T H U R S D A Y , A U G U S T 0 4 , 2 0 0 5The War On Drugs Goes To Potby Michael in New York on 8/04/2005 06:18:00 PMRolling Stone has a fine rundown of the ludicrous war on drugs-- ludicrous because Bush is focusing all his energies onthrowing people with a joint into jail while failing to tackle thescourge of hard drugs that have exploded on his watch, like theabuse of meth.Since 1992, according to a recent analysis of federal crimestatistics by the Sentencing Project, arrests for marijuanahave soared from 300,000 a year to 700,000.</p><p> Thegovernment spends an estimated $4 billion a yeararresting and prosecuting marijuana crimes -- morethan it spends on treating addiction for all drugs --and more and more of those busts are for possession ratherthan dealing.</p><p> One in four people currently in stateprisons for pot offenses are classified as "low-leveloffenders."In New York, arrests for possession -- which now accountfor nine of every ten busts -- are up twenty-five-fold duringthe past decade.</p><p> In Memphis, marijuana arrests are upnineteenfold, and large spikes have also been recorded inPhiladelphia, Las Vegas and Houston....The war on pot diverts money and manpower fromfighting far more harmful drugs.</p><p> While the feds targetpot smokers, a burgeoning meth epidemic is swampingrural communities, especially in the West and theGreat Plains.</p><p> Nearly half of state and locallaw-enforcement agencies identify meth as their greatestdrug threat -- compared with only one in eight formarijuana -- and more than 1 million Americans use thehighly addictive drug, which is linked to violent crime,explosions and fires at meth labs, severe health problems,and child and family abuse.In 2003, drug agents busted a staggering 10,182 methlabs, and the fight against meth is straining theresources of local police and sheriffs in small towns.But the White House has proposed slashing federalaid for rural narcotics teams by half. "If those cuts gothrough, they're going to totally wipe us out," saysLt.</p><p> Steve Dalton, leader of a drug task force insouthwest Missouri.Hey, if you get stoned every night, you are going to do seriousdamage to your body.</p><p> Getting drunk every night is also a really bad,unhealthy (and pathetic) thing to do.</p><p> But I'd rather see thegovernment focus on busting violent criminals and the violent harddrugs linked to them and leave alcohol and marijuana abuse to healthofficials.</p><p> And busting people who use marijuana because it relievessome of the pain of chemo is just sick.</p><p> HuffPost PoliticsMichael Shaw: Reading the Pictures: As If This PutsBirthers To Bedt - click for full size Seeing isbelieving? via RJ Eskow.</p><p> Stewart escalates....27 minutes ago FiredoglakeLate Late Night FDL: Holiday Road - LindsayBuckingham - Holiday Road.</p><p> I'm not headed toWallyworld but I am on the road tonight, headeddown to the San Francisco Bay Area for themeetup this...1 hour ago Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Tonight's RescueRangers are noddem, Elise, jlms qkw, taylormattd,Shayera, and joyful with vcmvo2 editing.* Thediaries up for rescue are: - *Vikin...2 hours ago Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Just a little something re the birtherthing.</p><p> Open thread below...2 hours ago EschatonLate Night - Go Electric.2 hours agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T VRehab That Does WorkThere Is Hope And A Solution.</p><p> Exclusive Center. 90% Success Rate.www.NarcononGulfCoast.com Next 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: The W...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/war-on-drugs-goes-to-pot... 1 of 57/24/09 11:21 AMVisit ourAMERICAblog TV site.see all 326 videos >I collect with vodpod Massive brawl in SouthKorean parliament Mormons may havesecretly baptized Medieval helpdesk withEnglish subtitles The Taco Bell dog hasdied In honor of SenatorDeMintAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: The W...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/war-on-drugs-goes-to-pot... 2 of 57/24/09 11:21 AMWalker ReportSimple Test ToDetermine If Conrad'sCo-ops Are Worthless2 hours agoEzra KleinTab Dump7 hours agoWonk RoomNewt Gingrich’s ‘JobsFirst’ Plan Puts TheWealthy AndCorporations First9 hours agoHealth BeatIf We’re Able to StopObama On This . . . .</p><p> ItWill Break Him9 hours agoDaily DoseObama Talks HealthCare With Post's HiattG AY P O L I T I C S Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S Blog RSS AMERICAblog TV RSS Twitter RSSTwitter Feed Get the blog by email: Subscribe me!ADT® Criminal RecordsWorried About CriminalActivity? 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