Analysis Of US Marijuana Arrest Data To Date

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- March 11, 2005
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20348.shtml

NORML Releases Most Comprehensive Analysis Of US Marijuana Arrest Data To Date
March 11, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: US marijuana policies, which rely primarily on criminal penalties and law enforcement, are wholly ineffective at controlling the use and sale of marijuana, concludes a comprehensive report issued today by the NORML Foundation. The report, entitled "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," includes a detailed examination of the fiscal costs associated with the enforcement of marijuana laws at the state and county level, as well as a complete demographic analysis of which Americans are most likely to be arrested for violating marijuana laws.

Among the reports' findings:

* The enforcement of state and local marijuana laws annually costs US taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion, approximately $10,400 per arrest. Of this total, annual police costs are $3.7 billion, judicial/legal costs are $853 million, and correctional costs are $3.1 billion. In both California and New York, state fiscal costs dedicated to marijuana law enforcement annually total over $1 billion.

* Marijuana possession and sales arrests disproportionately impact black adults. African Americans are among the demographic groups most adversely impacted by marijuana law enforcement. While adult African Americans account for only 8.8% of the US population and 11.9% of annual marijuana users, they comprise 23% of all marijuana possession arrests in the United States.

* Marijuana possession and sales arrests disproportionately impact younger Americans. One out of every four marijuana possession arrests in the United States involves a person age 18 or younger. Seventy-four percent of all US marijuana possession arrests are for people under the age of 30. Marijuana users who are white, over 30 years old, and/or female are disproportionately unaffected by marijuana possession arrests.

* Over one million US teenagers sell marijuana. The enforcement of state and local marijuana laws has neither reduced adolescent demand for marijuana, nor has it reduced the number of teens supplying marijuana to other adolescents on the black market.

* Marijuana prohibition fails to produce intended results. Total US marijuana arrests increased 165% during the 1990s, from 287,850 in 1991 to 755,000 in 2003. However, these increased arrest rates have not been associated with a reduction in marijuana use, reduced marijuana availability, a reduction in the number of new marijuana users, reduced treatment admissions, reduced emergency room mentions of marijuana, any reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the price of marijuana.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the report an official "indictment" of US marijuana policy, noting that present US marijuana strategies resoundingly fail when measured against the federal government's handpicked drug use and public health indicators.

"Public policies are measured by their ability to produce intended results," St. Pierre said. "The stated goal of criminal marijuana prohibition is to deter marijuana use and promote public health. As the data show, the current prohibition-oriented policy clearly does neither. Rather, the enforcement of state and local marijuana laws unnecessarily costs American taxpayers billions of dollars annually, disproportionately impacts the lives of young people and African Americans, and encourages approximately one million teenagers to become entrepreneurs in the criminal drug trade."

The report and analysis lists states and counties by rank for categories such as for marijuana possession and sales arrests; and total arrests versus per capita arrest rates. For example:

Top five states for all marijuana arrests:

1) California (60,111 marijuana arrests)
2) New York (57,504 marijuana arrests)
3) Texas (51,563 marijuana arrests)
4) Illinois (41,447 marijuana arrests)
5) Georgia (23,977 marijuana arrests)

Top five states for marijuana arrests per capita (National Average = 239 marijuana arrests/per 100,000 citizens):

1) Nebraska (458 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
2) Louisiana (398 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
3) Wyoming (386 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
4) Kentucky (364 marijuana arrests per 100,000)
5) Illinois (359 marijuana arrests per 100,000)

This report is available online from the NORML website:

* Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6411

* Introduction
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6421

* Table of Content
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6412

* List of Tables and Figures
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6420

* State-by-State | County-by-County Arrest Data
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6427

* Create Your Own State-Based Reports and National Rankings
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6428

Funding for the report was made possible by a generous grant from The Threshold Foundation.

