So if it's now okay for Bush to smoke pot

[DoYouEverWonder]

Isn't it way past time to legalize it and stop putting people in jail just for smoking a joint?

[HeeBGBz]

1. I'd vote for that

You just inspired me for a potential Bumper Sticker.

I'll be back when I'm done.

[benburch]

2. But the King is always above the law.

And Members of the Royal Family, too. (Republicans)

[Webster Green]

3. Long overdue!

Isn't it amazing that when a repuke uses illegal substances, its an "indiscretion". If you or I do it, well, thats an entirely different matter.

Why are they always above the law?

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. In 2000, there were 734,498 marijuana arrests!

That's a lot of people. Yet if Bush does it, since he's above the law anyway, it's no big deal.


http://www.mpp.org/arrests/arrests.html

New Marijuana Arrest Record

In 2000, the number of marijuana arrests in the United States (by state and local police) was the largest in history: 734,498! And 88% of those arrests were for possession, not sale or manufacture. (Source: FBI's division of Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States: 2000, published in October 2001.)

[indepat]

5. But medical use of marijuna will continue to be criminalized by zealots

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Remember when Ashcroft arrested the 80+ year old women

in Santa Cruz for using medical marijuana? Maybe we need to get Georgie to drop his zipper for the Gipper and put his dipper in the jar?

[HeeBGBz]

6. Ok, does this work?

[MemphisTiger]

7. If a dem does it he is a hippie pot-head

but if it's a bush it's "my younger wilder days" like lines of coke

[leftofthedial]

9. he's just above the law

we should still ruin the lives af any peasants who dare to flaunt the authority of the neotheocon oligarchy.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. How many people are in jail for just having one joint?

I know several people who have been caught with weed, and only one of them did any jail time. The one that went to jail had a lot of weed on him. The rest just had to pay a fine.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. How much did they have to pay for lawyers?

and how does that arrest look on their resume?

Try running for office with a bust or arrest in your past.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. So, you're conceeding that there isn't anyone in jail for having

just one joint?

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Since 1966 there have been more than 11 million marijuana arrests

This is from the same source previously quoted. Even though it's a bit dated, other data indicates that these ratios are probably still the same. So at least according to this report about 87% of the arrests were just for 'possession'. They do not indicate how much, but I would assume we're talking relatively small quantities. All this for a national drug policy that is absurd to say the least.



-------------------

Each year, the FBI's division of Uniform Crime Reports releases arrest statistics for the previous year in the annual volume Crime in the Unites States. The 1997 data, released on November 22, 1998, revealed that state and local authorities made 695,201 marijuana arrests in 1997.<1>

Of these arrests, 87.2% (606,519) were for "possession." Only 12.8% (88,682 arrests) were for "sale/manufacture," which includes all cultivation offenses (even for personal use) and often includes possession of an amount large enough -- usually more than an ounce -- that "intent to deliver" is inferred (even though it may have actually been intended for personal use). This 80/20 ratio has remained fairly constant for more than a decade.<2>

--------------------

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. How many of those arrest for possession of small amounts resulted in jail?

Lots of college kids get arrested every day for underage drinking. How many of them go to jail for it?

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. I assumed that if you've been arrested

that means you've been booked and spent at least a short period in the local jail. In addition, you would then have to appear in court and if found guilty would then have a criminal record.

Besides, if you are arrested for underage drinking, then you are a minor and as long as you stay out of trouble otherwise, that arrest would probably be expunged from your record once your reach adulthood.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. College kids ages 18-20 are prosecuted like adults for underage drinking

But none of them are sentanced to jail time.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. The Republicans sell indugences to themselves

Democrats are not permitted to buy them.