Marijuana Arrests Decline
Slightly;
Feds Leak Stats To "Marijuana" Group That Opposes Legalization;
Tell NORML That The Data Is "Embargoed"
(Marijuananews note: Curiouser and
curiouser… Now the feds seem to be playing games with the marijuana reform
movement.
I began trying to get the media to report marijuana arrest statistics when I was
National Director of NORML. We put out press releases. We even put the numbers even on our
letterhead, but we had a very hard time getting anyone to report the data. Consequently,
even many well-informed people did not know that people were still being arrested.
See
Are people
really being arrested for marijuana possession? What happens when someone is arrested?
Over the last several years NORML has put out a press release on the numbers with an
analysis of the data.
See
NORML
Analysis Of Marijuana Arrest Numbers: "A marijuana user is arrested every 45 seconds
in America."
and
1997 Marijuana Arrests
Hit 695,000 -- A New Record; Percentage Of Marijuana Arrests For Simple Possession Ties
1979 Record -- Analysis By Richard Cowan
This year, the feds stiffed NORML and leaked the data to a group
that will not support legalization, and even after this story ran on the Reuters wire, the
feds refused to give NORML the data.
I suppose that it can be taken as a mark of NORML’s success
that the feds are trying to undercut it in favor of a group that is perceived as less of a
threat.)
October 18, 1999
Group Says
US Marijuana Busts Remained High In 1998
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of marijuana arrests last year remained near the 1997
record high and surpassed those for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault combined,
a group that lobbies for the reform of marijuana laws reported Sunday.
Citing statistics from the FBI's report of crime statistics for 1998, the
Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project said there were 682,885
arrests related to the drug in 1998, down 1.8 percent from the record high of 695,200 in
1997.
"This is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources,'' said Chuck Thomas,
spokesman for the group, which lobbies lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana prescribed
by doctors for illnesses that cause pain or discomfort associated with the treatment of
cancer or AIDS.
The 1998 marijuana arrests, 88 percent of which were for
possession as opposed to sale or manufacture, exceeded last year's arrests for murder,
rape, robbery and aggravated assault combined,
the Marijuana Policy project said in
its statement.
The FBI report that contained the drug data also showed that the United States had the
lowest murder rate in more than 30 years and that the overall number of serious crimes
reported in 1998 fell 5 percent, the seventh consecutive annual decline.
Citing other government statistics, the Marijuana Policy Project has reported that
there are 59,300 marijuana offenders in U.S. prisons and jails at
any given time.
"It is time to stop arresting adults who grow and consume their own marijuana at
home -- and instead put these public resources into violent-crime enforcement and
effective drug education,'' said Thomas.
Supported