ANOTHER RECORD YEAR OF MARIJUANA ARRESTS

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NORML - Police arrested a record 829,625 persons for marijuana
violations in 2006, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
annual Uniform Crime Report. This is the largest total number of annual
arrests for pot ever recorded by the FBI. Marijuana arrests now comprise
nearly 44 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 38
seconds in America. . .

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent,
738,915 Americans were charged with possession only. The total number of
marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2006 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. Annual
marijuana arrests have nearly tripled since the early 1990s.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7370

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