America is a nation at war, overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at home.

According to the newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report for 2008 every 18 seconds someone is arrested and charged with violating drug laws.

Another striking figure in the report: of the 1,702,537 drug arrests in 2008, 82.3 percent were for simple possession of a contraband substance. Nearly half, 44 percent, were for possession of marijuana.

According to San Francisco Weekly’s calculations, 2008 saw one marijuana arrest every 37 seconds.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said 2008 had the second-highest number of marijuana arrests the U.S. has ever seen. The group said that 2007 currently holds the record.

“Federal statistics released just last week indicate that larger percentages of Americans are using cannabis at the same time that police are arresting a near-record number of Americans for pot-related offenses,” said NORML Director Allen St. Pierre in a media advisory. “Present enforcement policies are costing American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and having no impact on marijuana availability or marijuana use in this country. It is time to end this failed policy and replace prohibition with a policy of marijuana regulation, taxation, and education.”

“In our current economic climate, we simply cannot afford to keep arresting more than three people every minute in the failed ‘war on drugs,’” Jack Cole, a former drug officer who oversees the activist group who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), said in a press release. “Plus, if we legalized and taxed drug sales, we could actually create new revenue in addition to the money we’d save from ending the cruel policy of arresting users.”

The report noted that the figures are a slight dip from 2007, going from 1.8 million to 1.7 million.

“Those looking for a partisan pattern should note that drug arrests climbed under Bill Clinton as well as George W. Bush, and that last year’s drop occurred during the latter’s second term,” wrote Jacob Sullum at Reason.com. “Since local police make the vast majority of drug arrests (especially pot busts), it’s not clear how much difference the president’s drug policy agenda makes, although federal priorities affect the behavior of state and local law enforcement agencies, especially when funding is attached to them.”

The FBI also recorded a 1.9 percent drop in violent crime, and the smallest number of forcible rapes in the last two decades. The report additionally noted that 1.4 million arrests were made for drunk driving alone.

“Racial minorities suffered disproportionately as victims of some of the most violent crimes,” added CNN. “Almost half of the country’s 14,000 murder victims, for example, were African-American.”

The Office of National Drug Control Policy had not commented on the FBI report at time of publication.

Link!


FBI figures: One drug bust in US every 18 seconds
Stephen C. Webster
The Raw Story
9.14.09
[Reply]

What a waste of resources in these troubled economic times!!!
[Reply]

So we have the money to fucking arrest a huge number of people for simple possession but can't afford to provide healthcare to our citizens. This country is just a giant irony.
[Reply]

Let the potheads blaze away and give the hard drug addicts treatment, stop wasting our fucking money!
[Reply]

great article, it should be on the front page of every paper in the country.

at least rape is at an all time low, that's good.
[Reply]

Are they including prison rape? The war on drugs is insanity.
[Reply]

^ No way, prisoners aren't people
[Reply]

that's disgusting
[Reply]

Yes, yes, yes...This is all old news. The question is: When will posting our grievances on a forum become much less than not enough? When will we stop allowing them to take our rights out from underneath our feet?
We live in a backwards nation/society FOR SURE. No question about it. Government will never stop treating men like children until men demand their due respect. Government only owns what it is allowed by the people.
[Reply]

Ridiculous isn't it! How can they justify this level of spending and ruining that many peoples lives when they are accomplishing nothing and there are much better ways the money could be spent?

How do statistics like these not open the prohibitionists eyes to the lies and the futility of the whole thing? There are way too many stupid people on this planet.
[Reply]

This is the exact kind of story that proves even more how ignorant and ego maniacal the people are who are keeping irrelevant, "drug" offences like marijuana possession, filling up our jails. Instead of rapists, child molesters and highly violent offenders ... the people who actually deserve to serve out time. Ultimate travesty, period.
[Reply]

If those numbers are right, it should be on the front page of every political mag, let people make up their mind then about how important it is that weed stay illegal.
[Reply]

Nice to see how the tax money is used.
[Reply]

Pretty ridiculous. Reminds of that documentary about weed with chong in it.. Its fairly new. I forgot the name im sorry.

Legalizing pot would stimulate our economy, but ask anyone on the street about pot and most people will still say it is bad. We have been severely brainwashed.
[Reply]

Some reform should have been long ago. People dont worry about it till it strikes close to home. ***vomits on the floor**
[Reply]

The government is the largest mob out there.
[Reply]

marijuana is an herb, and a resource that could be used for a lot of things. It is against the law because the government makes entirely too much money off of it, to legalize it. Time to recognize it.
[Reply]

How does the government make money from arresting/busting pot users/dealers? By employing police/task to do something they shouldnt really even be doing. They LOSE money. A LOT!. Imprisoning people for something the government should be doing......Selling and taxing drugs.....and then they would profit.

The gov would profit. The drugs could be more informant about possible over doses and dangers. No "bunk" bullshit that kills people. Treatment for the addicts. And i bet you would barely see an increase in drug usage....maybe a moderate amount.

But instead we ban it. Make no money off of it. Imprison/arrest people and have people pay ridiculous amount of tax money to keep them imprisoned. When the police can be worrying about more dangerous things....like people getting killed, raped, ect.
[Reply]

The Drug War.... a leading cause of depression.
[Reply]

in my city buffalo they raid hard on the west side which has all the heroin
[Reply]