39.2% of the 1,745,712 drug arrests in 2004 were for marijuana possession.
Is it just me, or does this seem like a ridiculous waste of law enforcement?
To begin with, there's the often used arguement for marijuana legalization that alcohol seems to have worse effects than marijuana. In my college town, I can't begin to count the incidences of vandalism fueled by alcohol consumption...from stealing public signs to smashing windows of cars. If the cops are looking for marijuana possession, why aren't they at least equally walking into frat parties and cracking down on underaged drinking? For that matter, why aren't they walking into frat parties in houses with frequent reports of date rape?
But it doesn't matter what you think of marijuana as a drug. The point is, use doesn't tend to affect the public much, so why is so much time (and tax dollars) devoted to cracking down on simple possession? And why are lives ruined (the justice system has a tendency to do so) over something so trivial?
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I completely agree. How in the world can anyone justify spending massive amounts of money to keep people locked away for using something on their own body that has negative effects equal to alcohol? It just baffles my mind that in times of financial crunch, there isn’t a line of politicians advocating the legalization of marijuana. I seems to blatantly obvious that we should not criminalize people for drug use that it hurts my head every time I even think of the drug war.
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