Weed Is What We Need

Criminal Law 122(Spring 2012) Group # 3(Team Detectives) Professor Whitaker By: Aaron Roundtree, Phedencia Prentice, Jodyne Ambrose, And Holden John-Rose

Project # 3

The Situation
42.6% of American high school seniors have admitted to having smoked marijuana at some point in their lives. (2008 Drugabuse.gov) As it stands now, in the eyes of our government, each and every one of these people, are criminals.

The Result
Judicial systems are overpopulated with small time marijuana trials, which cost the government big money. Some cases are even caused by contradictions in local, state, and federal laws. Marijuana accounts for 15,000 felony arrests every year in the state of California alone. These arrests cost the state about $100 million each year.
(California division of NORML article: Marijuana a Costly and Wasteful War )

 In 2008, the total number of drug related arrests in the country was, 1,702,537. Of those, 754,224 were for marijuana possession alone. Imagine what these arrests must cost the government if 15,000 arrests in California costs $100 million.

NORML CA./Drugwarfacts
1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 1st Qtr total drug arrests 2008

marijuana possesion arrests 2008 felony arrests for marijuana in California per year

The Reform
Legalization of this substance would eliminate the need to make these arrests, and save taxpayers and our government billions of dollars Proposed legalization plans would not only save money but produce money for our country and could help make a significant impact on our nations debt. It was stated in the previously mentioned California NORML article, that Californians consume between 3 and 6 billion dollars worth of cannabis each year, which would amount to $250500 million in sales taxes alone, if purchased from the government instead of foreign importers and street dealers. Keep in mind that these statistics are for California ALONE

Saving money is the most widespread reason why some may want to legalize marijuana. By that I mean, this side of the argument can speak to the largest number of people, since all Americans would be affected financially, but it is not the only reason.

 In 2008, 14 US states had enacted laws to legalize the use, prescription, and distribution of medicinal marijuana. These states being: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

The remaining 38 states refuse to provide this option to thousands of cancer, HIV, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis patients as well as people suffering from depression.

Modern science has found many uses for marijuana as a medicinal remedy, and there are surely many more that have not yet been discovered. A large part of the reason for this is because of the substances illegality. It is extremely hard for researchers and scientists to experiment with marijuana because it is illegal. The possible uses of this plant could be endless, but until it is legalized, researchers wont be able to do the tests that they need to in order to identify other positive characteristics of this substance.

Whats Next
As Rob Kampia stated in an article on Alternet, the war on pot costs $42 billion dollar a year, isnt there a better way to spend that amount of money. He suggested hiring 880,000 school teachers at a salary of $47,602 per year. Or give it back to the tax payers, that would be $140 dollars to every single person in the US. There are better ways we could be spending this money, while generating billions more. There are many ways to get active and change these laws such as writing letters, phoning, or visiting legislators with your opinions.

 The USVI chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) is based on St Thomas. They serve as our link to local VI and Federal officials that have the power to make a change Action can be as simple as making a commitment to stay aware of this movements effort, (join NORMLs Facebook page) or mailing a prewritten letter to your local government.

For those of you who would like to be more actively involved in the legalization movement, our USVI chapter needs members, volunteers, protestors, and petitioners.

USVI/Washington D.C. NORML

Virgin Islands USVI NORML PO Box 535 St. Thomas, VI 00804 Voice (304) 244-9179 lovingadler@gmail.com usvinorml.org Officers: Linda Adler (Executive Director), Martin Fredericks(Director), Barbara LaRonde(Director), Scott Wood (Director), Condon John (Director)

NORML 1510 Longworth House Office Building, District of Columbia 205155501 Phone: (202) 225-1790 Fax: (202) 225-5517 http://norml.org