New FBI data reveal that the “War on Weeds” has failed
Mark J. Perry
Carpe Diem
October 29, 2012, 6:54 pm
1. More than 1.5 million people were arrested last year in the U.S. for drug offenses, which was one arrest every 21 seconds, according to new FBI data.
2. Of the 12.4 million total arrests last year, drug arrests (1,531,251) represented about one out of every eight arrests, or 12.34% of the total.
3. Of the 1.53 million drug arrests last year, 87.5% (1.34 million) were for possession and only 12.5% (191,000) were for the sale or manufacturing of drugs.
4. Nearly half of all drug arrests (49.5% or 758,000 arrests) were for possessing or selling “weeds,” which grow naturally in almost all U.S. states. That means that police arrested somebody last year every 42 seconds for “weed” charges, and most of those arrests (87.5%) were for possessing “weeds.”
The source of those drug facts was from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which issued a press release today, here’s an excerpt:
Just over one week before voters in three states will decide on ballot measures to legalize and regulate marijuana, the FBI has released a new report today showing that police in the U.S. arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds and that 87% of those arrests are for possession alone.
A group of police, judges and other law enforcement officials advocating for the legalization and regulation of marijuana and other drugs pointed to the figures showing more than 750,000 marijuana arrests in 2011 — more than 40 years after the start of the “war on drugs” — as evidence that this is a war that can never be won. With more than 1.5 million total drug arrests drug arrests being reported in the U.S. in 2011, that’s one drug arrest every 21 seconds.
“Even excluding the costs involved for later trying and then imprisoning these people, taxpayers are spending between one and a half to three billion dollars a year just on the police and court time involved in making these arrests,” said Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “That’s a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs. Three states have measures on the ballot that would take the first step in ending this failed war by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana. I hope they take this opportunity to guide the nation to a more sensible approach to drug use.”
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