Pubdate: Wed, 26 Sep 2007
Source: Spectrum, The (SUNY At Buffalo, NY Edu)
Copyright: 2007 The Spectrum Student Periodical, Inc
Contact:  http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3958

MARIJUANA ARRESTS UP

Concentration on hard crime down?

The 2006 Uniform Crime Report released by the Federal  Bureau of
Investigation revealed that 44 percent of all  current drug-crime
arrests involve marijuana, amounting  to a total of 829,625 people
arrested.

This was reported in a Sept. 24, 2007 news release made  by NORML, an
organization that works for the reform of  marijuana laws. Allen St.
Pierre, the executive  director of NORML, points out that people are
under the  impression that law enforcement officers do not target
marijuana users; the 2006 FBI numbers speak otherwise.

"This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice  resources that
diverts law enforcement personnel away  from focusing on serious and
violent crime," St. Pierre  continued.

This is not an argument about the legalization of  marijuana, but
rather the misappropriation of the  criminal justice system. Who poses
a bigger threat to  society: a Nintendo-playing stoner or a malicious
sexual assailant? Police should be more concerned about  violent
criminals than potheads who get baked and sit  around doing nothing.
So while it's easy for the 5-0 to  stick its nose in the air and smell
the hash, its time  may be better spent looking for the type of
criminal  that robs apartments - like those in the University  Heights.

Prisons are filled with the non-violent pot-smokers,  and taxpayers
are financing their incarceration.  Instead, the government should be
using that money to  track down murderers on the loose.

The ideal of American streets being safe from criminals  is far from
realistic. But arresting killers and  rapists instead of pot-smoking
hippies is a step in the  right direction. Who would you rather have
behind bars:  50 stoners or one homicidal maniac?
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MAP posted-by: Derek