$1 Trillion Wasted on Drug War in USA Alone

~Zen~ · Sep 24, 2010

The following piece from NORML's Deputy Director is a reality check for those thinking the administration has gone 'soft' on pot. It's the opposite.

Failed marijuana policies are a bi-partisan boondoggle
By Paul Armentano - 09/22/10 01:15 PM ET

Paul Armentano is co-author of 'Marijuana is Safer.'

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith claims that the Barack Obama administration is "soft" on marijuana. Here’s a reality check.

Law enforcement officials prosecuted a near-record 858,408 persons for violating marijuana laws in 2009 – the first year of the Obama presidency. That total is the second highest annual number of pot prosecutions ever recorded in the United States.

According to the arrest data, made public last week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some 88 percent (758,593 Americans) of those charged with marijuana violations were prosecuted for possession only. The remaining 99,815 individuals were charged with “sale/manufacture,” a category that includes virtually all cultivation offenses.

Does any rational person really think that arresting and prosecuting nearly one million Americans annually for their use of a substance that is objectively safer than alcohol exemplifies a ‘soft’ – or better yet, sound – public policy?

Rep. Smith further claims that the administration has abdicated the enforcement of federal drug laws in the fourteen states that have legalized the physician-supervised use of marijuana since 1996. Not so. Despite promises from the U.S. Attorney General to respect the laws of these 14 states, the September 21 edition of DC’s Daily Caller reports that just the opposite is taking place.

In an article entitled, ‘DEA, DOJ stay mum on medical marijuana raids,’ reporter Mike Riggs states: “Despite campaign promises to the contrary, the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder hasn’t stopped raiding marijuana dispensaries operating in states where sale of the drug is legal for medical purposes. But the DOJ has demonstrated one marked change now that it’s under Democratic control: The department has stopped publicizing medical marijuana raids, both by requesting that more cases be sealed under court order and by refusing to distribute press releases.”

The story goes on to cite details of over a dozen recent federal raids of medical marijuana providers in California, Colorado, Michigan, and Nevada – all states that have approved the cultivation and possession of medical marijuana.

Of course, if the stricter enforcement of marijuana laws – as Rep. Lamar advocates – was really the solution to curbing Americans’ appetite for pot then how does one explain this? Since 1965, police have arrested over 21 million Americans for violating marijuana laws; yet according to the World Health Organization more Americans consume marijuana than do citizens of any other country in the world.

Congress criminalized the personal use of cannabis in 1937 – and many states, like California and Massachusetts, initially did so decades earlier – yet today nearly one out of two Americans admit to having used the drug (including our three most recent U.S. Presidents), and an estimated ten percent of citizens admit to consuming it regularly. Does Rep. Smith really think that America would be a better place if all of these individuals were arrested, prosecuted, and jailed for their use of a non-toxic herb that was once described by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge as “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man?”

Rather than scapegoating the new administration, which has done little to alter longstanding U.S. marijuana policy, Rep. Smith ought to reconsider the past 40 years of failed drug war policies – which as the Associated Press reported in March, have cost Americans $1 trillion dollars in taxpayers’ dollars, yet “has failed to meet any of its goals.”

It is time to replace failed marijuana prohibition with a system of legalization, sensible regulation, taxation, and education.

Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and is the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?
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ScottDK420 · Oct 22, 2010

The cops in my state are not light on marijuana poss. , a few years ago I had a car wreck and the cops found a 3 gram bud of Californias Finest in the car and I was charged with misdemenor poss. and DUI drugs although I was not high at the time,I had THC in my system from several days earlier..I ended up losing my drivers license for 6 months,paying over $1000+ in fines and lawyer fees..All for 3 grams of weed,and because I was run off the road and wrecked by an oncoming car that was in my lane ,they were probably drunk,but I had to take the ditch or get killed in a head on..

~Zen~ · Oct 25, 2010

What a tragedy...

I hope the other driver got what he deserved for causing such a wreck. Sorry to hear you suffered so much over one bud.

Just goes to show that Marijuana is SAFER than Alcohol, especially when operating machinery of any kind.

emilyblunt · Oct 25, 2010

These laws are giving me headache. I don't know when would it be considered "Legal" to possess or use marijuana or not. They should legalize marijuana on every US state using just one legislation or act so that people like me won't get confused anymore.

~Zen~ · Oct 25, 2010

Yes, it is all quite confusing... but that's the screwed up system we hold near and dear to our hears....

NOT!

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