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

[NVMojo]

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."

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 88 percent some 696,074 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 90,471 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes all cultivation offenses even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. In past years, roughly 30 percent of those arrested were age 19 or younger.

more...

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7040

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Easy picking off pot heads , how about phony ballots ,well if I have

my way this is how law enforcement will be Used in the future.Get legally drunk and I'll get stoned, we'll line up ten cones and I'll see you at the end.Pothead are as a whole passive normal people that don't have criminal instincts.What? nobody does crack in D.C. anymore??? Easy pick'ens **

[slay]

2. A HUGE waste of time and resources

I can not believe that we are still arresting people for something as minor as smoking marijuana. The hypocrisy is what gets me. It's ok to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes but you can't smoke pot? What the hell. Alcohol and tobacco are way more harmful than pot. What a (yet another) terrible comment on the state of things here in America that we are still unfairly targeting pot smokers while cigarette smokers and alcohol drinkers have nothing to fear. :(

[Gregorian]

3. This is totally unacceptable. Disgusting.

On so many levels, this is a crime in itself. But how many people are willing to admit that the drug war is bogus? Nearly no one. It's an industry. And it was the foot in the door to what is happening in the White House today.

I'm recommending this.

[Downtown Hound]

5. I'll second that recommendation

Although with everything that's going on in the world today, it sometimes seems that marijuana issues are almost quaint. But it's important to remember that they're not. As soon as we allowed them to randomly drug test us and give up our liberties, we gave them the first step they needed to ship people overseas to secret prisons of torture.

[Nozebro]

4. Special interests need new "customers" in the criminal "justice" system

on a continuous basis. Craven cops, prosecutors, defense lawyers, bail bondspersons, prison guard unions, private prison builders/operators, and on and on --- all have a stake in making sure there's
lots of new "criminals" to leech off. And Gov'ts at levels benefit too. Keeps the questioners quiet, off the ballot, and under control. Right where they belong...as far as all of the above are concerned.

[suziedemocrat]

6. Marijuana makes you mellow - can't have that! we need ANGRY people

people who support wars to destroy countries that aren't a threat to us.

[acmejack]

7. Like the man said easy pickings.

Easy to detect by the smell, get to seize the property so the PD profits. Lawyers make money everybody is happy, except the pot smoker of course who is now been introduced to the "Criminal Justice System" and is of course on probation and has a record. What a fucking joke. There's a crime being committed all right, but it isn't the pot smoking!

[NVMojo]

8. I feel so much more safer, don't you? Not!! I hate this gubbermint!!!

[bamacrat]

9. That is fucking insane.

Didnt Jimmy Carter say that no punishment should be worse to an individual than the affects of the drug itself. Too bad he couldnt have had one more term.