pghdon

This was posted on NORML's website Oct. 12th. Hell George Bush could finance a nice little war with this kind of cash!


Nearly One In Eight US Drug Prisoners Are Behind Bars For Pot -- Taxpayers Spending Over $1 Billion Annually To Incarcerate Pot Offenders

October 12, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: Nearly one in eight drug prisoners in America are behind bars for marijuana-related offenses, according to data released this week by the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

The BJS study, "Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004," reports that 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug violations are serving time for marijuana offenses. Combining these percentages with separate US Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics on the total number of state and federal drug prisoners (BJS October 2005 Bulletin: "Prisoners in 2004" -- NCJ 210677) suggests that there are now approximately 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates incarcerated for marijuana offenses.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said that the new BJS statistics belie the myth that few if any US prisoners are serving time for marijuana-related offenses. "According to these figures, nearly 45,000 state and federal prisoners are behind bars for having committed some type of cannabis-related offense," he said. "This means that US taxpayers are currently spending over $1 billion annually to incarcerate Americans for pot."

The BJS report did not provide specific data on what percentage of US prisoners were serving times for marijuana possession crimes versus marijuana cultivation and/or trafficking.

The BJS failed to include estimates on the percentage of inmates incarcerated in county jails for cannabis-related offenses.

A previous BJS report based on 1997 data indicated that in 1999 approximately 39,000 US prisoners were serving time for pot violations. A 2005 study by the Sentencing Project think-tank in Washington, DC suggested that approximately 68,500 Americans are either incarcerated or on probation for marijuana-related offenses.

According to data compiled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and released in September, nearly 787,000 Americans were arrested for violating marijuana laws in 2005, the highest annual total ever recorded. Among those arrested, approximately 88 percent -- *some 696,074 -- Americans *were charged with marijuana possession only.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the new BJS report is available online at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/dudsfp04.pdf.


Nearly One In Eight US Drug Prisoners Are Behind Bars For Pot -- Taxpayers Spending Over $1 Billion Annually To Incarcerate Pot Offenders - NORML

pghdon

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 -- 786,545 Tops Record High... Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 40 Seconds
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."


http://www.thedrugwar.com/legal-issu...d=1#post439373

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.

"Present policies have done little if anything to decrease marijuana's availability or dissuade youth from trying it," St. Pierre said, noting young people in the U.S. now frequently report that they have easier access to pot than alcohol or tobacco.

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2005 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Annual marijuana arrests have more than doubled since the early 1990s.

"Arresting hundreds of thousands of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly needlessly destroys the lives of otherwise law abiding citizens," St. Pierre said, adding that over 8 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges in the past decade. During this same time, arrests for cocaine and heroin have declined sharply, implying that increased enforcement of marijuana laws is being achieved at the expense of enforcing laws against the possession and trafficking of more dangerous drugs.

St. Pierre concluded: "Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers between $10 billion and $12 billion annually and has led to the arrest of nearly 18 million Americans. Nevertheless, some 94 million Americans acknowledge having used marijuana during their lives. It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals for their use of a substance that poses no greater - and arguably far fewer - health risks than alcohol or tobacco. A better and more sensible solution would be to tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco."
YEAR MARIJUANA ARRESTS

2005 786,545
2004 771,608
2003 755,187
2002 697,082
2001 723,627
2000 734,498
1999 704,812
1998 682,885
1997 695,200
1996 641,642
1995 588,963
1994 499,122
1993 380,689
1992 342,314
1991 287,850
1990 326,850

5drive

Only 1 in 8? Not enough. We need more $ for the war on drugs. Let's keep these dangerous stoners off the street!

mattrh

those numbers make me feel sick

pipewerkz

Word, I just got out of the bathroom

AntiAimer

Yeah pretty sad, gotta watch out for anybody trying to raid your fridge who know's what they might eat next or make while under the influence. With there red, watery eyes and big smiles\grin on there faces smelling like a weed.... Sh#t never know when reefer madness might hit, these Marijuana users are crazy, psychotic killers that must be STOPPED! lol

What's really sad tho is, how they never publicize these types of statistics on the news or just T.V. in general, guess it would drop to many taxpayers jaws. Show them how many peoples lives are being ruined for no reason & the simple fact the Governments abuseing it's power and doing crimes against HUMANITY in many many ways.