Big myth from marijuana advocates

is the prison hysteria they continually face as users. Many are naive to the facts and the rest just outright lie in what’s really going on between law enforcement and marijuana users.

Colorado newspaper The Gazette ran a piece entitled “Legalization didn’t unclog prisons”. Here are some facts in the article pertaining to Colorado’s legalization movement:

Only 1.4 percent of inmates in the state corrections system were imprisoned for offenses involving only marijuana- related crimes. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2004

• One-tenth of 1 percent of people in state prisons were serving sentences for first-time marijuana possession. Those people also may have concurrent sentencing for other offenses.

• Three-tenths of 1 percent of people in state prisons were serving time for marijuana possession with prior criminal offenses. They, too, may have concurrent sentencing for other offenses.

• 1.4 percent of people in state corrections were imprisoned for offenses involving only marijuana-
related crimes.

And on the federal side you maybe wondering….

The federal government convicted only 48 marijuana offenders who possessed less than 5,000 grams of marijuana. The average amount possessed was 3,800 grams — the equivalent of about 9,000 joints, or marijuana cigarettes. U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2011

• That year, there were 216,362 inmates in the federal system. Among them were 6,961 marijuana offenders, only 103 of whom were imprisoned for simple possession — the result of plea bargains in which prisoners pleaded down to possession in exchange for lesser sentences.

• The federal government convicted only 48 marijuana offenders who possessed less than 5,000 grams of marijuana. The average amount possessed was 3,800 grams — the equivalent of about 9,000 joints, or marijuana cigarettes.