Obama has become more hostile to medical marijuana patients than any president in U.S. history

[RainDog]

128. 2009 was the year marijuana arrests accounted for the majority of drug arrests

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/sep/19/drug_arrests_top_16_million_last

You're talking about people in prison with your stats - not arrests. Whether someone gets a conviction or not is the second phase - the first is arrests.

US law enforcement agencies arrested 1,663,582 on drug charges last year, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report. That represents a slight decrease from the previous year.

Of those 1.6 million arrests, 858,408 were for marijuana offenses. Marijuana arrests thus accounted for 51.6% of all drug arrests, making 2009 the first year pot busts accounted for more than half of all drug arrests.

Of the marijuana arrests, 758,593 were for pot possession, while 99,815 were for sales or manufacturing. Thus, more than 88% of all marijuana arrests were for possession and more than 45% of all drug arrests were for pot possession.

Overall, drug possession arrests accounted for more than 81% of all drug arrests. Fewer than one in five drug arrests were for drug trafficking or manufacture.

Marijuana Prosecutions For 2010 Near Record High

http://norml.org/news/2011/09/19/marijuana-prosecutions-for-2010-near-record-high

Police made 853,838 arrests in 2010 for marijuana-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The annual arrest total is among the highest ever reported by the agency and is nearly identical to the total number of cannabis-related arrests reported in 2009.

According to the report, marijuana arrests now comprise more than one-half (52 percent) of all drug arrests in the United States. An estimated 46 percent of all drug arrests are for offenses related to marijuana possession.

"Today, as in past years, the so-called 'drug war' remains fueled by the arrests of minor marijuana possession offenders, a disproportionate percentage of whom are ethnic minorities," NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. "It makes no sense to continue to waste law enforcements' time and taxpayers' dollars to arrest and prosecute responsible Americans for their use of a substance that poses far fewer health risks than alcohol or tobacco."

The reality is that most of these arrests are occurring at the state level - for instance, New York had a huge increase in marijuana possession arrests - that, again, targeted minorities.

However, at the level of medical marijuana facilities - that's coming from the Federal Govt. So is the harassment of politicians who indicate support for mmj. So is the harassment of banks that are willing to accept dispensaries as patients. So is threatening state employees with prison for doing their jobs registering mmj facilities. So is threatening landlords to confiscate their property if they rent to a dispensary. So is the harassment of growers who are complying with state regulations - even if they're not arrested, their businesses have been destroyed.

That's also harassment - but I suppose it's "nicer" than an arrest - esp. considering the show trial aspect of such an arrest in the state of CA and the horrid P.R. that would pose for Democrats - not to mention such actions are against the wishes of local democratic parties.

When the San Francisco Democratic Party has asked Obama to stop the harassment, maybe it's a problem. when legislators in Washington State have asked Obama to reschedule cannabis to allow them to implement laws that people have voted to enact, maybe it's a problem.

When the overwhelming majority of Americans, for more than 20 years, has indicated they want legal medical marijuana, maybe it's a problem for the DoJ to harass people who are enacting provisions allowed by vote in various states.

If the law were based upon something other than bullshit - I could understand - but the reality is that the law was intended, from the time of the Tax Act, to target minorities and to eliminate competition for fat fucker industries. The intent to target minorities and liberals continued with Nixon and escalated with Ronnie Raygun, once he needed the votes of the talibornagains to win elections.

So, who the fuck cares if convictions are down when the law itself is one of THE most glaring examples of bad law that no one seems willing to address because it might make some pin headed Newt supporter upset?