Marijuana Policy Project

The FBI reported recently that police across America arrested approximately 873,000 people for violating the nation's anti-marijuana laws in 2007. Approximately 775,000 of those arrests were for simple possession.

Although 2007's numbers set a record, they are not outlying data points. Rather, these utterly insane statistics are a continuation of an alarming trend whereby, according to Reason magazine's analysis, marijuana arrests have increased 167 percent since 1990 without solid evidence of a comparable increase in overall use.

In comparison to the number of alcohol-related arrests, relatively few people in Iowa City end up in police custody simply because they use marijuana. However, an examination of the police blotter, particularly over weekends, generally reveals at least a few such cases.

Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said that his department takes its obligation to enforce marijuana laws seriously.

"It's like any other criminal offense," he said. "If it happens in front of an officer, I expect that officer to deal with it."

However, Kelsay said, most of those arrested for mere possession of marijuana in Iowa City are only caught because they violated other laws, such as those against drunk driving or disorderly conduct. Launching a police investigation into people's possible involvement with illegal drugs requires more than a single tip that someone saw them smoking marijuana, he said.

But local law-enforcement officials do actively seek out those who become involved in marijuana's production and felony distribution. The Street Crimes Action Team, headed by Iowa City police Sgt. Mike Brotherton and staffed with three additional officers, takes the lead in such investigations.

"The fact of the matter is that drug use is quite prevalent," Brotherton said. "Particularly in a college environment."

The police don't set policy, he said, they enforce the law. Thus, even though he understands many people's feelings that it is actually marijuana's criminalized status rather than the drug itself that causes problems, Brotherton said, those who decide to break the law need to be prepared to face the potential consequences of their actions.

He did insist that the presence of marijuana in Iowa City leads to other crime problems. Citing car break-ins, armed robberies, and even home invasions, he said those seeking drugs or the money to buy them can make the community a dangerous place to live.

However, he also expressed some skepticism about the efficacy of current anti-drug policies.

"I don't think we've decreased the amount of drug use or distribution - every time you apprehend someone, someone else is willing to step up and take his place," Brotherton said. "We send a lot of people to prison, but I don't know if that's had a positive effect."

Regardless of these doubts, he said, the problems he believes illegal drugs cause would get worse if his team weren't actively involved in pursuing those who sell them.

Ironically, in the very same week that the FBI released the annual crime report containing the above-mentioned marijuana-arrest statistics, several members of the U.S. House of Representatives worked to pass a resolution commemorating the end of America's national prohibition of alcohol.

The resolution begins: "Celebrating 75 years of effective state-based alcohol regulation and recognizing state lawmakers, regulators, law-enforcement officers, the public-health community, and industry members for creating a workable, legal, and successful system of alcoholic beverage regulation, distribution, and sale."

The section of the resolution most relevant to the issue of marijuana's legal status specifically addresses the myriad problems that prohibition caused.

It reads: "Whereas passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited 'the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors' in the United States, resulted in a dramatic increase in illegal activity, including unsafe black-market alcohol production, organized crime, and noncompliance with alcohol laws."

Even considering that this resolution is clearly a waste of Congress' time, it makes an excellent point. Despite the problems that American society still has with alcohol, they aren't even remotely as serious as they were when alcohol was illegal. The same would be true for marijuana.

It's time that Americans started learning from our history. Legalizing and properly regulating marijuana is the most rational course of action.