WP: Marijuana Becomes Focus of Drug War

[Ignatius J.]

There are some things that really piss me off. This is one of them. I simply do not understand how any conversation about government waste can begin without the DEA. It has to be the single most useless agency I've ever heard of.

35 billion, and what do we have to show for it? No evidence that drug use has dropped with enforcement. Even if you believe drugs are evil, this agency has shown itself to be effective only in encarcerating scores of non-violent people, with little to no observable effect on drug use rates in the population at large. It is a failed policy based on a mistaken premise.

Who votes for these people?

*************************************

Marijuana Becomes Focus of Drug War

Less Emphasis on Heroin and Cocaine

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 4, 2005; A01

The focus of the drug war in the United States has shifted significantly over the past decade from hard drugs to marijuana, which now accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests nationwide, according to an analysis of federal crime statistics released yesterday.

The study of FBI data by a Washington-based think tank, the Sentencing Project, found that the proportion of heroin and cocaine cases plummeted from 55 percent of all drug arrests in 1992 to less than 30 percent 10 years later. During the same period, marijuana arrests rose from 28 percent of the total to 45 percent.

Coming in the wake of the focus on crack cocaine in the late 1980s, the increasing emphasis on marijuana enforcement was accompanied by a dramatic rise in overall drug arrests, from fewer than 1.1 million in 1990 to more than 1.5 million a decade later. Eighty percent of that increase came from marijuana arrests, the study found.

The rapid increase has not had a significant impact on prisons, however, because just 6 percent of the arrests resulted in felony convictions, the study found. The most widely quoted household survey on the topic has shown relatively little change in the overall rate of marijuana use over the same time period, experts said.

"In reality, the war on drugs as pursued in the 1990s was to a large degree a war on marijuana," said Ryan S. King, the study's co-author and a research associate at the Sentencing Project. "Marijuana is the most widely used illegal substance, but that doesn't explain this level of growth over time. . . . The question is, is this really where we want to be spending all our money?"

The think tank is a left-leaning group that advocates alternatives to traditional imprisonment. Criminologists and government officials confirmed the trend, which in some ways marks a return to a previous era. In 1982, marijuana arrests accounted for 72 percent of all drug arrests, according to the study.

Bush administration officials attribute the rise in marijuana arrests to a variety of factors: increased use among teenagers during parts of the 1990s; efforts by local police departments to focus more on street-level offenses; and growing concerns over the danger posed by modern, more potent versions of marijuana. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a study yesterday showing that youth who use marijuana are more likely to develop serious mental health problems, including depression and schizophrenia.

"This is not Cheech and Chong marijuana," said David Murray, a policy analyst for the anti-drug office. "It's a qualitatively different drug, and that's reflected in the numbers."

The new statistics come amid signs of a renewed debate in political circles over the efficacy of U.S. drug policies, which have received less attention recently amid historically low crime rates and a focus on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, for example, has formed a national committee to oversee prosecution of violent drug gangs and has vowed to focus more resources on the fight against methamphetamine manufacturers and other drug traffickers.

But increasingly, some experts have begun to argue that the U.S. drug war, which costs an estimated $35 billion a year, has had a minimal impact on consumption of illicit substances. The conservative American Enterprise Institute published a report in March titled "Are We Losing the War on Drugs?" Its authors argue that, among other things, "criminal punishment of marijuana use does not appear to be justified."

The study released yesterday by the Sentencing Project found that arrests for marijuana account for nearly all of the increase in drug arrests seen during the 1990s. The report also found that one in four people in state prisons for marijuana offenses can be classified as a "low-level offender," and it estimated that $4 billion a year is spent on arresting and prosecuting marijuana crimes.

In addition, the study showed that although African Americans make up 14 percent of marijuana users generally, they account for nearly a third of all marijuana arrests.

