* Originally picked up on posession of marijuana (in small amounts; under "whatever" grams)
* Put on probation for said offense
* Subsequently violated probation and ended up in jail for 30 days
None of these people did anything violent. Two were picked up during a traffic stop; one speeding, the other at a DUI checkpoint (he was sober). The other was approached by someone at a bar and asked if he wanted to go outside and "toke up".
So I guess my message is, it doesn't really matter to me the number of arrests versus the number of people in jail because the whole system seems predisposed to funnel people in ot the jail and prison system regardless. Even if you get arrested for a small amount, it costs you a bunch of money and you end up on a very short leash. For what? Who is being protected here?
I haven't used marijuana since my early twenties (I'm 34 now), but I really have a hard time feeling at all concerned about those who do with respect to my own safety. I do feel very concerned about the waste of energy and output of those individuals who get roped in to this mess.
The legalization movement uses numbers that include people who were simply arrested for marijuana possession/trafficking and don't exclude those charged with other crimes (assault, possession of other illegal drugs, etc) to make the number seem as large as possible while the anti-legalization people use numbers of those found guilty of only marijuana possession but not trafficking or other non-violent crimes to make the number as small as possible.
Realistically speaking, how many people are in prison today in the US for just non-violent marijuana related crimes? Basically, how many people would we actually let out?