Press Release -- New Report: Marijuana Arrests Don't Affect Use; Penalty Structure Boosts Illegal Market

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                             
NOVEMBER 5, 2009           

 

Most Exhaustive Set of Marijuana Arrest Data Ever Shows No Relation Between Arrests and Use Rates; Penalty Structure Boosts Illicit Market
Florida Has Toughest Penalties, Arrest Rate Highest in D.C, Black Arrest Rate 3 Times That of Whites

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications …………… 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

                  Jon Gettman ………………………………………………...……………………540-822-5739

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The most exhaustive collection of data ever on U.S. marijuana arrests, penalties and related information, released today, finds no relationship between marijuana arrest and use rates, while penalty structures act as a price support mechanism that boosts the illegal market. Assembled by Jon Gettman, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, the new report finds:

·      Marijuana arrests have nearly doubled since 1991, while levels of marijuana use remained fundamentally unchanged.

·      Penalties that escalate for increased amounts of marijuana encourage consumers to make multiple small purchases, acting as a price support for the illicit market.

·      Florida has the nation’s harshest marijuana penalties, while the District of Columbia has the highest arrest rate for marijuana offenses.

·      Although the rate of marijuana use is only about 25 percent higher for African-Americans than for whites, blacks are three times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites.

         “These figures paint a devastating portrait of a failed policy that burns through tax dollars while doing nothing but harm,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “Most Americans agree that marijuana prohibition doesn’t work, even if most politicians aren’t yet ready to publicly agree with their constituents.”

          Gettman’s summary report, “Marijuana Arrests in the United States (2007),” is available at http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr7/bcr7_index.html. The full Marijuana Policy Almanac, including state rankings and individual reports for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, is at http://www.drugscience.org/States/US/US_home.htm.

         With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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