Marijuana, Legal or Illegal?
"Washington, DC - Police arrested a record 829,625 persons for marijuana violations in 2006, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. This is the largest total number of annual arrests for pot ever recorded by the FBI."
"Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent some 738,915 Americans were charged with possession only."
"Arresting hundreds of thousands of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly needlessly destroys the lives of otherwise law abiding citizens," St. Pierre said, adding that over 8 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges in the past ten years. During this same time, arrests for cocaine and heroin have declined sharply, implying that increased enforcement of marijuana laws is being achieved at the expense of enforcing laws against the possession and trafficking of more dangerous drugs.
"St. Pierre concluded: "Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers between $10 billion and $12 billion annually..."
"It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals for their use of a substance that poses no greater -- and arguably far fewer -- health risks than alcohol or tobacco. A better and more sensible solution would be to tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco."
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/5084.html
I personally think, 10 to 12 billion dollars annually to make arrests for marijuana is absolutely ridiculous. Especially when 89 percent of those arrests simply come from possession, not even from violent crimes involving gangs etc. They ask why our educational system blows, well..I'm sure part of it can be related to the 10 billion+ dollars tax payers spend on arresting some kids smoking pot at the park after school.
-vic
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