For the second straight year under President Obama, more people are arrested for marijuana than all other drugs combined.

The 2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report has been released today and for the second year in a row, marijuana arrests make up a majority of all arrests in the “War on Drugs”.

The actual data table from the FBI UCR 2010 for all drug arrests

Nationally, there were 1,638,846 drug arrests reported to the FBI, with 52.1% of those arrests for marijuana charges.  Last year, 51.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana, showing a slight increase in marijuana as the majority of all drug arrests.  The last time marijuana made up a majority of the “War on Drugs” was 1985, when 55.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana.

Over 21 million marijuana arrests and counting...

These 853,839 marijuana arrests represent a drop of 4,569 arrests for marijuana as compared to the previous year.  However, arrests for all other drugs dropped by 20,167, or almost four-and-a-half times fewer drug arrests than marijuana arrests compared to a year ago.  Keep in mind these arrests increase or remain virtually steady while state after state legalizes medical use of marijuana and decriminalizes recreational marijuana, removing millions of cannabis users from the pool of potential marijuana arrests.

Marijuana is NORML in America

Meanwhile, arrests for violent crime have decreased for the fifth straight year, to just 552,077 arrests for “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault”.  The last time there were so few arrests for violent crime was, coincidentally, 1985.  Fewer violent crime arrests would be welcome if not for the fact that there were more violent crimes reported to police.  2010 had the most violent crimes reported to police in a decade (1,246,248), with only 44.3% of violent crimes reported leading to an arrest.

Geographically, the Midwest usually makes headlines for the devastating epidemic of methamphetamine manufacture and abuse.  However, 63.5% of all drug arrests in the Midwest are for marijuana use (53.9%) and cultivation (9.6%).  The South also makes more arrests for marijuana possession (51.5%) than any other drug charge.

The FBI Uniform Crime Report shows marijuana arrests increased by 10,000 to the 2nd highest-levels ever recorded

The 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Report has been released.  Last year’s report showed a decrease of nearly 25,000 from 2007, but this year we find marijuana arrests increased by over 10,000 to 858,408, the 2nd-highest total ever recorded.

Over the eight-year period of the George W. Bush Administration, state and federal governments arrested over 6.4 million marijuana users, sellers, and growers.  Over the span of the Clinton Administration, another 4.9 million were arrested.  However, Mr. Clinton’s administration fueled the massive increase in marijuana arrests, starting with only 381,000 as he took office and ending with 724,000 as he left, an increase of over 90%.  Mr. Bush, while maintaining arrests between 700,000 and 900,000, only increased the arrests by over 18%.

Marijuana IS the drug war - almost 52% of all drug war arrests are for marijuana

For the first time ever recorded, marijuana now makes up more than half of all drug arrests – 51.6%.  Overall drug arrests actually declined by 2.29% over the past year and have seen a steady five-year decline from 1.84 million arrests in 2005 to 1.66 million in 2009, an overall decline of almost 10%

Meanwhile, marijuana arrests increased this year by 1.24% and have increased over 9% from the 2005 total of 786,545.  Marijuana possession makes up 88% of all marijuana arrests – or just about 7 in 8 people busted for pot are just smoking it, not selling or growing it.  By comparison, 6 in 8 people busted for all other drugs are users, not sellers or manufacturers.

Does arresting pot smokers make violent crime decrease... or does more people smoking pot make violent crime decrease?

As drug arrests have increased steadily over the past two decades, violent crime has decreased in America.  The rate of violent crime in 1995 was 684.5 crimes per 100,000 people and now it has decreased to 429.4, the lowest rate ever recorded.  Compared to violent offenses known, police seem to make an arrest in 42%-44% of all violent crimes.

This has led to only 582,000 arrests for violent crime, also the lowest number recorded.  Since 1998 there have been more arrests for marijuana than violent crime and since 2000 there have been more arrests for marijuana possession than violent crime (save 2002).

As marijuana use has gone up, violent crimes have gone down. Coincidence?

Since arrests for drugs other than marijuana have dropped 10% in five years as violent crime arrests have dropped, we suppose one could argue that locking up more potheads has brought down violent crime… if one was ignorant enough to believe cannabis consumers are some great source of crime and violence.

We believe – and studies confirm – that cannabis use does not lead the user to commit violent acts (but that legal drug, alcohol, sure does!)  As we’ve seen the ranks of monthly marijuana users swell from 10 million to 15 million since 1991, we’ve also seen violent crime drop both overall and from a rate of 758.2 to 429.4 per 100,000 persons.

How many more murderers, rapists, batterers, thieves, molesters, burglars, frauds, cheats, and vandals would our police forces have time to investigate and our courts have time to prosecute if they weren’t spending nine hours on every marijuana possession offense?