For more information or to schedule a media interview with Allen St. Pierre or NORML/NORML Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano, please call (202) 483-5500 or send an e-mail request to: media@norml.org

DL: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6476

Source: NORML Foundation (DC)
Published: March 11, 2005
Contact: norml@norml.org
Website: http://www.norml.org

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Mar. 03, 2005
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20312.shtml

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Feb. 24, 2005
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20285.shtml

CN BC: Grow-Op Prosecutions Decline As Police Give Up, Study Says
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n419/a04.html?397
Webpage: http://tinyurl.com/6mfnp
Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)

Police are less likely to investigate marijuana growers, prosecutors are less likely to lay charges against them, and judges are less likely to send them to jail than they were in the late 1990s, according to a groundbreaking study to be released today.

"It seems, no question about it, that the system is increasingly unable or otherwise failing to respond to this problem, despite the fact that we have every indication that the problem is worsening," said Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at the University College of the Fraser Valley, and the study's lead author. "I think we have a criminal justice system that is very much on the brink of imploding."

The study of the province's pot trade is based on a review of all reported cases of marijuana growing in B.C. from 1997 to 2003.



Missing Nixon tapes
excerpts begin with the Nixon doctrine on why marijuana is much worse than alcohol: It is because people drink "to have fun" but they smoke marijuana "to get high." This distinction was evidently enormously significant to Nixon, because he repeats it.

Anti-pot propaganda
Shortly before last year's Super Bowl, about 22 million American households saw a series of reports on their local TV news about the dangers of marijuana. The reports were by journalist Mike Morris, and included interviews with Drug Czar John Walters and other "experts" on the harms of pot.
F U L L S T O R Y http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4185.html

Ganja/hemp lnfolinx
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S11B23B45

"You're enough of a pro," Nixon tells Shafer, "to know that for you to come out with something that would run counter to what the Congress feels and what the country feels, and what we're planning to do, would make your commission just look bad as hell."

The Shafer Commission of 1970
Marijuana does not lead to physical dependency, although some evidence indicates that the heavy, long-term users may develop a psychological dependence on the drug"
Richard Nixon missing tapes
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12302.shtml



Police Launch Petition Drive Against Pot Law
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/msg1x79497.shtml

Break down of the law by Reverend Damuzi (01 Mar, 1999)
Canadian cops are smashing down doors, shooting people and pets for handfuls of herb
Grenadiers blast fist-sized bombs through windows. Soldiers in unmarked, black uniforms swarm through the shards of a battered door, shooting people on reflex. This may be customary on the battlefield, but in your own home it's an Orwellian nightmare. This is the War on Drugs, in which police officers have been replaced by SWAT teams. And, like any army, SWAT teams run the percentages. If you look like the enemy, you are the enemy. If you are holding something in your hand, it is likely a weapon, and so you will be shot. Regular police officers, affected by the SWAT mentality, are also carrying heavier weapons and a lighter concern for human life.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1786.html

U.S. prison population largest in world
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P31523E28

Everybody Wants One...The Prison Industrial Complex
* America's Private Gulag
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/message.shtml?1x35884x0
* Slave Labor Means Big Bucks For U.S. Corporations
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/message.shtml?1x35885x0
* Bush Crime Family
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/message.shtml?1x35886x0
* Why Are So Many Drug Addicts in Prison?
* Prison industry book review
Massive Bushit Links...
http://www.investigate911.com

'Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'
According to the outfit Common Sense for Drug Policy, which maintains the Web site -- http://www.drugwarfacts.org -- there are now approximately 77,000 state, local and federal inmates imprisoned on marijuana charges.

According to FBI Uniform Crime reports on numbers of marijuana arrests, in 1991 there were 200,465 arrests in the United States for marijuana possession. But far from being "phased out," arrests for marijuana possession rose steadily through the 1990s, reaching 646,042 in 2000 (3,742 of those in Nevada alone -- costing 10,000 police hours just for "processing.") More than half of all federal inmates are now nonviolent drug inmates.

According to the government-funded National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 800,000 million youths between 12 and 17 tried marijuana for the first time in 1991. But in 2000, according to the same survey, 1.6 million youths between 12 and 17 tried marijuana for the first time. "If arresting more people is supposed to stop kids from trying marijuana, it seems not to be working," comments Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in D.C.

