Ha ha ha, referring to a White House anti-drug website for accurate info on drugs. :roflmao:
[quote]Background
The United States is relying heavily on a criminal justice response to drug use and drug offenders, and the number of marijuana arrests has increased. In May, the Sentencing Project reported that marijuana arrests accounted for 82 percent of the new drug abuse violations from 1990 to 2002. In June, Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron reported that law enforcement, judicial and corrections responses to marijuana represented $5.1 billion in spending.
The latest figures from the Justice Department show that nearly half of the 1.5 million drug arrests were for marijuana. However, leading national indicators of marijuana use rates show little relationship between increased arrests of drug users and drug use. . .
Findings
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The United States is spending nearly 300 times what it did 35 years ago on drug control. Drug control spending rose from $65 million in 1969 to $19 billion in 2003
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While drug control spending has increased, marijuana use remains relatively unchanged
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Increasing or decreasing arrest rates has had little impact on marijuana use
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In 7 out of 10 states over half of the drug arrests were for marijuana offenses. . . .[/quote]
justicepolicy.org/downloads/ … xecsum.pdf
[quote] An estimated 400,000 people – almost one-quarter of the total incarcerated population in the U.S. – are confined in local jails and state and federal prisons on drug charges. . .
Between 1980 and 1997, the number of annual drug arrests tripled to a high of 1,584,000. . . .
The estimated time served by drug offenders in state prisons increased a full year between 1987 and 1996; federal drug sentences doubled. . .
In 1980, drug offenders comprised only six percent of state prison populations. By 1998, they constituted 21 percent. In federal prisons, drug offenders now comprise 59 percent of all inmates, whereas they represented only a quarter of federal inmates in 1980.
Available research indicates that most incarcerated drug offenders are bit players in the drug trade . . . Three quarters of the drug offenders in state prisons in 1997 had no prior convictions for violent crimes; one third had prior sentences limited to drug offenses. In 1991, fourteen percent of the drug offenders in state prisons had no prior sentence. . .[/quote]
hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-03.htm
AND HERE’S PERHAPS THE BEST REPORT AVAILABLE on arrests/imprisonment for marijuana in the US:
[quote] This report analyzes multiple sources of data for the period 1990–2002 from each of the critical points in the criminal justice system, from arrest through court processing and into the correctional system. . . The study found that since 1990, the primary focus of the war on drugs has shifted to low-level marijuana offenses. During the study period, 82% of the increase in drug arrests nationally (450,000) was for marijuana offenses, and virtually all of that increase was in possession offenses. Of the nearly 700,000 arrests in 2002, 88% were for possession.
Key findings include:
Of the 450,000 increase in drug arrests during the period 1990–2002, 82% of the growth was for marijuana, and 79% was for marijuana possession alone;
Marijuana arrests now constitute nearly half (45%) of the 1.5 million drug arrests annually;
Few marijuana arrests are for serious offending: of the 734,000 marijuana arrests in 2000, only 41,000 (6%) resulted in a felony conviction;
Marijuana arrests increased by 113% between 1990 and 2002, while overall arrests decreased by 3%;
New York City experienced an 882% growth in marijuana arrests, including an increase of 2,461% for possession offenses;
African Americans are disproportionately affected by marijuana arrests, representing 14% of marijuana users in the general population, but 30% of arrests;
One-third of persons convicted for a marijuana felony in state court are sentenced to prison;
One in four persons in prison for a marijuana offense – an estimated 6,600 persons – can be classified as a low-level offender;
An estimated $4 billion is spent annually on the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of marijuana offenders.
The findings in this report call for a national discussion regarding the zealous prosecution of marijuana use and its consequences for allocation of criminal justice resources and public safety. Law enforcement has focused disproportionately on low-level possession charges as a result of the nation’s lack of a thoughtful strategy about how best to address the consequences of marijuana use. . . [/quote]
harmreductionjournal.com/content/3/1/6
Here are a couple of charts from the above report, showing the dramatic increase in arrests for mere marijuana possession and the great percentage that makes up of all drug arrests: