MarijuanaNews.com : Arresting Developments: 2003 Cannabis Arrests Hit All-Time High In DEAland, Decline In UK and Canada. Deaths Related to One Drug Soar In Holland. Guess Which One.

Posted October 28, 2004
Analysis by Richard Cowan Sponsored by

Advanced Nutrients.

As NORML reported on Monday, the number of Americans
arrested for cannabis related offenses hit an all time high in 2003. (See below)

These numbers are all the more appalling because they
demonstrate how much the self-proclaimed “leader of the free world” is
completely out of step with the major Western democracies.

Cannabis arrests in Canada peaked in 2002, when cannabis
arrests reached a 20-year high, according to Statistics Canada. That was an 80
per cent increase for arrests for possession from 1992 to 2002.

Ironically, Canadian cannabis arrests began to soar at
the same time that the overall crime rate began to decline, strongly suggesting
that cannabis consumption – unlike alcohol consumption – does not contribute to
the general crime problem.
See

Canada’s Crime Rate Dropped In 1999 For 8th Consecutive Year Without Creating A
Police State. But Marijuana Arrests Continue to Climb. Alcohol Related Violence
Soars in UK. Lessons for Everyone.

Moreover, despite all of the talk about cracking down on
“organized crime”, the number of trafficking offences actually declined during
that period, according to the report released by the Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics.

In 2002, police laid a total of 93,000 charges for all
illicit drugs under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Three-quarters –
almost 70,000 were cannabis related — 72 per cent of them for possession. The
age group charged most frequently were youths aged 18 to 24, followed by the 12
to 17 cohort.

Inasmuch as the US population is roughly nine times that
of Canada, the two countries actually had comparable arrest rates for cannabis
possession in 2002, although the consequences of being arrested in Canada were
seldom as severe as in the Land of the Free.
See

Judicial Murder: Quadriplegic Dies In DC Jail. Compassionate Conservatism At
Work? Michigan MS Patient May Get Mercy, If It Does Not Threaten Drug War. Three
Stories. Infinite Insanity.

However,

on July 28th, StatsCan reported that in 2003, Canadian cannabis
charges actually fell. The rate of “drug incidents”
fell 8% in 2003, the first decline since 1993. It was driven by an 18% drop in
the rate of cannabis possession offences, which account for
about half of all reported drug crimes.
The rate of cannabis cultivation arrests rose but only by 3%.

Unfortunately, the Canadian government has reintroduced
its phony decrim bill that would actually increase the number of arrests for
possession and double the penalties for growers. (It will almost certainly not
pass the Senate, and it will have real problems in BC courts.)
See

Cannabis Reform and The Canadian Election. (It’s Okay to Exhale, and I Promise
that Your Eyes Won’t Glaze Over.)

Meanwhile back in “the old country” – the Home Office
(the Justice ministry) reported in July that arrests for cannabis possession in
the UK declined by one third in the five months following the “reclassification”
of cannabis.

One indication of the sad decline in the value placed on
personal liberty was that the Blair government justified the “reclassification”
as a move for increased police efficiency.
See

Beyond Bonkers: UK “Reclassification” Of Cannabis Caps Weeks of Absurdity. Prime
Minister Has A Drug Problem?

Another major impetus to the change was the fact that –
as in DEAland and Canada and most other countries – there were, and may still
be

widespread inconsistencies in policing of cannabis in the UK. (There are
remarkable similarities in the practical problems in enforcing the cannabis laws
in different countries.)

In March of
2002,

A study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation “found that many police
officers in the UK have effectively decriminalised possession of cannabis by
ignoring the offence, or issuing informal warnings. But
a small minority of patrol officers ‘specialise’ in cannabis offences,
accounting for a disproportionate number of arrests for possession…

It finds that the chances of being arrested depend on the force areas where an
offence is discovered and on the experience and attitudes of individual
officers.

The report concludes… the main benefits of reclassification would be
non-financial, flowing from the removal of a significant source of friction
between police and, mostly, young people who are currently arrested….

They found that:
· One in seven known offenders in England and Wales were arrested for cannabis
possession - nearly 70,000 offenders in 1999. Almost six out of ten offences
result in a caution rather than prosecution. The number of possession offences
has undergone a tenfold increase since the mid-1970s, but there is no evidence
of this being an intended policy consequence.

· Three out of four arrests are for ‘simple possession’ of cannabis and no other
offences. The fieldwork found they often resulted from police using ‘stop and
search’ powers where suspicions about more serious offences proved unfounded,
but cannabis was discovered.

· A third of officers in the case study areas said they always arrested those
they found in possession of cannabis. There was
evidence of ‘specialisation’ with 3 per cent of officers who made any arrests
for possession accounting for 20 per cent of the total. Arrests for possession
were also used as a way of helping probationary constables to ‘learn the ropes’.

· Two out of three officers had dealt with cannabis informally at some stage in
their career. The authors judged that many had effectively ‘decriminalised’
cannabis in their everyday working practices.

· Some police said they used possession arrests as a ‘door opener’ for other
offences. However, additional offences that came to light were almost all
relatively minor. Analysis of over 30,000 custody records found 857 cases where
cannabis possession had been the initial offence - of these, only 11 cases led
to charges for serious crimes such as burglary, robbery, drug supply or firearms
offences.

· While some young people stopped by police felt the officers were ‘simply doing
their job’, others felt they had been needlessly victimised and that officers
had been rude and aggressive. Analysis of British Crime Survey data on contact
with police found 57 per cent of non-cannabis users who felt fairly treated
compared with 28 per cent of users.