What's life like in our prisons for those 77,000 marijuana convicts? Let's steel our nerves and go visit the Web site http://www.spr.org, where the Los Angeles outfit "Stop Prisoner Rape" has posted the little plain-talking handbill it has prepared for young men entering our prison system, titled "For Prisoners: Advice on Avoiding HIV/AIDS."

The group's handout -- targeted primarily at heterosexual men who have no desire to ever be involved in homosexual activity -- advises:

"HIV/AIDS transmission during a sexual assault is a serious concern. The following are practical tips for reducing your risk. ...

"If you have a choice, try to avoid men who used needles for drugs in the past or are still doing so. ... The more often you are raped, the more exposed you will be, so especially try to avoid anal gang-bangs. The most dangerous situation of all is if your anus is bleeding, for that allows easy entry of the virus into your bloodstream. So try to use a lubricant or grease or cream if you can to minimize injury to your delicate internal body parts, avoid anal gang-bangs, and if you must endure forced anal penetration, try to relax your muscles as much as possible. These tactics are not 'cooperating' or consenting, they are just common-sense measures to try to save your life.

"In many situations you are better off agreeing to do something (masturbating, oral sex, sex with a condom) rather than just resisting until you are overwhelmed and forced to deal with unprotected anal sex from one or many guys. You may feel you should resist to the end, but that would put your life in danger. There is no shame in doing what you have to do to survive; nothing changes the fact that rape is involved and you are not morally or legally responsible for it; these compromises are just pathways to your survival. It may even be to your advantage to develop skills in oral sex so that guys you have to deal with will be satisfied with that alone. Don't feel guilty about it; you're just trying to save your life...."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K2AC11FE6

SPR - Stop Prisoner Rape
http://www.spr.org
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org
Male Rape in US Prisons
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison
Childrens rights
http://www.hrw.org/children
Children in the US
http://www.hrw.org/children/us.htm
Street Children
http://www.hrw.org/children/street.htm
Juvenile Justice
http://www.hrw.org/children/justice.htm
Child Labor
http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm

"The horrors experienced by many young inmates, particularly those who are convicted of nonviolent offenses, border on the unimaginable. Prison rape not only threatens the lives of those who fall prey to their aggressors, but it is potentially devastating to the human spirit. Shame, depression, and a shattering loss of self-esteem accompany the perpetual terror the victim thereafter must endure."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Farmer v. Brennan

Close to Home: Juveniles in Adult Jails Op-Ed by Michael Bochenek The Washington Post
http://www.hrw.org/editorials/1999/crd-1199-wp.htm
Correctional Systems, Inc. (CSI) is a publicly-traded corporation that contracts with governmental agencies to operate correctional projects. http://www.crxs.com
Juvenile Detention Study
http://www.dfwinfo.com/hs/juvdetention/index.html
Juvenile Info Network
http://www.juvenilenet.org
Mental Health Issues and Juvenile Justice
http://www.juvenilenet.org/jjtap/mentalhealth/view.html
The Benefits of Treating Kids Like People
http://theboojum.com/childrens_rights
Sexual Assault Information Page*
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bartley/saInfoPage.html
The Real Price of Prisons
http://www.motherjones.com/prisons

Human Rights Watch has documented abominable conditions for children in detention in countries around the world. In the United States (Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, and Maryland), Pakistan, Jamaica, among other countries, children are subjected to excessive force, inadequate medical and mental health care, and are provided with little or no education. Often, these children are placed in the facilities along side adults, exposing them to physical and sexual abuse.



Making the Walls Transparent
http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/starke

Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation (FAMM Foundation)
http://www.famm.org
Drug Sense
http://www.drugsense.org
M.A.M.A.
http://www.mamas.org

CN BC: New Law Targets Property
http://www.mapinc.org/ccnews/v05/n437/a10.html

F.E.A.R.
http://www.fear.org

November Coalition
http://www.november.org
N.O.R.M.L.
http://norml.org
Human Rights and the WoD
http://www.hr95.org

The Joseph McNamara Collection cops against the drug war
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/debate/mcn/mcntoc.htm

