Marijuana Arrests Higher Police Priority than Violent Crime

[AtomicKitten]

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2005 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 -- 786,545 Tops Record High

Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 40 Seconds

September 18, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, 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 42.6 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 NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 40 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

Here are the numbers:

YEAR MARIJUANA ARRESTS

2005 __________ 786,545
2004 __________ 771,608
2003 __________ 755,187
2002 __________ 697,082
2001 __________ 723,627
2000 __________ 734,498
1999 __________ 704,812
1998 __________ 682,885
1997 __________ 695,200
1996 __________ 641,642
1995 __________ 588,963
1994 __________ 499,122
1993 __________ 380,689
1992 __________ 342,314
1991 __________ 287,850
1990 __________ 326,850

The War on Drugs is also one of the most significant early manifestations of the Religious Wrong's explicit rejection of science and maintenance of demonstrably irrational policy in the face of abundant factual evidence of its counterproductive failure.

[katsy]

1. And the corporate-facist's wet dream.

Privatized prisons = slave labor.

[twilight_sailing]

2. We could easily be

a better country than this.

That's what's heartbreaking about current events.

We could easily be SO much better.

[Kutjara]

3. Cops love soft targets.

Why go after violent offenders who might be armed when you can take down a few stoners who won't even realize they've been arrested until the day after tomorrow? Why risk death or injury capturing bank robbers or muggers when you can sit comfortably at the side of the road in your cruiser, waiting for some middle-aged woman to go by 5mph over the speed limit? You know she's not gonna whip out a .45 and start blasting away.

The beauty of it is, cops get the same credit toward their arrest quotas for a penny-ante drug bust as they would for taking down Pablo Escobar himself.

I was in a 7/11 in Baltimore years back, and overheard two fat cops lounging around the coffee machine. One said to the other, "It's the weekend, so things are pretty nuts out there." "Yeah," replied the other, "that's why I'm staying right here."

[AtomicKitten]

4. mmm, donuts

[Ezlivin]

5. This pisses me off so much that I'm doubling my bong load

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

But seriously, this is a complete waste of police resources. If it were not for supporting the prison-industrial industry (as a previous poster so adroitly pointed out), the Drug War would not be worth fighting. It does not reduce crime; it increases it.

When you privatize prisons you turn it into a profit-making enterprise that seeks to increase its bottom line (profits) and expand (more prisons). More prisons means you need more criminals.

And so it goes.

[Gregorian]

6. Mmm, bonghits.

I'm training for a bike race, otherwise I would join you with some Humboldt smelly stuff.

Agreed with all that has been said above. I've always been amazed that the people of this country didn't hit the streets in protest when the drug war was instigated. No one. Silence. And that is how we got to where we are today. Totally stupid. And we could have health care. Dummies.

[grasswire]

7. $30,000 per year to imprison someone, remember

Not including debt service for construction of facilities.

[AtomicKitten]

8. Closed Krisy Kreme eyed for new Police Headquarters

this article just seemed to fit here:

http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sun-sentinel.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fpalmbeach%2Fsfl-pbbcopshop30sep30%2C0%2C7868114.story%3Fcoll%3Dsfla-news-palm