Record Pot Arrests Highlight Even Bigger Pot Lies

If I had a dime for every time A law enforcement officer claimed that busting petty pot offenders wasn't their priority, then I might have enough loose change to compensate each of the 829,625 Americans arrested for marijuana violations in 2006.

Of course, like most statistics related to the war on drugs, the 2006 arrest data -- released earlier today by the FBI -- raises far more questions than answers.

For instance: If busting minor marijuana offenders -- of those charged with pot violations in 2006, approximately 89 percent (some 738,915 Americans) were charged with possession only -- isn't a law enforcement priority, then why have pot busts increased nearly 200 percent over the past 15 years, increasing from a modern low of 287,850 in 1991 to the all-time record high set last year?

Police will tell you that it's because there's a whole lot more Americans using pot these days. However, America's top drug cop -- US Drug Czar John Walters -- says differently, bragging earlier this month that pot use has been declining for the past five years. (Curiously, pot arrests have increased more than 15 percent during this time.)

Not surprisingly, the Czar is contradicted by his own statistics. Specifically, recently published survey data compiled by the federal Office of Applied Studies (OAS) indicates that the number of reported 'regular' users of pot (defined as having used the drug at least once over a 30-day period) has actually increased slightly -- from 14.6 million users in 2005 to 14.8 million in 2006. (Archived federal survey data indicates that this total has hovered consistently around 14 to 15 million users for most of the past decade.)

Nevertheless, if the overall number of regular pot users has remained stagnant at a mere 14 million or so over the past few years, then just who the hell is making up the 700,000 to 800,000 Americans being arrested each year for smoking weed? After all, if we're to take both the FBI and OAS data at face value, then one could assume that some 8 million Americans -- or more than half of the American pot smoking population -- have been busted over the past ten years!

Or, one can conclude that the federal survey's supposed pot data -- much like the claims of the Drug Czar and local law enforcement -- is most likely just a crock.

Paul Armentano is the senior policy analyst for NORML and the NORML Foundation. He may be contacted via e-mail at: [e-mail]

Comments

[anfractuous]

Obviously, it's that same 800,000 over and over again. They're just not too bright: walking past police stations while pulling on a bong; spelling out "Go Fuck Yourself DEA" with pot plants on their front lawn. If we could just get rid of them, exiling to British Columbia, for example, our drug problems would be a memory. Then, we can finally address the 800,000 cops who get high.

[dadw5boys]

If pot was legal drug companys would lose millions from lost sales for pain pills.

[sdskelton03]

I am all for legalizing weed, and I have smoked a bunch of it in my lifetime. Never once has it relieved any pain.

There are lots of good reasons to smoke pot. It aids in introspection, creativity, meditation and prayer, as well as the general euphoria associated with it.

Marijuana, if it is at all, is a very shitty pain killer.

[larry278]

The cops estimate of an increase in the use of marihuana is more proof that W is making the USA go to pot.

[oldpotsmuggler]

Even he had to do something right!

[BadChristian]

Nevertheless, if the overall number of regular pot users has remained stagnant at a mere 14 million or so over the past few years, then just who the hell is making up the 700,000 to 800,000 Americans being arrested each year for smoking weed?
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That'd be urbania.

[oldpotsmuggler]

Florida became option one in the seventies for all kinds of pot smugglers because of its natural traffic with so many places that product can move from or through. For example, lots of folks used to run ocean racers or sport fishing boats from the Keys to the Bahamas just for the hell of it.

Another interesting life style characteristic is day trippers or overnighters taking private planes to virtually every place in the Caribbean Basin. This kind of traffic was completely unregulated at that time, and most pilots didn't even bother with flight plans. Flying under radar was always an option but, initially at least, we just blended in with all of the other traffic.

As for where to go, we just used airports at first. There are hundreds of them, and it's real easy to get an enclosed hanger almost any place. Later, the locals started "profiling" so we would just do a quick stop and unload on a road surface. We're talking less than five minutes from start to finish, and Florida had hundreds of miles of unused roads in "land scam" real estate developments.

If I wanted to do the same thing now, and the cargo was valuable enough to justify the expense, I would just flight plan a trip, drop the plane in a secluded place, and drive away with the load. The logistics for this are all easily manageable.

On a little more grand scale, someone could buy a 737 out of mothballs, flight plan a trip from Venezuela to Canada, and take advantage of the wide open spaces of the western U.S. Air drop the cargo, parachute the crew, and let the plane fall out of the sky? Seems like it could happen, if someone wanted it to badly enough.

Maybe at least part of the answer is keeping friendships with the other countries in our hemisphere strong enough that we know that we are all clearly on the same side.

[Misanthrope2]

Re: If I wanted to do the same thing now, and the cargo was valuable enough to justify the expense, I would just flight plan a trip, drop the plane in a secluded place, and drive away with the load.

Wasn't that the premise of the movie "Easy Rider" ?

[castlerider]

That's all way too much trouble...

Let's just get more cool people in the halls of leadership and legalize the damn stuff.

[trappedfish]

Let's change our government's agenda, and make it be that of trying to help the nation as a whole and each individual familly become energy and corporate independant(solar, wind, wood chips, etc and fractional ownership for all workers) and smoking weed will be a lot smaller problem. The fact is that because of the internet, masses have been able to get better oranized and fight the government more efficiently and create more laxed loope wholes and California and the West coast is a good exmple. A lot more people these days grow pot also, because there's good cash in it and also the rap it's easier to beat with doctor's prescriptions, so more people find it a lot smaller risk than in the past and feel compelled to grow it themselves. Why pay $20.00 per gram of good weed? Its not gold. Grow it yourself!

[meandmagoo]

You've just managed to sound like a commie as far as the corporate government is concerned.What makes you think present say America is about being fair and equatable?
I think you're growing a pretty potent herb.