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? - --- MAP posted-by: Derek