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-09-16.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. The Emperor of Hemp, Jack Herer, suffers heart attack backstage at Portland Hempstalk
2. Nationwide marijuana arrests down for first time since 2002, but still 2nd highest arrest total ever
3. Police seek grower sales records from Berkeley Patients Group, get nothing

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• Did Jack Herer’s chronic cannabis use help or hurt him with regards to his heart attack?
• Study of anti-marijuana PSAs shows teens more likely to use when they see marijuana use in the ad

Cannabis Community

• Live audio excerpts from Saturday at Portland Hempstalk.

The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2008 has been released today and the numbers provide us with a few good news / bad news scenarios to report.

Marijuana Arrests 1990-2008

Good news: Marijuana arrests have declined from the previous year.  For the first time since 2002 (and only the 5th time since 1990), there were fewer marijuana arrests in America than the previous year.  Last year, there were 872,721 arrests for marijuana*; this year the figure has dropped to 847,864, a decline of 2.85%.

Bad news: There were 847,864 arrests for marijuana last year, the second-highest total of marijuana arrests ever recorded.  This is two-and-a-half times more arrests for pot than in 1990.  There were more pot arrests than people living in South Dakota.

Good news:  This year, arrests for “drug abuse violations” declined overall, from 1.84 million in 2007 to 1.70 million in 2008.  The proportion of drug arrests to all arrests also dropped, from 13% of all arrests in 2007 to 12.2% of all arrests in 2008.

Half of the "War on Drugs" is a War on Marijuana

Bad news: The number of marijuana arrests as a proportion of all “drug abuse violation” arrests increased from 47% to 49.8% – half of all drug arrests are for selling, manufacturing, or possessing marijuana.  In the Midwest and South, over half of all drug abuse violation arrests were just for possession of marijuana.

Good news: Police seem to be doing a better job on violent crime.  In 2008, here were only 2,500 fewer arrests for homicide, rape, robbery, and assault than 2007.  There were fewer incidents of violent crime in 2008 (1.22 million in 2007, 1.20 million in 2008) and better clearance of violent crimes (44.5% led to arrest in 2007, 45.1% led to arrest in 2008).

Bad news: 89% of all the marijuana arrests were for possession only, meaning there were 754,224 arrests for personal use of marijuana, not selling or cultivating.  The arrests for sales or cultivation of marijuana that make up 11% of all marijuana arrests include those who were growing their own for personal use and medical marijuana grows.  By comparison, there were only 594,911 arrests for the 1.22 million violent crimes committed in America.

Good news: While the number of adults who admit using marijuana in the past year increased by half a million, from 22 million in 2007 to 22.5 million in 2008, the number of arrests for marijuana declined by almost 25,000.  This means now there are 37.46 arrests-per-1000-annual-tokers in 2008 vs. 39.67 in 2007.  This works out to one marijuana arrest every 37 seconds in 2008, rather than every 36 seconds in 2007.

Bad news: The percentage of people under age 18 arrested for “drug abuse violations” remains unchanged at 10.6% of all drug arrests.

*Trying to break the habit of writing “842,864 people arrested”, because these arrests figures could include one person who was arrested multiple times.

# 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record | Project Censored

Project Censored announces the Top 25 Most Censored Stories for the last year and our own NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano was recognized (along with MPP’s Bruce Mirken) for coverage of the story of the 2006 FBI Uniform Crime Report showing a fourth straight record number of marijuana arrests (now fifth straight) in America.

Congratulations on the honor, Paul, and thanks for bringing the issue to mainstream attention.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-09-16

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-09-16.mp3)

You get to hear lots of voices on today’s Stash.  First you get audio from the Dr. Drew radio show, with our own Paul Armentano joining Dr. Drew and Bob Forrest to discuss the FBI’s announcement of the fifth straight all-time record number of marijuana arrests in America.

Then I’ve got audio from the Hemposium at Portland Hempstalk.  NORML Legal Committee attorney John Lucy IV, Oregon NORML Legal Counsel Paul Loney, and NORML Founder and Legal Counsel Keith Stroup took audience questions on marijuana and DUI laws.

The Drug War’s Latest Tally: 872,721 Pot Arrests, an All-Time High | DrugReporter | AlterNet
Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the United States, 89% of them for mere possession.

If denial is the first sign of addiction, then Drug Czar John Walters is hooked to the gills. He’s addicted to targeting and arresting marijuana consumers, and he’ll do and say anything to keep this irrational and punitive policy in place.

Speaking earlier this month on C-Span, the reigning Czar stretched his usual deceit to outrageous new heights. Responding to a question from the Marijuana Policy Project’s Dan Bernath, Walters flatly denied the charge that over 800,000 Americans are arrested annually for violating pot laws.

“We didn’t arrest 800,000 marijuana users,” Walters proclaimed. “That’s [a] lie.”

If only it were.

According to data released yesterday in the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, police in 2007 arrested over 872,000 US citizens – that’s nearly one out of every two Americans busted for illicit drugs — for weed. (The raw data is available from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation here and here.) That figure is a five percent increase over the total number of Americans busted in 2006. It’s more than three times the number of citizens charged with pot violations sixteen years ago.

