March 11, 2005 - California arrests more people for marijuana than any other state, according to a new report from NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). In 2002, over 60,000 marijuana-related arrests were made in California, with 47,000 or 78% of all arrests for simple possession. Humboldt county saw 580 arrests for marijuana in 2002, ranking third statewide in arrests per capita with 442 marijuana arrests per 100,000 residents. Mendocino ranked 9th and Trinity county 5th.

The report, entitled "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," includes a detailed examination of the fiscal costs associated with the enforcement of marijuana laws at the state and county level, as well as a complete demographic analysis of which Americans were most likely to be arrested for violating marijuana laws between 1995 and 2002.

According to the report, enforcement of state and local marijuana laws annually costs US taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion, approximately $10,400 per arrest. Of this total, annual police costs are $3.7 billion, judicial/legal costs are $853 million, and correctional costs are $3.1 billion. In California, state fiscal costs dedicated to marijuana law enforcement annually total over $1 billion.

Marijuana possession and sales arrests disproportionately impact black adults and young Americans. While adult African Americans account for only 8.8% of the US population and 11.9% of annual marijuana users, they comprise 23% of all marijuana possession arrests in the United States. One out of every four marijuana possession arrests in the United States involves a person age 18 or younger, and seventy-four percent of all US marijuana possession arrests are for people under the age of 30.

Over one million US teenagers sell marijuana. The enforcement of state and local marijuana laws has neither reduced adolescent demand for marijuana, nor has it reduced the number of teens supplying marijuana to other adolescents on the black market. NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the report an official "indictment" of US marijuana policy, noting that present US marijuana strategies resoundingly fail when measured against the federal government's handpicked drug use and public health indicators.

"Public policies are measured by their ability to produce intended results," St. Pierre said. "The stated goal of criminal marijuana prohibition is to deter marijuana use and promote public health. As the data show, the current prohibition-oriented policy clearly does neither. Rather, the enforcement of state and local marijuana laws unnecessarily costs American taxpayers billions of dollars annually, disproportionately impacts the lives of young people and African Americans, and encourages approximately one million teenagers to become entrepreneurs in the criminal drug trade."

This report is available online from the NORML website: * Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States
Introduction * Table of Content * List of Tables and Figures * State-by-State | County-by-County Arrest Data * Create Your Own State-Based Reports and National Rankings