Blogging for Freedom

Police make about 700, 000 arrests per year for marijuana offenses —roughly 87% of those are for nothing more than possession of small amounts.

Almost as many people are arrested for marijuana as for all other illicit drugs combined.

Enforcing marijuana laws costs an estimated $10-15 billion taxpayer dollars per year in direct costs alone.

More than 50% of Americans between the ages of 18-50 have tried marijuana at least once.

72% of Americans favor decriminalization—applying a fine, not jail time,

40% of Americans favor legalizing marijuana and treating it like alcohol, according to a 2003 Zogby poll.

Unlike alcohol and many other drugs, no one has ever died of a marijuana overdose.

Alabama locks up people convicted three times of marijuana possession for 15 years to life.

The federal Higher Education Act prohibits student loans to young people convicted of any drug offense; all other criminal offenders remain eligible.

More than 80% of high school students report that it’s easy to get marijuana.

Every state ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana has been approved.

Though it publicly denies that marijuana has medical value, the federal government currently provides marijuana from its own production site in Mississippi to a few court-certified patients.

In Holland, where cannabis is decriminalized, it is no more popular than in the U.S. 

 

This from an excellent article in the National Review by Ethan Nadelmann (July 2004).

 

Read the article here: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/nadelmann_marijuana_article.pdf