I think SSS just sliced one into the weeds after reading this story.
New FBI data reveal that the ‘War on Weeds’ has failed
1. More than 1.5 million people were arrested last year in the U.S. for drug offenses, which was one arrest every 21 seconds, according to new FBI data.
2. Of the 12.4 million total arrests last year, drug arrests (1,531,251) represented about one out of every eight arrests, or 12.34% of the total.
3. Of the 1.53 million drug arrests last year, 87.5% (1.34 million) were for possession and only 12.5% (191,000) were for the sale or manufacturing of drugs.
4. Nearly half of all drug arrests (49.5% or 758,000 arrests) were for possessing or selling “weeds,” which grow naturally in almost all U.S. states. That means that police arrested somebody last year every 42 seconds for “weed” charges, and most of those arrests (87.5%) were for possessing “weeds.”
The source of those drug facts was from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which issued a press release today, here’s an excerpt:
Just over one week before voters in three states will decide on ballot measures to legalize and regulate marijuana, the FBI has released a new report today showing that police in the U.S. arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds and that 87% of those arrests are for possession alone.
A group of police, judges and other law enforcement officials advocating for the legalization and regulation of marijuana and other drugs pointed to the figures showing more than 750,000 marijuana arrests in 2011 — more than 40 years after the start of the “war on drugs” — as evidence that this is a war that can never be won. With more than 1.5 million total drug arrests being reported in the U.S. in 2011, that’s one drug arrest every 21 seconds.
“Even excluding the costs involved for later trying and then imprisoning these people, taxpayers are spending between one and a half to three billion dollars a year just on the police and court time involved in making these arrests,” said Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “That’s a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs. Three states have measures on the ballot that would take the first step in ending this failed war by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana. I hope they take this opportunity to guide the nation to a more sensible approach to drug use.”
Pirate Jo says:
But it provides so many jobs!
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1st November 2012 at 10:25 am
harry p. says:
I read the title and said “Duh” out loud
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1st November 2012 at 11:44 am
ron says:
Just think of all the money to be made if beer was illegal,wait they did that and it was a bad idea.But for pot its not? Why study history if you dont learn something from it?
But were following the path of Rome and not relizing it,well the government dosent.
I can see it years from now.Gee millions of people wanted to smoke pot and the government made it illegal and even when going broke the government couldnt even see it as a source of tax revenue?
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1st November 2012 at 12:28 pm
Eddie says:
It’s a difficult decision.
Keep making a whole bunch of regular folks into criminals….or just call it quits and save 12 to 20 billion dollars a year.
Yep, tough call alright…NOT!
Interesting that they seldom bust anybody except for possession. I guess it’s too much work to actually catch those selling pot. In one county adjoining mine they have drug sniffing dogs in cars working traffic….so if they stop you for anything, it’s very convenient to see if your car passes the sniff test while they’re at it….
Whatever happened to probable cause?
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1st November 2012 at 12:43 pm
BUCKHED says:
Dang…I wonder when I’ll be able to invest in Marijuana farms. Maybe I’ll go into business when it’s legal…Hey SSS want to be my partner…you can be in charge of surveillance .
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1st November 2012 at 1:03 pm
youcanthavemyglock says:
another government program/policy/crusade has failed, im in utter shock!
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1st November 2012 at 1:17 pm
Pirate Jo says:
Who benefits from keeping it illegal? Who gets rich off of it?
I wondered the same thing when we drove through a lot of dry counties in Arkansas last month. One of the last things we did before crossing the border out of Missouri was to stop for gas at an outlet mall. This mall contained the biggest, nicest liquor store I had ever seen. Like Trader Joe’s, but twice as big and it had every conceivable kind of booze you can imagine. It was this small town, in the middle of nowhere! I couldn’t figure out what it was doing there.
As we hit dry county after dry county (I don’t understand that – are all of these communities united in their common hatred of booze, or are a bunch of old ladies running things?), I realized that all the people in those counties who wanted to drink would all go to the same place to buy their booze. That small town in Missouri was serving a huge population.
And I thought, who gets rich off of this? Who benefits? I’ll bet that liquor store was paying those counties to stay dry.
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1st November 2012 at 1:25 pm
flash says:
I’ll toke to that.
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1st November 2012 at 2:15 pm
ecliptix543 says:
Searcy and Conway are in dry counties, if I remember correctly, but there was plenty of weed available 24/7.
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1st November 2012 at 2:25 pm
Kill Bill says:
Tangent;
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/10/31/mexico-study-legalizing-marijuana-would-cut-cartel-income-by-30-percent/
A study released Wednesday by a respected Mexican think tank concludes that if current ballot measures in certain American states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana pass, it could cut the earnings of Mexican drug cartels by as much as 30 percent.
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1st November 2012 at 4:40 pm
GreasedUpWillie says:
Some of the states that have outsourced prisons to private firms have contracts that they have to keep occupancy at 90%. They can’t legalize, how else will they fufill their contract?
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1st November 2012 at 4:43 pm
flash says:
Anyone wanting an explanation of just WTF GreasedUpWillie is talking about go here:
http://www.dunwalke.com/
A long read, but well worth the time spent.
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1st November 2012 at 5:43 pm