Over 56,000 Fewer Marijuana Arrests in 2013

Torben Hansen (CC BY 2.0)

via High Times:

The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2013 is out and shows that fewer than 700,000 people were arrested nationwide for marijuana for the first time in a decade. An estimated 693,482 people were arrested for possessing, growing, or selling marijuana in 2013. This is the lowest arrest total since 1998, when 682,885 estimated arrests occurred.

This total marks a 7.5 percent decline in marijuana arrests from 2012’s total of 749,825, meaning 56,343 fewer arrests occurred in the first full year that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana. In Washington, court filings for misdemeanor marijuana possession dropped from 5,531 in 2012 to just 120 in 2013, according to the ACLU of Washington. In Colorado, cases filed in state court with at least one marijuana offense plummeted from an average of over 700 per month to about 133 per month, according to the Denver Post.

This also marks the fourth straight year of declining marijuana arrests in America, continuing last year’s record decline streak. During Barack Obama’s presidency, there has been an overall 18% decline in the annual marijuana arrest total. The #1 and #4 greatest one-year declines in annual marijuana arrests have occurred on Obama’s watch. As for #2 and #3, would you believe they happened in the Reagan/Bush years, and the two greatest increases since Nixon occurred on Clinton’s watch?)

Read More: http://www.hightimes.com/read/over-56000-fewer-marijuana-arrests-2013

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