Salon.com > Marijuana arrests

Drug war and mass incarceration, by the numbers

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:19:00 +0000

According to policy reform advocates the Drug Policy Alliance, combining state and local spending on everything from drug-related arrests to prison, the total cost of the drug war in this country adds up to at least $51 billion per year. "Over four decades, the group says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war," HuffPo reported Monday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. boasts the highest incarceration rates in the entire world -- 2.2 million prisoners. Staggeringly more than half of all federal inmates are incarcerated for drug crimes. Via HuffPo:

Despite more relaxed attitudes among the public at large toward non-violent offenses like marijuana use, the number of people in federal prison for drug offenses spiked from 74,276 in 2000 to 97,472 in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The punishment falls disproportionately on people of color. Blacks make up 50 percent of the state and local prisoners incarcerated for drug crimes. Black kids are 10 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes than white ones -- even though white kids are more likely to abuse drugs.

NY marijuana arrestees will no longer spend night in jail

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:35:00 +0000

NEW YORK — New York City plans to stop booking and arraigning many people arrested on low-level marijuana-possession charges.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that the change will take place next month.

People who get picked up on charges of having a small amount of marijuana will be released with desk appearance tickets if they have ID and no open warrants.

Bloomberg says "it's the right thing will do." He adds that it will let police use their resources where most needed.

The tens of thousands of low-level marijuana arrests citywide each year have generated controversy.

It's been about 35 years since state lawmakers raised the bar for booking people instead of ticketing them on marijuana-possession charges. But those arrests have soared in the last 10 years.

Marijuana arrestees do not become violent felons

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Human Rights Watch published a new report indicating that people who enter the criminal justice system with an arrest for public possession of marijuana rarely commit violent crimes in the future. The report aims to highlight what it calls a "red herring," namely the purported logic underpinning the NYPD's marijuana policies, which says that marijuana arrests prevent violent crime.

"Over the last 15 years, New York City police have arrested more than 500,000 people – most of them young blacks or Hispanics – on misdemeanor charges of possessing small amounts of marijuana in public view. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police have said the arrests have helped reduce violent crime, they have never specified how," HRW noted.

“Public officials need to explain exactly how placing thousands of people in cuffs each year for possessing pot reduces violent crime," said Jamie Fellner, senior adviser to the US Program at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report.

220 marijuana cases already dismissed in legalized Washington

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Less than a week ago, voters in Washington State approved the legalization of recreational marijuana use. Prosecutors in the state are already acting on the decision. Around 220 misdemeanor cases involving pot possession of less than one ounce by individuals over 21 (which will be legal under the new law) have already been dismissed in the Seattle area.

“Although the effective date of I-502 [the legalization bill] is not until December 6, there is no point in continuing to seek criminal penalties for conduct that will be legal next month,” King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg told the Seattle Times, adding “I think when the people voted to change the policy, they weren’t focused on when the effective date of the new policy would be. They spoke loudly and clearly that we should not treat small amounts of marijuana as an offense."

According to the Seattle Times, "Satterberg is the first prosecutor to change charging policy after I-502, but other prosecutors are also considering these cases. Tom McBride of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys said his office 'just starting to work through those issues.'"

Marijuana arrests in Colorado disproportionate for young and people of color

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:05:00 +0000

In two weeks, Colorado voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana possession in their state. In light of the upcoming ballot, on Thursday the Marijuana Arrest Research Project released a report reviewing arrest data in the state for marijuana possession over the past 25 years. The report shows that of the more than 200,000 people who have been arrested in Colorado for marijuana possession since 1986 a disproportionate amount of black and Latino young people were targeted.

The study, based on FBI-UCR crime data, found that almost all marijuana arrests were of young people. "In the last ten years, 86% of the people arrested were 34 years or younger," the report noted. In line with data from around the country, the study also found Colorado marijuana arrests are racially skewed. "In the last decade, Colorado arrested Latinos for marijuana possession at 1.5 times the rate of whites, and arrested blacks at 3.1 times the rate of whites," the study found.