Driven by the Drug War, the U.S. prison population is six to ten times as high as most Western European nations. In 2000, more than 734,000 people were arrested in this country for marijuana-related offenses alone.
The US war on drugs places great emphasis on arresting people for smoking marijuana. This is an increase of 800 percent since 1980, and is the highest ever recorded by the FBI.
646,042 Americans (88 %) -- were for simple possession. The remaining 12% (88,456 Americans) were for "sale/manufacture". These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds in America. Taken together, the total number of marijuana arrests for 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Responsible marijuana smokers present no threat or danger to America. Responsible marijuana smokers are not the problem and it is time to stop arresting them. Once all the facts are known, it becomes clear that America's marijuana laws need reform.

ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS

TOBACCO ........................ 400,000
ALCOHOL ........................ 100,000
CAFFEINE ....................... 2,000
ASPIRIN ........................ 500
MARIJUANA ...................... 0
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Source: United States government...
National Institute on Drug Abuse,
Bureau of Mortality Statistics

A 1997 UCLA School of Medicine study (Volume 155 of the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine) conducted on 243 marijuana smokers over an 8-year period reported the following: "Neither the continuing nor the intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of decline in lung function as compared with those individuals who never smoked marijuana." The study concluded: "No differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and nonsmoking of marijuana."