Who is our government arresting? Torturers? or Marijuana users? You be the judge.

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.

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

Meanwhile, as we know, those who authorized torture are sitting pretty in their million dollar mansions.

I do not advocate for the legalization of marijuana or any other now illegal drug, but . . . . something is wrong here.

Torture -- let it pass.

Marijuana -- arrest immediately.

The sentences for marijuana are light, so why do we bother at all? Shouldn't we focus on the real crimes?

Up to one ounce has been decriminalized for a few years and amazingly society didn't implode.

Even though everyone is of course entitled to his/her own opinion. Keeping it illegal creates so many negatives - like the ones you mentioned as well as funding gangs, CIA black ops, - and we're missing out on billions in tax revenue alone if you want to look at it from a capitalist perspective. Keeping it illegal will never stop people from using it - just makes for a lucrative black market. And why am I allowed to kill myself with cancerous addictive cigarettes but can not consume any non-cancer causing marijuana? Why can my only recreational substance of choice be alcohol? Oh yeah, cause of the tobacco and alcohol lobbyists/corporations/big industry. Ugh. But yes - let's leave the pot smokers alone indeed. :smoke:

an advocate with regard to marijuana. I'm neutral, but I don't like to see people arrested for minor infractions when serious crimes are not prosecuted.

Waste of time, money, resources, etc while jails are so overcrowded due to ridiculous drug arrests that real criminals get shorter sentences and are back on the streets sooner. Grr. :grr:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Why-We-Should-Legalize-Marijuana