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           Marijuana Arrests Reach All-Time High

Just days before millions of voters will consider state measures to reform marijuana laws, the FBI has reported that marijuana arrests last year reached an all-time record high.

The FBI reported that there were 755,186 arrests for marijuana in 2003 -- far more than the 597,026 arrests that same year *for all violent crimes combined.* And it comes during a time when politicians bemoan the lack of law enforcement resources for fighting terrorism. 

Fully 88 percent of these marijuana arrests were for simple possession, not sale or manufacture.

Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., notes that, while failing to curb marijuana use, prohibition continues to cause tragedies like the death of Jonathan Magbie, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who died last month in a Washington, D.C., jail while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession.

Kampia also noted that the vast majority of marijuana users are "responsible users" who harm no one by their marijuana use.

Voters across the U.S. will consider a variety of marijuana policy reforms on November 2. A medical marijuana proposal is on the ballot in Montana. In Oregon, voters will decide whether to expand their existing medical marijuana law to allow patients to obtain their medicine from state-regulated dispensaries. As the Liberator Online reported earlier, Alaska's vote is particularly exciting: voters will consider replacing marijuana prohibition with a system that treats marijuana sales like alcohol. 

Oakland, California, voters will also decide whether to endorse taxation and regulation while making private, adult marijuana offenses the lowest priority for local law enforcement. Other reforms will be on some ballots in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Missouri. 

(Source: Marijuana Policy Project:
http://www.mpp.org ) 


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