towards Banning The Bong? Does all this make anyone feel safer?:

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...

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...

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."

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. Holy SHIITE!!!

:grr:

[skooooo]

2. Can't have a bunch of sleep-eyed people..

...raiding the ice cream supply in the grocery store at 2:00 Am. Nope, that's a REAL problem.

[BlueJazz]

3. I agree with the Police. I've got a buddy that works at ......

the lay's potato chip plant and on weekends the poor workers have to bust their ass keeping snacks and goodies flowing out of the plant door....

[luaneryder]

4. It's a helluva lot easier

to arrest someone who's chilled out on weed than a crazed meth user. Talk about a Wrong War on the Wrong People.

[jgardner]

5. Legalization would SOLVE many problems

in this country. And, for the record, I do not personally use drugs. Street dealers would disappear, drugs would be regulated for quality and taxed, our jails would be nearly emptied (and those people would work and pay taxes), the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, I don't think the legislation could ever pass. Too many fundies with power.

[ixion]

6. 80% of the US prison population is non-violent drug users,

most of them pot smokers.

It's a shameful waste of people's lives and of taxpayer's money, IMO.

[MsAnthropy]

7. That' guy's got to be tired

getting arrested every 42 seconds!

[indigobusiness]

8. We were handed the keys to the kingdom...

then punished ourselves for using them.

[Tsiyu]

9. The Biggest Tragedy in America

This is a heartbreaker. Families are destroyed, jobs lost, lives lost because someone chooses to chill out with substance A) rather than substance B).

This really does make me feel so sorrowful. I feel sorry for decent, peaceful people being hunted like dogs and caged like animals all to make some law enforcement ego feel special. All because of outdated, hypocritical ideas on a benign plant.

I feel sorry for people like John Ashcroft and others who would waste resources hurting Americans rather than allowing them the freedom to choose how they will alleviate their aches and pains. I think that people with a militant anti-marijuana mindset are just so deeply enmeshed in controlling others, they actually get a thrill out of unfairly persecuting an easy target.

If they put as much time and manpower into investigating terrorists, child pornographers, rapists, murderers and corporate thieves, imagine how wonderful and safe this country would be? But I am convinced more than ever that people like AShcroft in the JD and others in the DEA do not want Americans to be peaceful or happy. These neo-cons enjoy torture and injustice. And there is a lot of sorrow knowing this, because there is nothing Christlike in their rigid legalism.


"I desire mercy, not sacrifice."
GOD