The Latest From Tulia By Bob Herbert
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15055.shtml
Some tentative, very preliminary steps are being taken to address one of the great miscarriages of justice in the country — the roundup and prosecution of dozens of black men and women on specious drug trafficking charges in the Texas Panhandle town of Tulia

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."
Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe) commander, the Nuremberg Trials

"Behind Czarist 'Truths' - Deception No Way To Wage Drug War"
http://www.n-jcenter.com/2002/Sep/26/OPN2.htm

D.E.A.th Deceptions
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/DEAth.html

 

"Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there."
- William E. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, 1937.
Continued... http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.html

Marijuana Treatment Swells By Sundeep Malladi
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20359.shtml

Genes May Play Role in Pot Addiction By Adam Dylewski
CN Source: Daily Cardinal March 15, 2005
The number of people enrolled in marijuana treatment and rehabilitation programs has surged, approximately tripling from 1992 to 2002. The government uses this statistic to argue marijuana is addictive and that current strains of the drug have become more potent. Proponents of marijuana legalization disagree, arguing that the rise in enrollment in these programs reflects people being forced into them by court rulings.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20358.shtml

"There is a point at which the law becomes immoral and unethical. That point is reached when it becomes a cloak for the cowardice that dares not stand up against blatant violations of justice. A state that supresses all freedom of speech, and which by imposing the most terrible punishments, treats each and every attempt at criticism, however morally justified, and every suggestion for improvement as plotting to high treason, is a state that breaks an unwritten law."
- Kurt Huber [The head of White Rose], killed by the Nazis in 1943.

Americans Funding Fascist'
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/msg1x79188.shtml

"You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob?
Richard Nixon missing tapes
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12302.shtml



Anslinger read into U.S. Congressional testimony (without objection) stories about `coloreds' with big lips, luring white women with jazz music and marijuana. If he had bothered to check, showed at least 65-75% of all murders in the U.S. were then—and still are—alcohol related.

Hearst Yellow Journalism
"Marihuana Makes Fiends of Boys in 30 Days; Hasheesh Goads Users to Blood-Lust" create terror of the "killer weed from Mexico." Through his relentless disinformation campaign, Hearst is credited with bringing the word "marijuana" into the English language. In addition to fueling racist attitudes toward Hispanics, Hearst papers run articles about "marijuana-crazed negroes" raping white women and playing "voodoo-satanic" jazz music. Driven insane by marijuana, these blacks -- according to accounts in Hearst-owned newspapers -- dared to step on white men's shadows, look white people directly in the eye for more than three seconds, and even laugh out loud at white people.

"Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."
Harry J Anslinger
http://www.bright.net/~fixit/anslingr.htm

Police officials lied to toughen laws...
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/msg1x79321.shtml

Drug-Legalization Advocate Says Slayings Clouding the debate over the issue.
"It's sad that ( federal Public Safety Minister ) Anne McLellan and the RCMP are using this tragedy to push for tougher laws. We think that's absolutely wrong," says Alison Myrden, who will speak on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The group, made up of current and former law professionals, believes the war on drugs has only increased society's problems.
http://www.mapinc.org/ccnews/v05/n437/a12.html

Dead cops stop drug wars
Did the shooting of Constable S.O. Lawson end Alcohol prohibition in Alberta?
Some historians seem to think so.
F U L L S T O R Y http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4226.html

Top cop apologizes for misleading claims in cop killer case
Marijuana not to blame
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4217.html

Political 'Roid Rage 14 Mar 2005
http://www.mapinc.org/newscc/v05/n447/a11.html?397

Psychosis, Hype And Baloney
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/msg1x79370.shtml

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
From Benito Mussolini contributing to the "London Sunday Express," December 8, 1935

UN Condemns UK Cannabis Laws
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/msg1x79499.shtml

AN OVERDOSE OF MORALITY by Mike Trace and Ruth Runciman
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n394.a03.html
American Strong-Arm Tactics Threaten To Scupper Successful UN Harm Reduction Drug Programmes

The US state department has begun to exert pressure on the UN office on drugs and crime to retract its stated support for public health measures such as needle exchange. Following a meeting with state department narcotics head Robert Charles last November, UNODC executive director, Antonio Costa, wrote to Mr Charles promising to "review all statements... and will be even more vigilant in the future", and stating that "we neither endorse needle exchange as a solution for drug abuse, nor support public statements advocating such practices". The US is, of course, by far the biggest donor to the UNODC.

