It’s no secret that marijuana is frowned upon by the federal government. Even though the states have decided that they want to regulate marijuana their own way, there are still plenty of federal raids and other injustices that plague the cannabis community. The war on drugs is not working and it is never going to work. There is simply too much to do and not enough to gain from it. If we really want to end problems with marijuana, it sim ply needs to be legalized.
Facts About Drug Arrests
Our police force puts too many people in jail for small amounts of drugs. The money that goes in to housing them and keeping them out of the public for their sentence far outweighs what is gained by the community. These are simple facts, and yet no one has changed them still to this day. A recent FBI report said that someone is arrested for marijuana every 42 seconds in our country. This is absolutely disgusting, why is there such a focus on this harmless and recreational drug. To make matters worse, 87% percent of all marijuana related arrests in 2011 were only for possession. About a million and a half total drug arrests took place in 2011 in the United States. That means one person was arrested for drugs every 21 seconds. This ridiculous numbers are evidence that war on drugs has not, can not, and will not work.
Marijuana Isn’t So Bad
About half of the drug arrests that take place in our country are from marijuana. Why are we putting so much attention on this recreational drug when hard and addictive drugs are out there about which no one is doing anything. Neil Franklin explains a few things here, “Even excluding the costs involved for later trying and then imprisoning these people, taxpayers are spending between one and a half to three billion dollars a year just on the police and court time involved in making these arrests,” explained Neil Franklin, an ex Baltimore narcotics. “That’s a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs. Three states have measures on the ballot that would take the first step in ending this failed war by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana. I hope they take this opportunity to guide the nation to a more sensible approach to drug use.”
Positives to Take Away from This
While it’s clear that the frequent persecution of marijuana needs to be significantly toned down, not all is bad for those who stand on the side of cannabis. For one, these gross numbers are not as bad as they were in 2010, so we are seeing increased awareness of the current problem and less arrests for it. Marijuana is still not completely legal, even if your state says it is all right. In fact, it is still quite illegal in the federal sense and everything can come crashing to a halt if you wind up on their list. In order to end the war on marijuana, we need to stand strong and show them that we are not afraid!
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