A new report documents the astronomical number of hours the New York Police Department has spent arresting and processing hundreds of thousands of low-level misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests during Mayor Bloomberg’s tenure from 2002 to 2012. The report finds that NYPD used approximately one million hours of police officer time to make 440,000 marijuana possession arrests.
That's an average of 100,000 hours per year over 10 years. According to the report "that is the equivalent of having 31 police officers working eight hours a day, 365 days a year for 11 years" on NOTHING but penalising people for possession of something that grows from the ground.
Imagine what we could have done with that time just in New York City - then think about the rest of the world.
When are we going to get over the racism, xenophobia and poor science that lead to the prohibition of hemp - something that started as a way to sell papers and grow power for the US DEA - and has now grown into the most costly and ultimately fruitless war ever waged. A war we have waged on ourselves.
It is time treat all forms of drug (and other) addiction as a mental and physical health matter, and legalise and tax recreational drugs exactly the same as we do all other drugs. Anything else creates FAR more harm - in so many ways - than it solves.
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