Just A Slap On The Wrist?

The Life-Changing Consequences of a Marijuana Arrest

December 2012

A marijuana arrest is no small matter. Most people are handcuffed, placed in a police car, taken to a police station, fingerprinted and photographed, held in jail for 24 hours or more, and then arraigned before a judge. The arrest creates a permanent criminal record that can easily be found on the internet by employers, landlords, schools, credit agencies and banks. Marijuana arrests are the engine driving the U.S. war on drugs. Nearly half of all drug arrests every year are for marijuana-related offenses, the overwhelming majority of which are for personal possession. Blacks and Latinos are arrested at vastly disproportionate rates, even though whites consume and sell marijuana at similar rates. Many of those who are arrested are saddled with a criminal conviction that can make it difficult or impossible to vote, obtain educational loans, get a job, secure housing, or even adopt a child. Additionally, the huge number of marijuana arrests every year usurps scarce law enforcement, criminal justice and treatment resources at enormous cost to U.S. taxpayers. Public support for making marijuana legal has shifted dramatically in the last two decades, especially in the last few years. In 2011, a Gallup poll found for the first time that 50 percent of Americans support making marijuana legal, with only 46 percent opposed. Majorities of men, 18-29 year-olds, 30-49 year-olds, liberals, moderates, Independents, Democrats, and voters in Western, Midwestern and Eastern states now support legalizing marijuana. Another 2012 poll, meanwhile, found that 74 percent of Americans believe personal marijuana use should be dealt with through alternatives to criminal penalties.

Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?

% No, illegal

% Yes, legal
84 81 78 66 70 70 73 73 64 62 64 60 54 50 46 50

44 46 28 12 15 16 31 25 25 23 25 34 34 36

50 48

The Costs and Consequences of Prohibition In 2010, there were 853,838 marijuana arrests in the U.S. half of all drug arrests. Almost 90 percent of these arrests were for simple possession, not sale or manufacture. There are more arrests for marijuana possession every year than for all violent crimes combined.

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1969 1972 1973 1977 1979 1980 1985 1995 2000 2001 2003 2005 2009 2010 2011 2012

U.S. Drug Arrests, 2010

Marijuana Possession 48% 46% Marijuana Sales / Manufacturing All Other Drug Law Violations 6%

Marijuana is widely purchased and consumed. Consequently, marijuana prohibition has caused incalculable violence and destruction by fostering an illegal marijuana market. Organized crime, drug cartels and gangs are the greatest financial beneficiaries of marijuana prohibition. In Mexico, the illegal transport and sale of marijuana has contributed to the loss of tens of thousands of lives. According to government data, whites reportedly consume and sell marijuana at the same rates as (or higher than) blacks. Yet, blacks are twice as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession or for selling marijuana.

A greater number of local governments and communities nationwide have de-emphasized marijuana offenses by directing their law enforcement agencies to make enforcement of these offenses their lowest law enforcement priority. Unlike the local decriminalization policies described above, lowest law enforcement priority laws do not remove penalties for possession or use of marijuana, but rather instruct local law enforcement to refrain from arresting people for marijuana possession. Such laws help these local governments more effectively utilize scarce law enforcement resources to focus on the prevention and investigation of serious and violent crimes. State Reform. Sixteen states including California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio have enacted various forms of marijuana decriminalization. Two of these states, Colorado and Washington, have taken the additional step of legally regulating the sale and production of marijuana.

Marijuana Arrests
1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 Marijuana Arrests

Adding insult to injury, marijuana prohibition imposes the onerous financial and administrative burden of enforcement and incarceration primarily on cashstrapped state and local governments on top of the additional costs created by prohibitions counterproductive effects on public safety. Legally regulating marijuana would save $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement $2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels. Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales could range from an estimated $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco. Signs of Hope Local Reform. Several local governments have passed ordinances removing criminal penalties for adult marijuana possession. Typically, local decriminalization efforts remove criminal penalties for simple marijuana possession from municipal and/or county codes. Marijuana possession is generally still prohibited by local law, but like a traffic infraction it only carries a civil fine (ranging from $100 to several hundred or even one-thousand dollars).

Decriminalization is commonly defined as the reduction or elimination of criminal penalties for minor marijuana possession offenses. Many of these states have replaced criminal sanctions with the imposition of civil, fine-only penalties, while others have reduced marijuana possession from a felony to a fine-only misdemeanor. National Reform. While the federal government lags behind many state and local jurisdictions in addressing the harms of marijuana prohibition, a growing number of federal legislators are speaking out for reform. In Congress, a bipartisan group of legislators has introduced the first bill ever to end federal marijuana prohibition. Twenty Representatives have now cosponsored the bill including California Republican Dana Rohrabacher and Michigan Democrat John Conyers, who recently chaired the House Judiciary Committee. To learn more, please visit: www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana

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