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Eugene

(61,900 posts)
Wed Oct 12, 2016, 09:26 PM Oct 2016

More U.S. arrests for pot than violent crimes: rights groups

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Wed Oct 12, 2016 | 2:20pm EDT

More U.S. arrests for pot than violent crimes: rights groups

U.S. police make over 1.25 million arrests a year for drug possession, more than twice the number for violent crimes, and about half of the arrests are for marijuana, two human rights groups said on Wednesday in a call for sweeping drug decriminalization.

The 196-page report by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch said the "war on drugs" was a failure, with rates of drug use unchanged since President Richard Nixon launched the campaign more than 40 years ago.

States and the federal government should decriminalize the use and possession of drugs for personal use and focus instead on prevention and reducing harm, the report said.

“These wide-scale arrests have destroyed countless lives while doing nothing to help people who struggle with dependence,” Tess Borden, the report’s author, said in a statement.

The report said nearly half of all drug possession arrests in 2015, or more than 574,000, were for marijuana, based on Federal Bureau of Investigation figures.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-drugs-report-idUSKCN12C2B8
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More U.S. arrests for pot than violent crimes: rights groups (Original Post) Eugene Oct 2016 OP
For LEO's cannabis is the GWC58 Oct 2016 #1

GWC58

(2,678 posts)
1. For LEO's cannabis is the
Wed Oct 12, 2016, 09:32 PM
Oct 2016

low hanging fruit. They won't give up without a fight, nor the drug warrior prohibitionists!😰😰😫

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