FBI Report: One Drug Arrest Made Every 18 Seconds

Source: Huffington Post

Someone is arrested in the United States for a drug-law violation every 18 seconds, an FBI report released Monday shows.

More than four-fifths of those arrests were for possession only and nearly half were for possession of marijuana. Of the 847,863 marijuana arrests -- one every 37 seconds -- 89 percent were for possession alone.

And those folks do spend time in jail. University of Maryland drug policy expert Peter Reuter told the Huffington Post that in Maryland, roughly a third of those arrested for marijuana possession spend time in jail, from a night to several days or more.

There are profound consequences to spending even a short stint in jail. "You can get get over an addiction, but you will never get over a conviction," said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics detective who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) in a statement.

If the Maryland research is extrapolated to the rest of the country, then roughly a quarter million Americans spent time in jail in 2008 for possession of marijuana -- a drug used at one point by roughly half of all Americans, including the past three presidents.

FBI REPORT: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/arrests/index.html

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/fbi-report-one-drug-arres_n_285634.html

they make the dumb laws. they could legalize MJ tomorrow.

totally their fault. not cops.

the system is broken, and needs to be changed. When that great a percentage of your population is violating any given law, it is probably a bad law to begin with.

that law should stay around. (Not equating the two, just saying)

one is an annoyance, the other ruins a person's life. How can you compare? :shrug:

And there are countries without traffic lights at all, so I think there is a valid argument to be made for removing stop lights all-together, but that's a different discussion. :hi:

Think of all the wasted law enforcement hours and tax money.

Not to mention the wasted or seriously disrupted lives,
for NO logical reason.

Punishment for personal use IMO is a human rights violation.

Right!

Obama is a former "experimenter" who grew up to be president. Doesn't he get it, or is he just another politician, afraid of his shadow? If people like Obama don't speak up, how does change come about? Someone better ask Rahm what decade this will be on the agenda.

Pure bullshit and a waste of resources we can't afford.

Can you say "BUSINESS AS USUAL?"

Unless you think he has the power to change every federal, state, and local law prohibiting drugs by the power of his mind, while simultaneously changing the mind of every single person who would oppose that.

Just like banning murders means there's no more murder.

When are we going to lean banning things doesn't make the problem go away?