... in 1980. By 1999, a record 704,812 were nabbed, 88 percent of them for possession rather than trafficking. Since cannabis arrests constitute 44 percent of all drug apprehensions, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) estimates that the government's war on pot smokers costs taxpayers $9.2 billion annually. Using U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data, MPP calculates that 37,500 federal, state and local inmates ... of $20,000 each, government spent $750 million to imprison these offenders. The National Drug Control Budget has swelled from $1.65 billion in fiscal 1982 to $11.56 billion in fis...

• Word Count: 2154
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate