DdC

One Drug Arrest Every 19 Seconds in the U.S.
New FBI Numbers Reveal Failure of the "War on Drugs"

Pot Smokers Are The Most Officially Oppressed Minority In America
Sep 14 2011
Old Hippie: "Would the American public put up with this treatment if it was happening to gay and lesbian people? To Jews? To Muslims? Certainly not!"



Trying to arrest our way to victory pg/dwr

Police made 853,838 arrests in 2010 for marijuana-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. [...]

Overall, law enforcement agents nationwide arrested 1,638,846 people last year for drug abuse violations, surpassing arrests for all other crimes.

Since 2000, law enforcement have reported making an estimated 7.9 million arrests for marijuana violations.

Here is the full report.

Of course, this puts the lie to the Drug Czar’s claims that the war on drugs is over, and his insistence that:

“As someone who has spent their entire career in law enforcement, I know we cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem.” NSDUH, September 8, 2011

“History has taught both of our nations that we must support robust and comprehensive drug policies which recognize we cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem” Meeting with Sweden, March 21, 2011

“We can’t arrest our way out of this situation,” Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske told a crowd at the University of Charleston West Virginia on Friday., February 25, 2011

“I will tell you what it should be. And they talked about it often. And that is, we are not going to arrest our way out of this situation, that we need to be, not soft on drugs or soft on crime, but we need to be smart on drugs.” PBS, December, 2010

“Director Ivanov recognizes that a balanced strategy within Russia is as important as we recognize here within the United States, that just as I’ve heard quoted in the Russian press that we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem in that country, we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem in the United States.” May 12, 2010

“We can’t arrest our way out of the situation,” Kerlikowske said. “What we’re doing now just isn’t sustainable.” Pasadena, March 1, 2010

… You get the idea. He even said it before he got the job!

“Chief Kerlikowske has readily acknowledged that we can’t ‘arrest our way out’ of these challenges and that new responses are needed.” February 11, 2009

You can say it all you want, Gil (in fact, google results for “kerlikowse” and “arrest our way” yields thousands of results), and you can claim that you’ve ended the war on drugs, and you can claim that you’re pursuing a balanced approach, but the truth is that you are part of a system that is arresting 1.6 million people a year for drug offenses.

One of the truly bizarre arguments that prohibitionists often use is that not that many people are in prison for drug possession (or marijuana possession) and so therefore I guess we shouldn’t be so upset or something (I’ve never really understood the argument).

Of course, it’s a lie. There are many people in prison for possession. But it’s also a lie because it pretends that federal prison is the only significant penalty for our enforcement-heavy drug policy. A “mere” drug arrest (as over 1.6 million people experience each year) for many can mean the loss of their job, their career, their pension, their savings, or their family.

2010 @ 52.1%
US Marijuana Arrests Percentage Share of Total Drug Arrests

$10,400 per arrest x 853,838 arrests = $8,879,915,200.00
NORML Releases Most Comprehensive Analysis Of US Marijuana Arrest Data To Date

“Chief Kerlikowske has readily acknowledged that we can’t ‘arrest our way out’ of these challenges and that new responses are needed.” February 11, 2009

Analysis of the benefits of marijuana legalization are as follows:

* An excise tax of $1 per half-gram joint of marijuana would raise about $1 billion per year, as much as the current excise tax on cigarettes.
* Retail sales on the legal market would range from $3 – $5 billion, generating another $250 – 400 million in sales taxes.
* Legalization would save over $156 million in law enforcement costs for arrest, prosecution, trial and imprisonment of marijuana offenders. Intrusive CAMP helicopter surveillance would also be eliminated.
* Based on experience with the cigarette tax, total revenues of $1.5 – $2.5 billion might be realized.
* Based on experience with the wine industry, the total economic activity generated by legal marijuana could be nearly three times as great as retail sales, around $8 – $13 billion. Amsterdam-style coffeehouses would generate jobs and tourism. If the marijuana industry were just one-third the size of the wine industry, it would generate 50,000 jobs and $1.4 billion in wages, along with additional income and business tax revenues for the state.
* Industrial hemp could also become a major business, comparable to the $3.4 billion cotton industry in California.
~ CA NORML

Indoor drug lab discovered at White House pg/dwr

The desire for recreational drugs is an ongoing part of human nature, and people will go to great lengths to obtain them, including manufacturing these drugs themselves in their homes.

Of course, governments go all out in their zeal to crush these attempts, from summarily cutting off the power of homes even suspected of using too much electricity, to taking away their children or seizing their home.

Now, in rather startling news, it’s been discovered that the occupants of the White House in Washington, DC have been secretly manufacturing recreational drugs, and even have a staff of specialists to work on it.

Apparently, this has been going on since last January, but they’ve managed to escape discovery so long by sharing with only a select few.

Only special guests have sampled White House homebrew.

As the lights are still on, it appears that the power has not yet been cut to the White House, and no word has been forthcoming from law enforcement and social agencies as to whether Malia Anne and Natasha will be placed in foster homes or whether forfeiture proceedings have begun on the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue property.

We the people

Happy Constitution Day. pg/dwr

The Obama Admin's Anti-Marijuana Manifesto

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Jewish Pork

I'd make the assertion that anyone who supports the war on drugs has no right to even complain about the deficit//debt.