Disturbingly, this tactic of applying pressure to national governments and international agencies to pursue policies preferred by US conservatives does not seem to be limited to drug policy. Similar moves are apparent in reproductive health and prostitution. The common denominator is the strong advocacy of a morality-driven policy in the face of evidence of what works best in protecting public health.

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty,
He is always in alliance with the despot,
abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
Thomas Jefferson, 1814

The Distinctly Non-Christian Origins of the United States of America

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith . . . we need believing people."
Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933,
from a speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi Vatican Concordant of 1933



Let's Reconsider Marijuana Laws By Elbert Guillory
CN Source: Daily World March 14, 2005
During the last two decades there has been much discussion of the evils and the benefits of marijuana. Any analysis of marijuana should begin with a look at its impact on our legal and economic systems. FBI records show that in 2002 there were about 700,000 marijuana-related arrests. The arrest figure in 1992 was 340,000. Clearly more and more of our police time and dollars, jail space and dollars, and court resources and dollars are being used to process marijuana violations.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20357.shtml

Older Americans Overwhelmingly Support Legalizing
http://www.yahooka.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77085

Drug War Zealots Pressure AARP To Kill MMJ Story
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20292.shtml

Up In Smoke March 15, 2005
Last year, a survey by AARP's magazine found that an overwhelming 72 percent of respondents backed the medicinal use of marijuana. While the results are available on its website, AARP: The Magazine never printed the survey results. The Drug Policy Alliance says this might be because of "attacks from a so-called 'media watchdog' organization and fanatical anti-drug groups." The watchdog in question is Accuracy in Media, which late last year accused AARP of "pushing so-called 'medical marijuana' on America's elderly citizens" and asserted that an AARP magazine features editor "is an admitted drug abuser." But Steve Sloan, the AARP magazine's chief editor, says the poll got so much play in the media that it was an old story by the time the magazine would have printed it. He denies there was political pressure.
Complete Article: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0511,murphy,62078,6.html



President Ronald Reagan, at the urging of then Vice President George Bush, appointed Carlton Turner as the White House Drug (czar) Advisor in 1981. Soon after Turner left office, Nancy Reagan recommended that no corporation be permitted to do business with the Federal government without having a urine purity policy in place to show their loyalty. Carlton Turner became a rich man in what has now become a huge growth industry: urine-testing.

"...somebody has to take governments' place,
and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it."
- David Rockefeller - Newsweek International, Feb 1 1999

Todd McCormick - Cancer patient, researcher, - and Criminal (?)
5 years for medical marijuana; a virtual death sentence
Tuesday, July 29, 1997
A large number of Los Angeles sheriff's deputies swarmed into the ten room (not fifty) hillside home of medical marijuana activist Todd McCormick, where McCormick was growing medical cannabis in some of the rooms. McCormick is well-known as a medical marijuana user, having had cancer ten times as a child. His cancer is in remission, but he suffers from chronic pain as the result of having the vertebrae in his neck fused in childhood surgery. He has been a very outspoken and defiant advocate of patients' rights to access to medical marijuana. McCormick openly stated his intention to continue growing medical marijuana and to provide it to other patients.continued...
http://www.november.org/thewall/cases/mccormick-t/mccormick-t.html

US Prosecutes Cancer Patient Over Marijuana
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3390.shtml

How To Grow Medicine Todd McCormick
http://www.california.com/~mcwilliams/growmed.com

Todd McCormick
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I288152E6



Newsbrief: Todd McCormick Released from Federal Prison 12/26/03
One of America's most well-known drug war hostages walked out of federal prison in Southern California on December 10. Todd McCormick had served nearly four years for his role in an early post-Proposition 215 medical marijuana grow operation in Los Angeles.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/317/toddmccormick.shtml

 

My god man, you've found quite a lot of good shit.

 

wow very interesting read...thanx!