koan;1300350 wrote: Pot is generally considered legal in BC but what really happened was that they decided to not prosecute for possession unless it was a quantity that indicated they were trafficking. Not to say the police will ignore people smoking pot on the streets but they won't arrest them. The reason for that decision was that the courts couldn't handle the huge volume of cases that were minor possession charges. It was costing too much time and money to prosecute.
Arresting pot growers that have a medical growers license is simply bad police work.
Denver has set the precedent for legalizing marijuana here in the states.
DENVER LEGALIZES MARIJUANA 53% - 46%!
By CC Magazine update - Tuesday, November 1 2005
Denver voters make adult possession of one ounce or less of marijuana legal.
Denver became the first city in the nation to make the private use of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older as an alternative to alcohol, a far more harmful drug. DENVER LEGALIZES MARIJUANA 53% - 46%! | Cannabis Culture Magazine
According to the Colorado Bureau Investigation, Colorado saw 3,186 robberies and 26,597 burglaries reported to law enforcement agencies in 2008. If recent crime trends hold steady, we can easily conclude that dispensary-related crimes will amount to much less than one percent of all robberies and burglaries reported this year.
An industry-by-industry analysis also demonstrates that dispensary-related crime pales in comparison to crime targeting other industries. Banks are far more vulnerable targets, with a Colorado bank being robbed nearly every other day. According to the FBI, more than 160 banks have already been hit this year alone.
Pankratz also referenced statistics from the Los Angeles Police proclaiming that "robberies at or near medical-marijuana facilities had doubled since passage of California's Compassionate Use Act" in 1996. Of course they did. Prior to the act legalizing medical marijuana across California, the total number of such legal facilities stood at zero. Today, L.A. alone is home to nearly 200.
As a coalition of attorneys proud to represent medical marijuana caregivers and patients, we've witnessed firsthand the many challenges and opportunities that come with building a viable and legal industry that remains hindered by the misconceptions resulting from more than seven decades of federal marijuana prohibition. Our clients are hard working entrepreneurs. They pay their taxes on time, go above and beyond to ensure their facilities are welcoming, safe, secure, and private. They are bringing viable businesses to struggling commercial centers. They create jobs, pay much needed revenue to public coffers, and most importantly, they provide a valuable service to Colorado's sick and dying, many of whom seek out medical marijuana only after conventional pharmaceutical drugs fail to ease chronic and excruciating symptoms. Setting the facts straight on medical marijuana statistics - The Denver PostIf you are an economist...
If you are an economist and would like to sign on to the open letter below, please e-mail your contact details and academic affiliation to us at
prohibitioncosts@mpp.org. You will receive a confirmation e-mail within 48 hours that your name has been added. Please also indicate whether you would like to be a media spokesperson in your state for this study.
An Open Letter to the President, Congress, Governors, and State Legislatures
We, the undersigned, call your attention to the attached report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition. The report shows that marijuana legalization -- replacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation -- would save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods. If, however, marijuana were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it might generate as much as $6.2 billion annually. Time to Legalize Marijuana? - 500+ Economists Endorse Marijuana Legalization
For the fourth year in a row, US marijuana arrests set an all-time record, according to 2006 FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests in 2006 totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005. At current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every thirty-eight seconds, with marijuana arrests comprising nearly 44 percent of all drug arrests in the United States. According to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), over 8 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges during the past decade, while arrests for cocaine and heroine have declined sharply.
The number of arrests in 2006 increased more than 5.5 percent from 2005. Of the 829,627 arrests, 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture. Possession arrests exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined, as they have for years. The remaining offenders, including those growing for personal or medical use, were charged with sale and/or manufacturing. # 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record | Project Censored
A complete and utter waste of time to not implement the same precedent having been set by Denver on a national scale!!!!
Our jails and prisons are far overcrowded as they are not to mention better therapeutic and pain relieving therapies!!!!!