Police arrest more people for marijuana use than for all violent crimes

[Draz]

On any given day in the United States, at least 137,000 people sit behind bars on simple drug-possession charges, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch.

Nearly two-thirds of them are in local jails. The report says that most of these jailed inmates have not been convicted of any crime: They're sitting in a cell, awaiting a day in court, an appearance that may be months or even years off, because they can't afford to post bail.

"It's been 45 years since the war on drugs was declared, and it hasn't been a success," lead author Tess Borden of Human Rights Watch said in an interview. "Rates of drug use are not down. Drug dependency has not stopped. Every 25 seconds, we're arresting someone for drug use."

Federal figures on drug arrests and drug use over the past three decades tell the story. Drug-possession arrests skyrocketed, from fewer than 200 arrests for every 100,000 people in 1979 to more than 500 in the mid-2000s. The drug-possession rate has since fallen slightly, according to the FBI, hovering near 400 arrests per 100,000 people.

Source

[Nick Young]

Wikileaks have revealed that Hillary has been giving paid speeches to her donors where she admits to being strongly opposed to the legalization of marijuana.

[UK2K]

This is one of the issues I disagree with the GOP on...

It needs to be legalized. Meow.

[~primetime~]

I don't think that is as shocking as it sounds. There are probably more people arrested for speeding tickets than violent crimes too.

There are a lot more pot smokers than there are killers/rapists

[DukeDelonte13]

bail reform and sentencing reform are two things this country sorely needs.

[BasedTom]

why is it illegal in the first place?
what is the argument for it staying illegal?

I am at a total loss trying to understand this, and why so many people evidently accept it as being normal
Or why time and resources are utterly WASTED going after people and enforcing these laws in some parts of the country.

[UK2K]

why is it illegal in the first place?
what is the argument for it staying illegal?

I am at a total loss trying to understand this, and why so many people evidently accept it as being normal

$$$

[Snow]

Weed should be legal. But I can easily see black people turning this around on society later on, and saying the white man made pot legal to bring the black man down just like they did in the 80s, when they said there was a conspiracy by whitey to put a liquor store on every corner of black neighborhoods to keep them down.

[J Shuttlesworth]

Wikileaks have revealed that Hillary has been giving paid speeches to her donors where she admits to being strongly opposed to the legalization of marijuana.

Is Trump even for legalized weed? I don't think I've ever heard him speak on this issue

[Draz]

Weed is the biggest concern. Blacks are in jail because of it. Majority of them are. It'll help them in the job market.

[Dr Seuss]

get those filthy drug users off the streets and behind bars where they belong!

[Bless Mathews]

Come on son.....

Don't mislead.

It didn't say marijuana. Drug arrests.

Most Crack heads meth heads Nd heroin junkies are not good for society and need help.

Jail helps some, but the real story is we should be treating addicts for a health problem not like criminals

[1manfastbreak]

get those filthy drug users off the streets and behind bars where they belong!

These are the people who are voting to keep it illegal. They stand to make more money with it being illegal compared to being legal.

[highwhey]

why is it illegal in the first place?
what is the argument for it staying illegal?

I am at a total loss trying to understand this, and why so many people evidently accept it as being normal
Or why time and resources are utterly WASTED going after people and enforcing these laws in some parts of the country.

Pharmaceutical companies that offer opiate painkillers are opposed to the idea of marijuana being legal because it is a superior painkiller in most instances.

A local company here in AZ donated $500,000 to fight the current proposition to make MJ legal(recreational). To nobody's surprise, this company sells Fentanyl, a pain killer.