Of those arrested in 2007, 89 percent – some 775,000 Americans — were charged with simple pot possession, not trafficking, cultivation, or sale. (By comparison, 27 percent of those arrested for heroin and cocaine offenses were charged with sales.) Three out of four were under age 30; one in four were 18-years-old or younger.

The FBI’s tally is the highest marijuana arrest total ever-reported in law enforcement history. If this pace continues, annual arrests for pot will surpass one million per year by 2010.

But to hear America’s top drug cop tell it few, if any, citizens are ever arrested for pot possession, and absolutely no one goes to jail for breaking marijuana laws.

“The fact is today, people don’t go to jail for the possession of marijuana,” Walters alleged on C-Span. “Finding somebody in jail or prison for possession of marijuana is like finding a unicorn. It doesn’t exist.”

Not true says the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, which reported last year in black and white — perhaps the Drug Czar is reading impaired – that 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug abuse violations are serving time for marijuana offenses. Combining these percentages with separate U.S. Department of Justice statistics on the total number of state and federal drug prisoners suggests that, at a minimum, there are now about 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates behind bars for marijuana offenses. (The report failed to include estimates on the percentage of inmates incarcerated in county or local jails for pot-related offenses, nor did it take into account the number of inmates serving time for violating the terms of their marijuana-related probation, such as those who submitted a ‘dirty’ urine to their parole officer.)

No matter how one slices it, that’s a lot of unicorns.

It also begs the question: Why does the Drug Czar feel the need to go to such absurd lengths to hide this overt outgrowth of American drug policy? After all, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy typically issue chest-thumping press releases when they achieve record busts for offenses involving cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine? Why then do they shy away from making similar proclamations for pot?

Perhaps it’s because, deep down, even the Drug Czar knows that the use of cannabis does not pose anywhere near the health and safety threat as does the use of other intoxicants, including alcohol, and that most Americans – rightly – would be outraged to learn that our nation’s so-called war on drugs is really just an assault on young adults caught with small bags of weed.

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-09-15.mp3)

Now this has been a day.  The FBI Uniform Crime Report came out and I spent all day digging through websites, researching, linking, creating spiffy charts.  

Then I made a splendid new advert for the NORML Conference, which you’ll hear at the very beginning of the show.  

I’ve also made a sporting new contest for Pass the Stash based on John Walters’ assertion that finding someone in prison for a first-time non-violent marijuana offense is like finding a unicorn.  So if you actually did time, more than just a holding cell at arrest, an actual sentence from a court served in a jail or prison for a first-time non-violent marijuana possession offense, please contact me at stash@norml.org and win our Marijuana Unicorn contest.  You win free stuff, more details in the podcast.  (Can someone send me an original graphic of a green unicorn with a joint for a horn?  I’ll give you some free NORML swag for that, too.)

Allen St. Pierre, NORML’s Executive Director, joins us for another Black Monday to discuss the fifth year in a row marijuana arrests have increased to an all-time record.

Then I’ve unpacked excerpts from two of my speeches at Seattle Hempfest last month, which are also available on video at the Oregon NORML YouTube channel.

We just announced that 872,721 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2007, and of those arrests, 89% or 775,138 were arrests for simple possession, this according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2007.  Well, according to Walters, after all these arrests – over 5 million during the Bush Administration – nobody goes to jail for simple possession.  He says “first-time, non violent” offenders in prison for possession of marijuana are like “unicorns”.

Download audio file (john-walters-mj-prisoners-like-unicorns.mp3)

After all, according to Walters, “we didn’t arrest 800,000″ people for marijuana last year.

Download audio file (john-walters-we-didnt-arrest-800000-mj-users.mp3)

Walters wants you to think all the people arrested for marijuana were (a) pleading their case down from a larger cultivation or trafficking charge, (b) involved in some other sort of violent crime, or (c) involved in a driving while intoxicated charge.

(a) If they’re pleading down charges, you sure are letting a whole lot of growers and traffickers avoid serious jail time (thanks, I guess) – so how is it that you’re so lenient on the marijuana growers/sellers (11% of marijuana arrests) but so tough on the heroin/cocaine traffickers (27% of heroin/cocaine arrests) and the meth/Ecstasy labs (31% of meth/Ecstasy arrests)?  You might lead people to believe you don’t think marijuana is as bad as those other drugs, don’t you think?

(b) If you’re arresting them for violent crimes and then tacking on the marijuana charges, how is it your violent crime arrests have remained steady or declined while marijuana charges have increased, and how is it you have fewer violent crime arrests than marijuana arrests?  

(c) If these are all DUI-related, how is it that DUI arrests have dropped 1.8% in the past ten years while marijuana arrests have increased by 28% over the same period of time?

I know!  There must have been a huge increase in the number of drunk-driving, gun-toting, pot-growing unicorns over the past ten years!