AlterNet: The Drug War's Latest Tally: 872,721 Pot Arrests, an All-Time High

[marmar]

The Drug War's Latest Tally: 872,721 Pot Arrests, an All-Time High

By Paul Armentano, AlterNet. Posted September 16, 2008.

Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the United States, 89% of them for mere possession.



If denial is the first sign of addiction, then Drug Czar John Walters is hooked to the gills. He's addicted to targeting and arresting marijuana consumers, and he'll do and say anything to keep this irrational and punitive policy in place.

Speaking earlier this month on C-Span, the reigning Czar stretched his usual deceit to outrageous new heights. Responding to a question from the Marijuana Policy Project's Dan Bernath, Walters flatly denied the charge that over 800,000 Americans are arrested annually for violating pot laws.

"We didn't arrest 800,000 marijuana users," Walters proclaimed. "That's lie."

If only it were.

According to data released yesterday in the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report, police in 2007 arrested over 872,000 US citizens - that's nearly one out of every two Americans busted for illicit drugs -- for weed. (The raw data is available from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation here and here.) That figure is a five percent increase over the total number of Americans busted in 2006. It's more than three times the number of citizens charged with pot violations sixteen years ago.

Of those arrested in 2007, 89 percent - some 775,000 Americans -- were charged with simple pot possession, not trafficking, cultivation, or sale. (By comparison, 27 percent of those arrested for heroin and cocaine offenses were charged with sales.) Three out of four were under age 30; one in four were 18-years-old or younger. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/98952/the_drug_war%27s_latest_tally%3A_872%2C721_pot_arrests%2C_an_all-time_high/

[aquart]

1. Legalize. Regulate. Tax.

[Greyhound]

2. But it's not a police state. n/t

:kick: & R

[DCKit]

3. I'd be very interested to know how many of those cases involved property seizures.

Anyone have numbers? I really don't believe it's about the Devil Weed anymore.

[MadHound]

7. I don't know about the numbers,

But I do know that there's been a steady push to loosen forfeiture regs, allowing more and more property to be seized even as the severity of the crime meriting forfeiture goes down. I know of a number of people who've gotten their cars seized for having a roach in the ash tray.

It never was about the Devil's Weed, it was always about making more and more money for a select group of people, lawyers, prosecutors, bail bondsmen, police depts. etc. etc.

[Loge23]

4. Highest incarceration rate in the WORLD!!

U.S.A.!!! U.S.A.!!!
Higher per capita than China, North Korea, Iran, Russia to name a few - virtually every other country on the planet.
No doubt part of the pukes "less government" plan.
Less is more.

(added link on edit)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/p02s01-usju.html

[bunnies]

5. Such a stupid frigging waste of money.

Unreal. :mad:

[meow mix]

6. a war against pot smokers. non dangerous citizens being mass-imprisoned

= opression

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. "An all-time high." Har har har. n/t