NORML: Marijuana Arrests For Year 2004

Special Report
Source: NORML

Washington, D.C. -- Marijuana Arrests For Year 2004: 771,608, Record High; FBI Report Reveals October 17, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA

Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 41 Seconds

Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 771,608 persons for marijuana violations in 2004, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today.

The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 44.2 percent of all drug arrests in the United States.

"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 41 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

Of those charged with marijuana violations, 89 percent - some 684,319 Americans - were charged with possession only. The remaining 87,289 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes all cultivation offenses - even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. In past years, approximately 30 percent of those arrested were age 19 or younger.

"Present policies have done little if anything to decrease marijuana's availability or dissuade youth from trying it," St. Pierre said, noting that a majority of young people in the U.S. now report that they have easier access to pot than alcohol or tobacco.

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2004 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Marijuana arrests have more than doubled since 1993.

"Arresting adults who smoke marijuana responsibly needlessly destroys the lives of tens of thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens each year," St. Pierre said, adding that over 8 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges in the past decade. During this same time, arrests for cocaine and heroin have declined sharply, indicating that increased enforcement of marijuana laws is being achieved at the expense of enforcing laws against the possession and trafficking of more dangerous drugs.

St. Pierre concluded that "with nearly 17 million citizens arrested on marijuana-related charges since 1965, is now not the time for the state and federal governments to finally consider legally controlling marijuana via taxation? Is not such a public policy preferable to the current one where government arrests an extraordinary amount of citizens for an adult behavior that is not deviant, or, for that matter, dissimilar than consuming products that contain alcohol?"

YEAR MARIJUANA ARRESTS

2004 771,608
2003 755,187
2002 697,082
2001 723,627
2000 734,498
1999 704,812
1998 682,885
1997 695,200
1996 641,642
1995 588,963
1994 499,122
1993 380,689

For more information, please contact NORML's Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, at (202) 483-5500. To view NORML's latest and most comprehensive report and analysis of marijuana arrests in the United States, visit: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6411

With arrest numbers rising for marijuana consumers, citizens need to know what the penalties are in their state NORML has created a one-stop-shop for citizens wanting marijuana penalty info at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516

Marijuana laws can not reform themselves, and certainly not without caring citizens getting involved. Please join and support NORML's long standing reform efforts by visiting: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3443

This updated report is written, once again, by NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano with research provided by NORML Intern Paul Varnado (Duke University).

DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6703

Source: NORML Foundation (DC)
Published: October 17, 2005
Copyright: 2005 NORML
Contact: norml@norml.org
Website: http://www.norml.org/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21198.shtml

 

"Police arrested an estimated 771,608 persons for marijuana violations in 2004, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 44.2 percent of all drug arrests in the United States.

'These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders,' said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 41 seconds in America. 'This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism.'

Of those charged with marijuana violations, 89 percent - some 684,319 Americans - were charged with possession only. The remaining 87,289 individuals were charged with 'sale/manufacture,' a category that includes all cultivation offenses - even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. In past years, approximately 30 percent of those arrested were age 19 or younger.

'Present policies have done little if anything to decrease marijuana's availability or dissuade youth from trying it,' St. Pierre said, noting that a majority of young people in the U.S. now report that they have easier access to pot than alcohol or tobacco.

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2004 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault." (more)

Arrest of Juveniles for Drug Abuse Violations from 1994 to 2003

Percent Distribution of the Estimated Number of Drug Arrests of Juveniles

Link to article: http://www.normltv.blogspot.com/