We found these statistics for California between 1990 and 2008. They were released by the Criminal Justice Statistics Center & the Demographic Research Unit. Check out the graph below…
This is what the ‘Drug War’ has done to our Law Enforcement’s sense of what it is important to be focusing on. Do you see what happened to the arrest rates in California for rape, murder and other crimes including ‘all other drug sales’? They went down.What went up, according to these statistics was the arrest rate for Cannabis (marijuana) posession. It went up 127%!
This is a map of the USA showing where Cannabis offenses are already a lower priority for Law Enforcement.
Our recent ordinance passed on November 4, 2008 was a message from the voters in Hawaii County that they want to see a change in the priorities of law enforcement. They want to take ‘Cannabis Offenses’ off the highest priority list and help our Police and Prosecutions get their focus off of ‘pot’ and back where it belongs.. on the welfare of the community.
That’s why counties and municipalities all over the country are passing or have passed similar legislation. They realize that there is
something wrong with the fact that so much money and time is spent going after people who use Cannabis. They don’t believe it is a dangerous drug. They don’t even believe that the people who use it are ‘criminals’.
The Drug War isn’t working for a lot of us out here and we are the ones whose taxes pay your salaries.. so please listen up.
Could this be a sign?
