Repeat: 20 Million Arrests, and Counting

[Joanne98]

This November, moments before millions of voters flock to the polls to elect America’s 44th president, law enforcement officials will make their 20 millionth marijuana arrest.

Yet in the days leading up to this appalling milestone, it’s unlikely either candidate will call for — or even so much as entertain — any change in U.S. pot policies. It’s even less likely the mainstream media will care.

Since the early ’90s, the total number of Americans busted annually for pot has nearly tripled. In 1991, police arrested a modern low of 288,000 people for minor marijuana violations in the United States, according to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report. By 2006 (the last year for which data is available), a record 830,000 people were arrested. (Of those arrested, an estimated 90 percent are charged with minor possession — not trafficking, cultivation or sale.)

That’s one American arrested for pot every 38 seconds.....

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3918/twenty_million_arrests_and_counting/

That's one heck of a voting block!

Yet despite this massive increase in arrests — by contrast, federal statistics indicate that adult marijuana use has remained fairly stable over the past decade — the mass media and Congress continue to ignore the story.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3918/twenty_million_arrests_and_counting/

[patrice]

1. Some enterprising pot-head, who has paid his debt to society, should organize

all of the others and their families to fight the "War on Drugs" with new more constructive and FAIR policy proposals.

It is absolutely IMMORAL and DANGEROUS how the

U.S. GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGES AND IN FACT GLAMORIZES ALCOHOL USE

and persecutes marijuana users.

[Luminous Animal]

8. There is already an organization

that advocates more constructive and fair policy and it has been around since the 1970.

http://norml.org/

[patrice]

9. I hope they know Families Against Mandatory Minimums!

I imagine the do.

Coalition building is vital right now.

[Luminous Animal]

10. They have them linked as an ally

but I don't know how much actual coalition work that they do with them.

[patrice]

11. Organisations need to figure out how to say to one another "Do x for us and we'll do y for you."

I'd bet money that this is what goes on in the national church cartels.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I think the timidity by politicians today is almost unwarranted...

I rarely, if ever, meet anyone who thinks weed should continue to be illegal. :shrug:

[glitch]

4. How often do you meet lobbyists? nt

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Bingo.

:thumbsup:

[Royal Sloan 09]

3. K & R eom

[acmavm]

5. It would be a boon to the Treasury.

[reggie the dog]

7. I was one of the 20 million

so was my favorite Aunt.

She got caught with 50 pounds and got 6 months probation, in 1979, by saying she was just paid to pick up some suitcases for some dudes back in Chicago. total bs, half was for her husband, half for her brother.

I got popped with 45 grams, and let off due to illegal search and seizure. We both still smoke. Of all my buddies three others have been busted and they all still smoke.

I smoke, I grow my own outside but it is often stolen, uprooted (sometimes by cops that spotted me from a helicopter but I ran under a canopy of trees to my change of clothes and mountain bike and got away), I have friends that grow, deal, like big time too, grower friends who give me free weed, all of this illegally and I dont give a fuck. I want the law to change but I will not change my lifestlye to please some asshole politicians. I now live in a country where I can possess and buy seeds but not grow them and where I risk a fine for having my own stash or for growing one plant.

[Politicalboi]

15. I have never been busted by the cops but

A Disneyland security guard caught me and a friend smoking in the parking lot. He took my stash and we left. Pot has a lot of enemies. The alcohol companies don't want it legal and I'm sure big pharma's don't either. I'm hoping here in Ca that Obama takes the DEA out of medical Marijuana. I want to get into the business and not have to worry about going to jail.

[tech3149]

12. Fuck the so called "leaders"

It's all up to you. Don't expect some knight in shining Armour to ride up and save you. It's all up to you, you have to exert enough force to change things. Be wary however, your enemy is the prison/industrial complex and their enforcement arm sometimes referred to as police. They have great resources and an entrenched media that is only too willing to sell their point of view.

Can we beat them? Hell yes, but it depends on how willing you are to fight against insurmountable odds. It's not a lost cause but it does require a Herculean effort. I hope you're up to it.

[truedelphi]

13. Thanks Joanna. The thing is almost every politician to the slightly left of cetner

Talks about how much they want marijuana legalized, until they get the bigger enchilada(the Senate, The Presidency)

Bill Clinton was visiting San Francisco some four years ago and talking about the tarvesty that existed with Marijuana being illegal (still)

The reporter interviewing him didn't fall for it and instead said, "But weren't you in the WH for eight years?"

[Oldenuff]

14. It's about time to push for some real "Change",I'd say

It's not so much about Cannabis for me.For me it is a personal liberty issue,and if there were anyone that would understand that,I would think that it would be someone who specialized in Constitutional law.

It's interesting that the top issues at both change.org and change.gov,included the topic of Cannabis legalization.When the question was posed to the PE,the trite answer was that he doesn't support Cannabis legalization.Excuse me,but I thought elected officials were supposed to promote the issues of the people,not promote their own.
I'm not a big fan of NORML..but it says on their website that there will be several programs by the media with regards to Cannabis.



http://blog.norml.org/2009/01/09/mainstream-media-looks-at-marijuana-prohibition/

As if this month was not busy enough with the arrival of Barack Obama to the White House and an ever-growing popular buzz about the need for cannabis law reform all over the media and internet, three major MSM outlets are scheduled to broadcast prime time specials examining aspects of cannabis prohibition.


On Friday, January 16, the venerable NBC news show Dateline has scheduled an hour-long profile of the tragic death of Florida college student Rachel Hoffman.

ABC 20/20 correspondent John Stossel’s investigative unit is going to cast its usually critical eye at government overreach and wasteful spending, this time specifically towards the noted case of medical cannabis provider Charles Lynch.

Business network CNBC has produced an one-hour special called Marijuana, Inc. to premiere at 9 pm (eastern), January 22.

Lastly, NORML hears whispers of a major piece about cannabis prohibition being researched for publication at America’s largest Sunday newspaper circulation drop-in, Parade.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Past their sell-by date. "Sold down the river" once. Probably no longer of sufficiently merchantable

quality for a second sale, or they'd be in Iraq or Afghanisan when they're as old as 70.

Oddly enough, the retired British general, Sir Michael Jackson and Colonel Tim Collins are trying to get some action from NuLab(c) to help the war veterans here in the UK. They're not taking prisoners, either, by the sound of it, describing their treatment as a betrayal of the country's heroes, and listing the requirements of elementary decency for the way in which they should be treated.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/01/18/homes-for-heroes-campaing-we-re-on-your-side-115875-21049631/

[bertman]

17. Interesting article, KCabot. But what does it have to do with weed prosecutions?

[Joe Chi Minh]

18. Good point, Bertman. Sorry about that. I was meaning to post it to another thread!

[bertman]

19. Better back away from that bong, K.

B-)

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. The hubbly bubbly does take its toll....!