[William Terrell]

Pop=population.

A small percentage of people who are taking cocoa and opium derivatives, between 6% and 8% last I saw the numbers.

99% of marijuana arrests are made at the state or local level. Look at the DEA budget and you'll see that about half of it is for drug awareness/education and anti-drug advertising and the other half is for drug interdiction at our borders and overseas.

Then why are greater than half of people in federal prisons there for those offenses?

Ah, so the DEA budget doesn't allow pursuit and prosecution of cannabis related offenses, there being no money in the budget for them?

You can pull marijuana out and it wouldn't change a thing at the federal level.

LOL

15% of America's drug money goes to cannabis? And 8% are using cocoa and opium derivatives? And The taxpayer is spending billions on this "war", gouging the constitutions, corruption of law enforcement agencies with "funding" from asset seizures, destroying families, killing people, escalating costs for incarceration and filling the prisons for that?

[robertpaulsen]

"Then why are greater than half of people in federal prisons there for those offenses?"

I would hazard a wild guess that they were either trafficking or dealing illegal drugs, that's why.

The DEA focuses on federal drug offenders, the majority of which end up in federal prison. Unlike local law enforcement, where a drug arrest will end up, most likely, in a probation.

"Ah, so the DEA budget doesn't allow pursuit and prosecution of cannabis related offenses, there being no money in the budget for them?"

If the DEA had the money and the manpower to go after cannabis users, they'd be all over California, arresting people by the thousands. They go after the marijuana traffickers and dealers.

"The taxpayer is spending billions on this "war", "

About 1% of the budget is spent on the WOD, about half of that at the border where they can use the additional help anyway.