NEW POLL:61% Arkansans Support reduced penalties for marijuana offenses
Tuesday, Nov 21, 2006
LITTLE ROCK - More than 60 percent of Arkansas voters support reduced penalties for marijuana offenses, according to poll results released Monday.
The poll, commissioned by Drug Policy Education Group Inc., a Fayetteville-based non-profit which promotes reforming the state's marijuana laws, and conducted by Zogby International of Utica New York, found that 61 percent of respondents support reducing penalties for marijuana convictions.
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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT- FAYETTEVIILLE POLICE ARRESTED 405 PEOPLE IN 2005 FOR POT!
Who are we?
Drug Policy Education Group, Inc. (DPEG) formed in late 1999 as a statewide reform organization in Arkansas. We provide newsletters, information, and project participation to any Arkansas resident who shows an interest. Our board is statewide, with one African American, several low-income, wide range of age, five women and eight men. We interact with other state entities such as ACLU, state and campus NORML, League of Women Voters, political parties, and national groups including DPA, NORML, LEAP, and MPP. We have helped in the formation of reform groups in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
Our Mission: To address the harm caused by the war on drugs.
As an educational organization, we:
serve as an information resource
host exhibits, seminars, conferences, and programs that educate the public on drug policy issues
offer speakers with expertise on drug policy issues
investigate and document drug policy information specific to the State of Arkansas
interview and collect information about Arkansas people impacted by drug policy
produce newsletters, reports, press releases, and other educational material
collect and archive drug policy information
network people, organizations, and agencies on issues of drug policy.
DPEG Timeline
2000: At the time of formation in Spring 2000, DPEG hosted the two-day Clinical Conference on Cannabis at the Center for Continuing Education, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science, Little Rock. In Fall 2000, we expanded on our strategy of reaching out to the state’s professional and leadership community by hosting a one-day conference, “Arkansas Youth in Trouble: What Works, What’s Needed, and Where’s the Money,” featuring a state appeals court judge as keynote speaker and attracting over 80 participants.
2001: In Spring 2001, DPEG hosted a one-day conference “Drug War Effects on People with Disabilities,” with sessions on the medical use of marijuana and on the problems faced by patients with chronic pain. That summer, we were able to assist six board members in attending the national Drug Policy Alliance conference in Albuquerque. That fall, we hosted a Little Rock roundtable discussion on racial profiling and began an ongoing association with other individuals and advocacy organizations interested in this issue. Our “Stand Up! A Celebration of Reform” in December 2001 brought together community leaders, educators, religious leaders, members of the public, and our supporters.
2002: We produced a video entitled “Illegal Healthcare: Medical Marijuana and Arkansas.” This powerful 20-minute video documenting the personal stories of Arkansas patients has been aired on community television stations in the two largest urban centers of the state, screened in 15 public meetings in all regions of the state, presented at civic and religious group meetings, donated to 52 libraries in the state, and made available nationally through “Pot TV.” Our library project kicked off in April 2002 with the distribution of books, articles, and booklets on drug policy issues valued at over $7000 to 52 public and university libraries statewide. Our speaker’s bureau project featuring ten highly credentialed speakers was initiated in July 2002. Subsequently, an intensive speaking tour by Dr. Wynona Bryant-Williams included presentations to the Arkansas NAACP, ACORN, and other African-American interest groups. We were able to assist Dr. Bryant-Williams in attending the national Drug Policy Alliance Los Angeles conference in Fall 2002. Also in 2002, DPEG published a 32-page tabloid format newspaper on the topic of medical marijuana of which 20,000 copies were distributed, including state news media editors, all persons on the Arkansas Medical Society mailing list (medical students, doctors, and retired docs), legislators, and the general public.
