re: Police arrest more people for marijuana use than for all violent crimes combined

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This makes plenty of sense. Violent crime is on the decline.

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That is simply not true, America is very dangerous place. More dangerous than ever. People are being murdered on streets. Cops are being killed. ISIS is recruiting kids off facebook. Pimps are stealing are daughters off snapchat. I say no more, time to make america safe again.

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"War on Drugs" has been a massive failure and everyone knows it, yet no one wants to try anything different

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what is the solution? legalizing all drugs?

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legalizing all drugs?

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I think so, but I'm aware enough to realize that just isn't going to happen

legalizing marijuana would be a massive help though

then when can start with decriminalizing other drugs from there

troll somewhere else

If that's your argument that's fine but don't use the talking point about people serving life for an ounce of weed. It's just not true. Habitual offenders have done plenty to deserve what they get.

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Yet, at the same time, they fail to address that those drug charges are likely tacked on to other criminal charges or due to the fact that blacks encounter police more often because they are more likely to commit violent crimes.

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I mean...if you can provide evidence that this is the overwhelmingly the case, go ahead

but I'm not sure you can find stats on that, as charges are mostly reported separately

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The argument presented in the article is far too simple but it is effective reaching it's targeted audience.

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It is a simple argument because it is a simple idea. It doesn't take deep analysis to see the absurdity of our drug laws.

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How is it over simplified?

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Because they look simply at drug arrests and don't mention if any of these people are charged with any other crimes at the same time. It's giving the impression that cops are going out looking for people smoking a joint which cops typically don't do.

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You want to legalize all drugs and prostitution, but obviously can't see the shite storm that would create.

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please expound

enlighten me

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There is a way not to be a habitual offender....quit breaking the fricking law. I have no sympathy for anyone that gets hit with being a habitual offender

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Imagine you get a ride with your friend one day. Your friend is on probation for some sort of felony offense. Your friend runs a stop sign and a police officer sees him do it. The car you are in gets pulled over. The cop runs your friends name and it shows up that he is on probation for a drug charge. The cop asks you both to step out of the car. Unbeknownst to you, your friend had a bag of coke in his center console. The cop checks the center console without a warrant, but is able to come up with some sort of exception to the warrant requirement that he includes in his police report. You and your friend both get charged with possession of that one bag of cocaine. You happen to be in a parish that has a district attorney who is very strict. You are unable to afford the bail that the magistrate judge or commissioner sets, so you sit in jail for 60 days while the DA decides to accept or reject the charges. The charges are finally accepted, and your court appointed attorney lets you know after you are arraigned and he receives discovery (let's call it another month or two of you sitting in jail) that since you have no criminal history the judge and DA will agree to sentence you to probation if you plead guilty to possession of cocaine. You know that you are not guilty because you had no idea your friend had a bag on him in his car. You explain that to your public defender and he tells you that while he believes you, he doesn't know if a jury will, and it will very likely come down to your word versus the word of the police officer who may or may not embellish what actually happened. So you agree to plead guilty to a crime you legally arent guilty of because you don't want to sit in jail for 6 months while the judge and DA and your attorney find an open two days to try your case and you also do not want to risk losing at trial and having the judge launch you because he or she is pissed that you had an offer of probation and you didnt take it.

You now have a felony on your record.

But yeah, you are right - everyone who has a felony on their record and catches another charge is a piece of shite and you should have no sympathy for them when they get multiple billed.