Among the most striking findings was the researchers' examination of arrest trends in New York City, which focused intently on "zero tolerance" policies during Rudolph W. Giuliani's mayoral administration. Marijuana arrests in the city increased tenfold from 1990 to 2002, from 5,100 to more than 50,000, the report said. Nine of 10 of arrests in 2002 were for possession rather than dealing.

The study also found a wide disparity in the growth of marijuana arrests in some of the United States' largest counties, from a 20 percent increase in San Diego to a 418 percent spike in King County, Wash. (The only decrease in the sample came in Northern Virginia's Fairfax County, where marijuana arrests declined by 37 percent.)

"There's been a major change in what's going on in drug enforcement, but it clearly isn't something that someone set out to do," said Jonathan Caulkins, a criminology professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "It's not like anyone said, 'We don't care about cocaine and heroin anymore.' . . . The simple answer may be that police are now taking opportunities to make more marijuana arrests than they were when they were focused on crack cocaine in the 1980s."

© 2005 The Washington Post Com

[SkinsHokieFan]

Stupid stupid stupid

I don't know where to begin to destroy this article and the quotes in it.

Not caring about heroin and coke??? Thats what kills people, thats what gets money to guys in suits with Tommy guns

Ugh :doh:

[luckydevil]

Pure idiocy

[Skins23]

Up here in BC,Canada the stuff is pretty much legal unless your some kind of hurtball.The US war on dope is mindboggling!:high:

[DjTj]

Originally posted by Ignatius J.

There are some things that really piss me off. This is one of them. I simply do not understand how any conversation about government waste can begin without the DEA. It has to be the single most useless agency I've ever heard of.

35 billion, and what do we have to show for it? No evidence that drug use has dropped with enforcement. Even if you believe drugs are evil, this agency has shown itself to be effective only in encarcerating scores of non-violent people, with little to no observable effect on drug use rates in the population at large. It is a failed policy based on a mistaken premise.

Who votes for these people?

Who votes for these people? A vast majority of the American public votes for these people. Being tough on crime and tough on drugs buys votes. There's no question about that.

Just like nobody advocates cuts in defense spending anymore, nobody will ever advocate cuts in law enforcement. War on Terror. War on Drugs. untouchable.

There is so little to gain politically from reducing drug enforcement. People hate drugs - even more than they hate immigrants. In the 90's there was brief talk about reducing the 10-to-1 sentencing disparity for crack vs. cocaine, but Clinton and Congress couldn't even get that done.

There is no drug lobby on Capitol Hill. The NRA can stop overaggressive gun crime legislation, the ACLU can oppose censorship efforts, but nobody speaks up against drug enforcement.

It's going to take a lot more than simple logic to make a change here.

[Sarge]

Here's Sarge's plan for the drug war. The military ceases it all, poisons it and sells it out on the street.

It's win/win. The gov gets the money, some wastoids kick off and the rest are too scared to buy more dope.

Vote for Sarge in 2012

[hokie4redskins]

strange thing is that it only makes it easier for kids to get it. They can't get beer and cigs because they get carded so they just stroll up the street and score a dub sack no questions asked.

Depending on the long-term ramifications of Bush's social security plan, my generation will most likely have no choice but to legalize it, regulate it, and tax the jonkst out of it to supplement dwindling social security funds for old farts like you and me.

:party:

[NoCalMike]

I still don't understand the "more potent" statement. Last I checked, you smoke it, get high for a couple of hours, and then come down, unless you smoke more. Just like anything else though, the more expensive stuff you buy, the better quality it should be, but that goes for most any product in the world(besides the instances of people getting ripped off of course).

Out here in CA, marijuana is basically legal unless you are holding so much that you can't close the trunk of your car. You might get it taken away if police find it, but it is doubtful they will waste their time arresting you.

[NoCalMike]

Originally posted by Sarge

Here's Sarge's plan for the drug war. The military ceases it all, poisons it and sells it out on the street.

It's win/win. The gov gets the money, some wastoids kick off and the rest are too scared to buy more dope.

