Why is the UK still in the Dark Ages?

LorDeMO

Active Member
I'm from the UK and I consider us a lot more tolerant and liberal country than America yet America is so forward-thinking when it comes to the legalisation of Marijuana.

This shit is lame..

Why God, WHY?!
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
A possibility, hopefully a little bit of America rubs off on us at some point in the future
 

Don Gin and Ton

Well-Known Member
brown was obamas sidekick now we have the ConDems i think were gonna go backwards not forward on any decrim or legalisation. if only arnie had decided on the uk not cali eh
 

Spanishfly

Well-Known Member
yet America is so forward-thinking when it comes to the legalisation of Marijuana.
More than 1% of all Americans are in prison and a very large proportion of them are there for MJ related crimes.

Forward thinking?? You are deluded. LOL
 

doc111

Well-Known Member
I'm from the UK and I consider us a lot more tolerant and liberal country than America yet America is so forward-thinking when it comes to the legalisation of Marijuana.

This shit is lame..

Why God, WHY?!
It's the states which appear to be forward thinking. The federal govt. is still in the dark ages with the U.K., maybe even moreso.:-(
 

abe23

Active Member
^some states, yes. Others aren't even in the dark ages yet.

www.norml.org

check out oklahoma for example. 2 years to life for cultivation or sale of less than 25 lbs....
 

CaRNiFReeK

Well-Known Member
^some states, yes. Others aren't even in the dark ages yet.

www.norml.org

check out oklahoma for example. 2 years to life for cultivation or sale of less than 25 lbs....
My brother did 2 years in and 5 years on paper for possession in Oklahoma. He was walking to a friends house, stopped and searched, (after they arrested him for public intox and he had not been drinking) and they found a roach in his pocket.

Oklahoma has a drug court though, which is basically just a long term extortion program. He could have avoided incarceration had he been able to afford all of the classes... and piss clean every week for 2 years. It sucks down in there, (Oklahoma, I mean).
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
More than 1% of all Americans are in prison and a very large proportion of them are there for MJ related crimes.

Forward thinking?? You are deluded. LOL
I highly doubt 'a very large proportion' (of 1%+) of Americans in prison are there for MJ related crimes (I'd guess murder/petty crimes/harder drugs) - but hey, you show me the evidence and I'll take it on board.

----

I guess it does have more to do with the fact you have states - but still, at least you have some progress even if it is limited to CA. MJ was moved from a Class B to C a few years ago and then they changed it back almost instantly cos the stupid UN got involved.
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
I highly doubt 'a very large proportion' (of 1%+) of Americans in prison are there for MJ related crimes (I'd guess murder/petty crimes/harder drugs) - but hey, you show me the evidence and I'll take it on board.

----

I guess it does have more to do with the fact you have states - but still, at least you have some progress even if it is limited to CA. MJ was moved from a Class B to C a few years ago and then they changed it back almost instantly cos the stupid UN got involved.
My research does not support that 1% of all Americans (Prisoners) are in jail because of Cannibis related crime, infact if I did the math right the number is much higher.
Here's one of my sources. I was blown away by these numbers.

  1. "Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constituted the largest group of Federal inmates (55%) in 2001, down from 60% in 1995 (table 18). On September 30, 2001, the date of the latest available data in the Federal Justice Statistics Program, Federal prisons held 78,501 sentenced drug offenders, compared to 52,782 in 1995."

    Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2002 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, July 2003), p. 11.
  2. In 2001, drug law violators comprised 20.4% of all adults serving time in State prisons - 246,100 out of 1,208,700 State prison inmates.
    Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2002 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, July 2003), Table 17, p. 10.
  3. Over 80% of the increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions.
    Source: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, 1997).
  4. "Between 1984 and 1999, the number of defendants charged with a drug offense in U.S. district courts increased about 3% annually, on average, from 11,854 to 29,306."
    Source: Scalia, John, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Drug Offenders, 1999 with Trends 1984-99 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 7.
  5. "As a result of increased prosecutions and longer time served in prison, the number of drug offenders in Federal prisons increased more than 12% annually, on average, from 14,976 during 1986 to 68,360 during 1999."
    Source: Scalia, John, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Drug Offenders, 1999 with Trends 1984-99 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 7.
  6. "In 1995, 23% of state prisoners were incarcerated for drug offenses in contrast to 9% of drug offenders in state prisons in 1986. In fact, the proportion of drug offenders in the state prison population nearly tripled by 1990, when it reached 21%, and has remained at close to that level since then. The proportion of federal prisoners held for drug violations doubled during the past 10 years. In 1985, 34% of federal prisoners were incarcerated for drug violations. By 1995, the proportion had risen to 60%."
    Source: Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998), p. 715.
  7. According to ONDCP, federal spending to incarcerate drug offenders totals nearly $3 Billion a year -- $2.525 Billion by the Bureau of Prisons, and $429.4 Million by Federal Prisoner Detention.
    Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, "National Drug Control Strategy: FY 2003 Budget Summary" (Washington, DC: Office of the President, February 2002), Table 3, pp. 7-9. </I>
  8. "The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 701 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (606), Belarus (554), Kazakhstan and the Virgin Islands (both 522), the Cayman Islands (501), Turkmenistan (489), Belize (459), Bermuda (447), Suriname (437), Dominica (420) and Ukraine (415). "However, more than three fifths of countries (60.5%) have rates below 150 per 100,000. United Kingdom’s rate of 141 per 100,000 of the national population places it above midpoint in the World List; it is the highest among countries of the European Union.)"
    Source: Walmsley, Roy, "World Prison Population List (Fifth Edition)" (London, England, UK: Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, 2003), p. 1.
  9. "Over 9 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners) or having been convicted and sentenced. About half of these are in the United States (2.03m), Russia (0.86m) or China (1.51m plus pre-trial detainees and prisoners in 'administrative detention')." According to the US Census Bureau, the population of the US represents 4.6% of the world's total population (291,450,886 out of a total 6,303,683,217).
    Source: Walmsley, Roy, "World Prison Population List (Fifth Edition)" (London, England, UK: Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, 2003), p. 1.; US Census Bureau, Population Division, from the web at http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html accessed July 8, 2003.
  1. "Overall, the United States incarcerated 2,212,475 persons at yearend 2003." This total represents persons held in: </B>
  1. Federal and State Prisons
1,387,848 (which excludes State and Federal prisoners in local jailsTerritorial Prisons16,494Local Jails691,301ICE Facilities10,323Military Facilities2,165Jails in Indian Country2,006 (as of midyear 2002)Juvenile Facilities102,338(as of October 2002)
  1. Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2003 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, Nov. 2004), p.
http://skeptically.org/recdrugs/id8.html
 

NoDrama

Well-Known Member
Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 723,627 persons for marijuana violations in 2001, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the second highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprises nearly half of all drug arrests in the United States.

Half of ALL drug arrests, Half.
 

doc111

Well-Known Member
Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 723,627 persons for marijuana violations in 2001, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the second highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprises nearly half of all drug arrests in the United States.

Half of ALL drug arrests, Half.
That's just Washington D.C.? Wow! That's insane!:o
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
I guess it does have more to do with the fact you have states - but still, at least you have some progress even if it is limited to CA.
Rule of thumb here - keep less than one ounce in your ready reserve container and no more than 24 plants.
Alaska = 1 oz or less in your residence or homeno penaltyN/AN/A1 oz to 4 oz misdemeanor90 days
$1,000​
More than 4 oz, or 25 or more plants felony5 years
$50,000​
 
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