Another report shows that marijuana arrests are costly, do not decrease marijuana use and are particularly injurious to young men and African Americans. In a new report funded by the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation Jon Gettman reviewed the data in the Marijuana Almanac as to the use of marijuana, the number of arrests, and the punishment for possession of marijuana in the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

The report looks at the reasons given for incarcerating marijuana users:

a) Arresting adults and criminalizing marijuana markets is the best way to discourage
 and control  teenage marijuana use.    
b)
Marijuana’s illegality is the best way to discourage and reduce marijuana use; 
more people would use the drug if it were legal. 
c)
Marijuana arrests are not widespread and penalties are relatively mild. 
d) Smoking marijuana is not the optimal method of delivering its therapeutic
 benefits to patients. 
e)
Marijuana use is a risky activity for individuals afflicted with schizophrenia.

 

In so far as the statistics in the Marijuana Almanac are relevant the statistics do not support the reasons for incarceration. There is no correlation between greater punishment and less use of marijuana. For example, Mississippi and Nebraska have decriminalized marijuana but relatively few people used marijuana in these states. At the same time Utah and North Dakota have low arrest rates and low usage rates.

The statistics also show that while 25 per cent more African Americans use cannabis than White Americans the arrest rate for African American is three times as great as it is for white Americans.

Another statistic is that state and local governments pay 10.3 billion dollars to arrest people for possession of marijuana. Decriminalization save California taxpayers 857 million dollars in 2006.