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More people busted for weed than violent crime in the US

Published on October 8, 2020 by oz. staff

When it comes to cannabis, some are more equal than others.

Sure, it’s been gaining public support, but public support doesn’t keep people out of jail.

Seriously, it feels like some people are passing Go, getting $200 and cashing in their get out of jail free card. Then you have the unlucky losers and suckers who end up behind bars because the United States is the real life version of Monopoly.

Forbes says that according to the recently released Uniform Crime Report from the FBI, more people were arrested for cannabis in 2019 than for all violent crimes put together.

Police arrested 545,602 people for cannabis related crimes in 2019—mostly people who just use cannabis. The vast majority of these arrests (92%) were for simple possession.

Meanwhile, 495,871 people were arrested for violent crimes that same year.

Obviously, this highlights the inequitable situation between states, where cannabis consumers in one state may face serious jail time for an act that has no penalties at all in the state next door.

“Police across America make a marijuana-related arrest every 58 seconds,” says a rep from NORML.

Arrests for cannabis even went down by 18% overall last year, when compared to 2018.

Meanwhile, in Canada they went down by about 100%.