· Although it is difficult to assess
accurately, the study estimates the costs of policing cannabis in England and
Wales as at least £38 million a year, absorbing the equivalent of 500 police
officers working full-time.”
See

Prohibition and The Prison State. “Protecting” Youth and Minorities. In DEAland,
The UK and France Prisons Are Full.

As MarijuanaNews reported last week, there has also been a drop in
cannabis prosecutions in New Zealand, which may have the world’s highest rate of
cannabis use, and once had the highest rate of cannabis arrests.
See

Barbarism In New Zealand: Lies Have Consequences. Severely Handicapped Man Faces
Prison for Growing Seven Plants!

While the New Zealand government wallows in reefer madness, the police may have
been influenced by a May 2003 study,

“Arrests and convictions for cannabis related offences in a New Zealand birth
cohort.” by the Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of
Medicine.

It concluded:

“Arrest/conviction for a cannabis related offence did not reduce the use of
cannabis: of those arrested/convicted, 95% either increased their use or
continued with the same level of cannabis use subsequent to their arrest.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study reinforce concerns about laws relating to
the use and possession of cannabis. The findings show that the law was
administered in an inefficient way, the application of the law was biased, and
the law was ineffective in reducing cannabis use.”

Of course, under George of the Bungle, the suppression of cannabis
has been explicitly recognized as the top priority of the Drug War.
See

Bush Should Have John – Comical Ali – Walters Explain The Iraq War, Then The
Media Would Never Ask Any Embarrassing Questions. Doctrine Of Drug Czar
Infallibility? Blame Canada, Again.
and
John
Walters Says, “Prescription Drug Abuse Is The Second Largest Illicit Drug
Problem” – After Cannabis, Of Course! Different Measures for “Success” and
Failure. Seeking New Victims.
and links

From

www.norml.org

Marijuana Arrests For Year
2003 Hit Record High, FBI Report Reveals
Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 42 Seconds
(MarijuanaNews note: As usual, the DEAland media
have ignored the arrest report.)
See

Dude, You’re Getting A Journalism Lesson. The Media Won’t Report How Many
Cannabis Arrests There Are In DEAland, or New York City, But This “Celebrity”
Arrest Is Even Reported In The Washington Post.
and links

October 25, 2004

Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 755,187
persons for marijuana violations in 2003, 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 45 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 Keith Stroup, Executive Director of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), who noted that at current
rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 42 seconds in America.

“This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources, costing
American taxpayers approximately $7.6 billion dollars annually. These
dollars would be better served combating serious and violent crime,
including the war on terrorism.”

Of those charged with marijuana violations, 88 percent some 662,886
Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 92,301
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,” Stroup said, noting that a
majority of young people now report that they have easier access to pot than
alcohol or tobacco.

The total number of marijuana arrests for 2003 far
exceeded the total number
of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter,
forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Marijuana arrests for 2003 increased 8 percent from the previous year, and
have nearly doubled since 1993.

“Arresting adults who smoke marijuana responsibly needlessly destroys the
lives of tens of thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens each year,”
Stroup said.

In the past decade, more than 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on
marijuana charges, more than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and
Wyoming combined. Nearly 90 percent of these total arrests were for simple
possession, not cultivation or sale. During much of this 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.

“Marijuana legalization would remove this behemoth financial burden from the
criminal justice system, freeing up criminal justice resources to target
other more serious crimes, and allowing law enforcement to focus on the
highest echelons of hard-drug trafficking enterprises rather than on minor
marijuana offenders who present no threat to public safety,” Stroup said.

Later this fall, the NORML Foundation will be releasing a comprehensive
report examining the nature, extent and costs of marijuana arrests in the
United States. The report will feature state-by-state analysis of marijuana
arrests by race, as well as an economic and geographic analysis of US
marijuana arrests. Further information on NORML’s forthcoming report is
available by contacting the NORML Foundation at:

media@norml.org.

YEAR                          MARIJUANA ARRESTS

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 Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at
(202) 483-5500.

www.norml.org
-end-
See

Bush’s New Freedom Initiative: “Treatment” For Using Cannabis, From The
Wonderful Folks Who Brought Us Vioxx, Baycol, Etc. Author of IOM Report Says, “I
can’t understand why it isn’t rescheduled.”
and

Decrim Okay With Drug Czar Walters? A Gaffe or a Miracle? Lessons for
Canada.They Should Also Notice Alaska.

A final note of irony:

The real Dutch drug problem
See

Good News From Holland Is Even Better in Context. “Large Majority” of Dutch
Parliament Favors Legalization of Cannabis. Most EU Countries Recognize Dutch
Model Superior to DEAland’s. We Are Winning!

On October 18th The Netherlands Central
Bureau of Statistics that the number of Dutch who die of alcohol abuse annually
has increased 25 percent in recent years. The report said that almost 1,800
people died in 2002 as a result of alcohol abuse up from 1,400 in 1996.

The increase was attributed in part to the aging
population, with two thirds of deaths occurring in the 45 to 69-year-old age
bracket. Even after adjusting for the affects of the aging population, there has
been a 15 percent rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths.
See

The Reality Of the Marijuana Situation In Canada: Unequal Injustice.

Alcohol Costs Canadian Health Almost 100 Times As Much As Marijuana.

Tobacco: Almost 200 As Much – Article and Editorial

Despite the prohibitionist propaganda about the supposed
connection between cannabis and mental illness, more than 50 percent of
alcohol-related deaths in 2002 were due to “psychic disorders” as a result of
alcohol abuse.
See

Parents The Pro-Drug? Are Nagging Parents Driving Their Kids to Drink? Driving
Schizophrenics Paranoid? Can We Drive the Media to Think?