Marijuana Arrests For Year 2007: 872,721 Tops Record High
NORML
Marijuana Arrests For Year 2007: 872,721 Tops Record High
-Five Percent Increase Over 2006-
September 15, 2008 - Washington, DC
Washington, DC: Police arrested a record 872,721 persons for marijuana
violations in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. This is the largest total
number of annual arrests for cannabis ever recorded by the FBI.
Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the
United States.
"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor
cannabis offenders," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who
noted that at current rates, a cannabis consumer is arrested every 37
seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice
resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on
serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."
Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent,
775,138 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 97,583
individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes
all cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for
personal or medical use. Nearly three in four of those arrested are under
age 30.
872,721 marijuana arrests in 2007, up 5.2% from 2006
September 15th, 2008 By: "Radical" Russ
Record number of Americans arrested for marijuana
The FBI has released its annual report on Crime in the United States 2007.
Once again, the number of people in the United States arrested for marijuana
has gone up. 872,721 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2007, and of
those arrests, 89% or 775,138 were arrests for simple possession - not
buying, selling, trafficking, or manufacture (growing).
This represents an increase in marijuana arrests of 5.2% from the previous
year and the fifth straight year marijuana arrests have increased from the
previous year. Now a marijuana smoker is arrested at the rate of 1 every 37
seconds and almost 100 marijuana arrests per hour.
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