Marijuana in America: More Mainstream Than Ever, More Arrests Than Ever

[Better Believe It]

Marijuana in America: More Mainstream Than Ever, More Arrests Than Ever
By Tony Newman, AlterNet
September 30, 2009
Marijuana's coming-out party is kicking into high gear across America -- but way to many people still are getting cuffed for it.


Need more evidence that marijuana has gone mainstream in America? This morning on the Today show, Matt Lauer chatted up a piece on so-called stiletto stoners -- educated, professional women with killer careers and enviable social lives who favor marijuana as their intoxicant of choice and are increasingly comfortable admitting it.

You might be surprised to learn that in the United States more than 750,000 people are arrested every year on marijuana possession. In New York, under "moderate" Bloomberg, there were 40,000 pot arrests last year, and the city now has the unfortunate distinction of being the marijuana-arrest capital of the world.

While marijuana use doesn't discriminate, our marijuana policies do. Nationally and in New York City, marijuana arrests show stark racial disparities. In 2008, 87 percent of those charged with pot possession in New York were black or Latino. These groups represent only about half of the city's population, and U.S. government surveys consistently find that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than blacks and Latinos.

In November, more than 1,000 people from across the country and around the world -- including drug-policy experts, health care and drug-treatment professionals, elected officials and people who were formerly incarcerated -- will meet in New Mexico to organize, strategize and promote alternatives to the failed war on drugs.

The Today show said 8 million women tried marijuana in the last year. We need them to join the movement to end marijuana prohibition.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/143005/marijuana_in_america%3A_more_mainstream_than_ever%2C_more_arrests_than_ever

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International Drug
Policy Reform Conference
November 12-14, 2009
Albuquerque, New Mexico

For more information click here:

http://www.reformconference.org/index.php

[fascisthunter]

1. Spahk dem up!

[rucky]

2. Pot busts are a big moneymaker!

[redqueen]

3. Precisely. (nt)

[Echo In Light]

4. For fascist, RW intere$ts. "We've reached a conclusion on Item 9: ILLEGAL!!!!"

[FiveGoodMen]

5. You'd think we could stop this nonsense in "our" country

But it doesn't really seem to be ours, does it?

[Better Believe It]

6. No it doesn't.

[leftstreet]

7. K&R

[juno jones]

8. This doesn't surprise me.

Nearly everybody in my personal and professional life smokes pot, including myself.

The few who don't either don't because they are drug tested for their job or have personal chemistry that doesn't gibe well with MJ (or other intoxicants for that matter). None of them eschew it or condemn it on 'moral' or 'religious' grounds.

Prohibition doesn't work and makes us all less safe.