Who is the victim if you or I choose to smoke a plant?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacob Sullum <http://reason.com/people/jacob-sullum> | March 17, 2011
A new report <http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/nycmjarrestcosts.cfm>
from the Drug Policy Alliance estimates that New York City spends $75
million a year to arrest people for marijuana possession, even though
possession of up to 25 grams (about nine-tenths of an ounce) is not an
arrestable offense in New York state. The report's authors, Queens
College sociologist Harry Levine and drug policy researcher Loren Siegel
(formerly with the ACLU), note that "carrying a small amount of
marijuana in a pocket, backpack or purse...is /not/ a crime" in New
York. It is a citable offense, similar to a traffic violation,
punishable by a $100 fine. But as Levine has shown
<http://reason.com/blog/2008/04/30/new-york-citys-marijuana-arres>,
police in New York City routinely trick people (overwhelmingly young
blacks and Hispanics) into taking out their marijuana and exposing it to
"public view," which converts a citable offense into a misdemeanor.
"From 1997 through 2010," Levine and Siegel report, "the NYPD made
536,000 arrests for marijuana possession." This little-noticed crackdown
<http://reason.com/archives/2008/05/07/to-catch-a-leaf> on pot smokers,
they estimate based on conservative assumptions, has cost taxpayers
between $500 million and $1 billion. That's on top of "the serious human
costs and consequences," which include not only the inconvenience and
humiliation of the arrest and time spent in jail but permanent criminal
records that can be a lifelong handicap.
Go here
<http://reason.com/search?cx=000107342346889757597%3Ascm_knrboh8&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=Harry+Levine+marijuana+arrests&sa=Search#1311>
for more on Levine's studies of marijuana arrests in New York and
California.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What do you call 1,000 Republican politicians chained together with
1,000 Democrat politicians at the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start.
Learn How To Protect Your Identity And Prevent Identity Theft
<http://8f7ab0ybg8rx5p6mloffi9yw8t.hop.clickbank.net/>
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
