POT SMOKER ARRESTED EVERY 40 SECONDS; 30% UNDER 20 YEARS OLD

NORML - Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana 
violations in 2005, 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 42.6 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 40 
seconds in America. 

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 88 percent 
some 696,074 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 
90,471 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, roughly 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 
young people in the U.S. now frequently report that they have easier 
access to pot than alcohol or tobacco.

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2005 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 more than doubled since the early 1990s.

"Arresting hundreds of thousands of Americans who smoke marijuana 
responsibly needlessly destroys the lives of otherwise law abiding 
citizens," 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, implying 
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: "Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers 
between $10 billion and $12 billion annually and has led to the arrest 
of nearly 18 million Americans. Nevertheless, some 94 million Americans 
acknowledge having used marijuana during their lives. It makes no sense 
to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals for their 
use of a substance that poses no greater - and arguably far fewer - 
health risks than alcohol or tobacco. A better and more sensible 
solution would be to tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to 
alcohol and tobacco."

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