Do you get the REAL significance of the DEA surveillance story? Wow, just Wow.

[Zorra]

37. Factor in the tens of thousands of cops and prison guards

the 1% needs to keep on our payroll, in their service, in order to keep us under control and keep them safe from democracy.

One Marijuana Arrest Occurs Every 42 Seconds In U.S.: FBI Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/one-marijuana-arrest-occu_n_2041236.html

With just over one week before voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington states will decide whether or not to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use, the FBI released a startling new report revealing that police in the U.S. arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds.

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data, there were a total of 1.5 million drug arrests made nationwide in 2011, and out of those arrests, about 750,000 were for marijuana (just under half, 49.5 percent) -- that's one marijuana arrest every 42 seconds and one drug arrest every 21 seconds in the U.S.

And although those numbers are down slightly from 2010, members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) -- a group of law enforcement officials who are advocating for an end to marijuana prohibition -- pointed to the figures as yet another sign that the nation's War on Drugs is failing.

"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," Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now heads LEAP, said in a statement. "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.”

Prison Stocks: What Happens When Marijuana Is Legalized?