Vote for Sarge in 2012

pffft........NO.

[kameuh]

Cash crop indeed. Like true junkies (crack/heroin users) typically have any money or property to conficate.. most the time they have already cashed that in for another fix (read pawn shop)...

Maybe this link is a bit dated, and probably been posted before but still an interesting read anyways

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/maryj.html

[dreamingwolf]

Originally posted by hokie4redskins

strange thing is that it only makes it easier for kids to get it. They can't get beer and cigs because they get carded so they just stroll up the street and score a dub sack no questions asked.

Depending on the long-term ramifications of Bush's social security plan, my generation will most likely have no choice but to legalize it, regulate it, and tax the jonkst out of it to supplement dwindling social security funds for old farts like you and me.

:party:

now thats some confounding logic. x is easier to get cause it is illegal, but y is harder to get cause its illegal.

one has nothing to do with the other. I was under 21 once and I had no trouble getting alcohol, there was always an older brother friend of someone who could hook you up.

The only difference is the smaller the drug, the easier it is to move. The easier it is to move the more prolific it is. It has very little to do with the carding of legal substances.

My solution is as unpopular as sarges, but lacks the head count. I say you license drug users(an annual fee) to hold a clearly self consumable ammount at a time, and set up green houses to grow weed(payed for by fees of the users that want to grow their own).

Manufactured drugs would have to be produced and dispensed through controlled government agencies.

This would be backed by enforcement policies of heavy jail time for users who failed to get licensed and held more substance than allowed. Execution for any user found with possession on school property or in an area designed for children.

Use in public would also be punishable.

And yes, being a drinker, I would have no problems being identified as an alcohol user.

Drivers licenses would carry your user marks on them to allow you to purchase what you use, and those privilages could be revoked if misused.

[Ghost of]

I await Sarge's plan to poison the alcohol supply and prescription medicines that people get addicted to.

And food...

And porn...

Drug War is a bigger waste and has done more to enrich and empower the worst elements of our society than even Prohibition. What's worse, it's become the excuse for the abomination to our liberties known as no-knock raids and countless other infringements of human dignity and reason.

Execute the Drug Warriors. That'd be my solution(though I'd still be with killing off narco-terrorists and the like once we squeeze the black market with legalization)

[Sarge]

Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

I await Sarge's plan to poison the alcohol

Booze? Are you :insane:

Of course killing the drug lords goes without saying.

[Baculus]

Sarge, to some folks, marijuana is the same as booze, as far as what they use to relax. And I am not sure if your proposal includes marijuana, but I would dare to guess it would affect a decent number of posters here, as well as many members of society in various fields who use marijuana.

The War on Drugs will not win, simply because people know what they want to do, and will continue to do it if they do not see it as being harmful. The War on Drugs is simply a morality war, since most studies show that marijuana is not the extremely dangerous schedule I drug as the federal government claims.

And consider the legal drugs that aren't so benign, or the fact that children are being prescribed forms of speed for their hyperactivity (which used to be solved by doing physical activities). Or the fact that heroin use increased during the War on Drugs, not decreased.

It's a big farce, especially considering the very possible involvement of certain factions of our government being involved in the drug trade, i.e. Contra cocaine and the S.E. asia heroin market. But that is another story....

[Johnny Punani2]

Here is my theory on why this is being done...

It's all about funding.

The more drug arrests law enforcement makes the more they can claim they are having an impact on the drug use in the US. Which would result in more funding for themselves.

To target marijuana over drugs that ARE dangerous like cocaine and heroin is retarded to say the least. The efforts to curb marijuana use in the US have been a total failure. The reason? Because reasons for banning marijuana use are based on the lies and greed of Mr. DuPont and his cronies in Washington.

What about alcohol? The gov is happy to keep that legal and tax the crap out of it and you can OD and die from it. Where is the logic in that?

"This is not Cheech and Chong marijuana," said David Murray, a policy analyst for the anti-drug office. "It's a qualitatively different drug, and that's reflected in the numbers."

