This Is Why Marijuana Should Be Legal Everywhere

 

[Source: The Huffington Post]

A Gallup poll released on Tuesday reveals that for the first time in history, Americans are more in favor of legalizing marijuana than criminalizing it. 2013 has markedly been a successful year for marijuana legalization, with Colorado and Washington both passing laws to decriminalize the drug. Now, 58 percent of Americans are in favor allowing the plant to be legal.


With the majority of Americans agreeing that marijuana should be legalized, we've gathered up eight reasons why those who are still on the fence about the natural plant should possibly reconsider their feelings.

See what the 8 reasons are here:  READ MORE HERE

Nationwide, Police Make More Arrests For Marijuana Than For Violent Crimes In 2012

 
[Source: The Weed Blog]

The FBI released a new report today showing that nationwide, police in the U.S. conduct one drug arrest every 20 seconds and one marijuana arrest every 42 seconds. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of police, prosecutors, judges and other law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs, pointed to the figures showing almost 750,000 marijuana arrests and more than 1.5 million total drug arrests in 2012 as evidence that no matter how aggressively we conduct it, this is a war that can never be won.

“These numbers represent a tremendous loss of human potential. Each one of those arrests is the story of someone who may suffer a variety of adverse effects from their interaction with the justice system,” said LEAP executive director Neill Franklin, a cop for 34 years. “Commit a murder or a robbery and the government will still give you a student loan. Get convicted for smoking a joint and you’re likely to lose it. This is supposed to help people get over their drug habit?”

“Every time a police officer makes an arrest for drugs, that’s several hours out of his or her day not spent going after real criminals. As the country has been investing more and more of its resources into prosecuting drug ‘crime,’ the rate of unsolved violent crime has been steadily increasing. Where are our priorities here?” asked retired lieutenant commander Diane Goldstein, another LEAP speaker.

Today’s FBI report, which can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/persons-arrested/persons-arrested, shows that 82.2 percent of all drug arrests in 2012 were for possession only and 42.4 percent of all drug arrests were for possession of marijuana (88% of all marijuana arrests).

Marijuana arrests were down slightly this year from 2011, but arrests for all drug abuse violations increased. This is perhaps reflective of the growing number of communities who have legalized and regulated marijuana for medical and recreational use.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a group of more than 100,000 law enforcement officials and other supporters who, after fighting the war on drugs, now advocate for its end.

Full article: Police Made One Marijuana Arrest Every 42 Seconds in 2012

PA NAACP Endorses Marijuana Legalization Legislation

[Source: NORML]

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the NAACP endorsed Senate Bill 528, legislation that would regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol, yesterday during a press conference in Harrisburg. SB 528 was introduced earlier this year by State Senator Daylin Leach*.

Speaking at the press conference the current chair of the Legal Redress Committee for the Cheltenham Area Branch of the NAACP, David Scott, stated, “The war on drugs is a catastrophic failure.”

Sponsor Daylin Leach welcomed the group’s support. “This is decimating the minority community. This is a problem that is particularly acute,” said Senator Leach.

More coverage of this endorsement can be found here, here, and here.

Sponsors of Senate Bill 528 hope to bring it up for a committee hearing in the fall.

A recent report released by the ACLU, The War on Marijuana: In Black and White, revealed that Pennsylvania was one of the worst states when it came to racial disparities in marijuana arrests. According to their data, an African American in Pennsylvania is over five times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Pennsylvanians, despite using at similar rates.

*Senator Leach is also running for the US House of Representatives and has received support from NORML PAC. You can learn more about Senator Leach’s campaign here or the NORML PAC here. You can learn more about the ACLU report here.

- See more at: http://blog.norml.org/2013/06/26/pa-naacp-endorses-marijuana-legalization-legislation/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=PA+NAACP+Endorses+Marijuana+Legalization+Legislation#sthash.RqwT4M88.dpuf