Police arrest more people for marijuana use than for all violent crimes — combined

Drug-possession arrests skyrocketed from fewer than 200 arrests for every 100,000 people in 1979 to more than 500 in the mid-2000s
The Washington Post (US)
Wednesday, October 12, 2016

us-flag-barbed-wireOn any given day in the United States, at least 137,000 people sit behind bars on simple drug-possession charges, according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch. Nearly two-thirds of them are in local jails. The report says that most of these jailed inmates have not been convicted of any crime: They're sitting in a cell, awaiting a day in court, an appearance that may be months or even years off, because they can't afford to post bail.