Bullsh*t. That has to be the biggest load of crap I've read in a long time. This is common propoganda used now to keep marijuana illegal. It is a whole new drug now and so powerfull one hit will make you (insert various scary outcome). Reefer Madness!!!! Run for your lives!! Mr. Murray, you sir are an idiot...

Besides, Cheech & Chong marijuana can turn you into a lizard. Can it get more powerfull then that?

[Prosperity]

JP is right they are just doing this because they know MJ users are the easiest to catch. What a waste of tax payer money.

[@DCGoldPants]

Just base it off the way they do it in Amsterdam.

Sure, we'll sell you some Marijuana....and it won't be that expensive. But we're going to tax it big time.

and if you bring a "hard" drug in here.....we're going to call the cops.

So, don't be dumb. Treat it like Alcohol....meaning, don't go to work on it, or drive under the influence.....and we'll let this one slide.

[DC_Skins]

Originally posted by NoCalMike

I still don't understand the "more potent" statement. Last I checked, you smoke it, get high for a couple of hours, and then come down, unless you smoke more.

Don't you know man ! if you smoke MJ then you might overdose on HO HO's and Twinkies..

sheeeesh....... I thought you would know..

[Destino]

The drug war is a big waste of money to anyone that looks at the facts. Sadly most people just have a knee jerk drug = bad reaction and never really examine the issue.

[Bucaro]

I think the problem is people only look at a few issues with who they elect. Most people know their reps stance on the abortion, taxes etc. but never care about the smaller issues. Those who said this is all about money is right. This is about padding peoples pockets and we are getting into a "reefer madness" mentality in this country with a lot of things, not just pot. It is propaganda making this country run on fear rather than intelect.

[Kilmer17]

stupid waste of time, money, and resources.

Legalize it, and tax the ever living crap out of it.

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by Sarge

Here's Sarge's plan for the drug war. The military ceases it all, poisons it and sells it out on the street.

It's win/win. The gov gets the money, some wastoids kick off and the rest are too scared to buy more dope.

Vote for Sarge in 2012

There was an episode of "Streets of San Francisco where a cop did that. Problem was, he didn't realize his own son was a drug user, and he inadvertently caused his own son's death.

I have a better plan. Allow addicts to get prescriptions for their drugs, but make it illegal for them to drive.

Or just allow any idiot to get high. Let them OD without any help from the gov't.

[hokie4redskins]

now thats some confounding logic. x is easier to get cause it is illegal, but y is harder to get cause its illegal.

now thats some confounding logic. x is easier to get cause it is illegal, but y is harder to get cause its illegal.

What's so "confounding"? Uh, you ever hear of a black market? Some never had "older brothers" to score them alcohol. But if you're insinuating marijuana isn't as easy to get as beer to an underage teen with no ID, I'm not sure where you grew up.

[richard saunders]

I don't see anything new in this article...

I also don't think the "focus of drug war" is on marijuana either.

More people smoke pot than coke, or heroin combined. So of course there will be more pot arrests??? That doesn't mean that's their main focus.

I found it interesting that pot arrests are decreasing in Fairfax County....maybe the cops here are backing off a bit.

[codeorama]

Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

I await Sarge's plan to poison the alcohol supply and prescription medicines that people get addicted to.

And food...

And porn...

Drug War is a bigger waste and has done more to enrich and empower the worst elements of our society than even Prohibition. What's worse, it's become the excuse for the abomination to our liberties known as no-knock raids and countless other infringements of human dignity and reason.

:doh: :doh:

Yikes, I agree with Ghost, this is starting to become a habit....

I don't do drugs and never have. If they were legal, I still wouldn't. Legalize them and tax them and regulate them like alcohol.

If someone wants to be a crackhead in their home, fine, that's their choice, they can live with the consequences, but I don't want to get shot out on the street because I get caught in the middle of a drug deal or some other BS.

Same with prostitution. Who is the victim?