Marijuana prohibition is one of the worst public policies in American history. Marijuana opponents will try as hard as they can to act like no one gets arrested for marijuana anymore, and therefore we should just maintain the status quo. The FBI puts out marijuana arrest statistics each year that I think every activist should point to early and often which paint a very clear picture – people are still getting arrested for marijuana all the time, and taxpayer dollars are being wasted in the process. Below are the most recent statistics, which were released by the FBI today (thanks Tom Angell for sending them over!):
* There were 700,993 marijuana arrests in the U.S. in 2014. That’s one every 45 seconds.
* Marijuana arrests comprised 44.9 percent of all drug arrests, and drug crimes are the largest category of offenses people were arrested for.
* 88.4 percent of marijuana arrests were for possession alone.
* In comparison, there were 693,482 marijuana arrests in the U.S. in 2013. Data on marijuana arrests for years prior to 2013 is at https://www.drugwarfacts.
Below is a statement from Tom Angell, the head of the Marijuana Majority:
“It’s unacceptable that police still put this many people in handcuffs for something that a growing majority of Americans think should be legal. A record number of states are expected to vote on legalizing marijuana next year, so we hope and expect to see these numbers significantly dropping soon. There’s just no good reason that so much police time and taxpayer money is spent punishing people for marijuana when so many murders, rapes and robberies go unsolved.”
If you value freedom, you should consider making a donation to the Marijuana Majority today at this link here.
