Possession of 28.5 grams or less of marijuana is not an arrestable offense. As long as the offender can provide sufficient identification and promises to appear in court, the officer will not arrest the offender. Upon conviction of the misdemeanor charge the offender is subject to a fine of $100. Possession of greater than 28.5 grams is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.If indeed 99 out of 100 who are arrested are done so at the state level, then 99 out of 100 who are bothered at all are given either a ticket or a verbal warning only. Even so, probably 99 out of 100 users never have any dealings with the justice system anyway.Decriminalization: The state has decriminalized marijuana to some degree. Typically, decriminalization means no prison time or criminal record for first-time possession of a small amount for personal consumption. The conduct is treated like a minor traffic violation.
Using California as an example, where possession has been a misdemeanor for decades...
I believe people that do data analysis refer to this as "cherry picking".
Interesting---thank you very much for the information. But I wonder, and maybe this is more of a question for Roscoe, if MJ possession is already being treated in many US jurisdictions as a slap on the wrist, on a policy level, why maintain such a strict federal prohibition on marijuana possession? Why all the angst from the top, especially now?
And according to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics--1996, Bureau of Justice Statistics; Albany, NY: Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, 1997; p. 413, table 4.38, the DEA made 5,835 marijuana arrests in 1996.
A couple of arrests per state per week. The typical pothead is about as likely to hit a state lottery as to be arrested by the DEA.