2003: Beginning in late 2002 and continuing through March 2003, DPEG presented a series of advertisements viewed two to five times by over 394,000 newspaper readers statewide featuring medical marijuana patient profiles. Also beginning in late 2002 and continuing through March 2003 were a monthly series of Myth-Fact large format postcards on the topic of medical marijuana, sent to all 135 state legislators and the medical society mailing list. A slightly favorable editorial in the AR Medical Society Jan ‘03 journal was published as a result of packets we sent to all board members. In March 2003, DPEG assisted six patients in providing expert testimony before the House public health committee in hearings on medical marijuana legislation. Also providing expert testimony under the invitation of DPEG was former Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
2004: In 2004, board members monitored hearings conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on Racial Profiling. We communicated directly with the task force director and provided information about other states’ projects on gathering data about profiling. We asked the task force to consider the full spectrum of profiling including class and cultural profiling. The task force did not produce significant results which they blamed on lack of funding for administrative support. Also in 2004, we produced and published a report on the public defender system in Arkansas, an analysis on drug war costs to the state, and an analysis on the lack of drug testing regulations. Our library project added new materials to the statewide collection: Prescription Pot: A Leading Advocate’s Heroic Battle to Legalize Medical Marijuana, by George McMahon, and a magazine article reprint, “Going to Pot: The growing movement toward ending America’s irrational marijuana prohibition,” by Ethan Nadelmann, and Drug War Facts, 4th Edition. We updated our database and began an analysis of how to revise our website. We restructured our speakers bureau to begin focusing on gaining engagements for experts. Our website produced a high volume of inquiries about methadone withdrawal methods, drug testing results, and treatment options.
2005: In early 2005, the board met for a one-day facilitated workshop to finalize our 5-year plan and renew our mission statement, now to be “The Truth About Drugs and Drug Policy.” Since January, we have gained seven new board members and formulated a plan of action for the 05-06 year. Efforts to gain legislative progress in conjunction with our sister 501(c)(4) organization were stymied due to lateness of lobbyist effort (funding delay). However, a two-year legislative study on medical marijuana was instituted, and we will be working with legislators to bring expert witnesses and provide research materials, along with other support. We are in the process of shipping our next library donation to 50 libraries statewide, including Legalize This! by Douglas Husak, “Making Sense of Student Drug Testing” (DPA), and a DVD “Hemp and the Rule of Law,” which will be promoted by advertisements in targeted community newspapers. We have published the 2nd edition of our tabloid format newspaper “Reform Report” including a complete update on medical marijuana research and new patient stories, plus data on the cost of the drug war in Arkansas; distribution underway includes AR Medical Society mailing list, legislators, libraries, news media, and general public. We collaborated with the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville chapter of NORML at an event on campus and are meeting soon to plan joint events for next school year. We conducted a public exhibit at an all day festival in Fayetteville, where we premiered our new mission statement on a banner and t-shirts: “The TRUTH about drugs? Prohibition is the Problem.” This is our first public step into an issue arena beyond medical marijuana.
We are especially pleased that the 2005 Arkansas General Assembly passed several reform measures, which we believe is due in part to our work, including reduction of mandatory time served for meth offenders from 70% to 50% and allowance of good time, an expansion and improved funding for drug courts, and elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing in line with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. In a session acclaimed by conservatives as a ‘win’ for their agenda, we are very pleased that no increase of penalties or additional drug crime laws were enacted. Considerable legislative discussion focused on the need to not incarcerate non-violent drug offenders.
Check our Website out www.dpeg.org <
Costs of the Drug War in Arkansas
1. Arkansas spends over $122 million yearly to prohibit illegal drugs.
According to the most recent figures from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in 1999 state and local expenditures on control of illegal drugs exceeded $13 billion per year. With Arkansas at .94% of national population, its per capita share of this cost is $122,200,000.
Source: National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, “Informing America’s Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don’t Know Keeps Hurting Us,” (Washington DC: National Academy Press, 2001) p. 1
2. Arkansas spends over $32 million per year for police enforcement of drug laws.
Arkansas arrested 14,873 persons for drug law violations in 1999, 6.8% of its total arrests. Police costs for these arrests, based on the Bureau of Justice statistics, was $32,023,920.
3. Of this, Arkansas spends over $20 million for marijuana arrests alone.
Arkansas arrested 9421 persons for marijuana law violations in 1999, 4.3% of its total arrests. Police costs for these arrests, based on the Bureau of Justice statistics, was $20,250,420.
Source: Bauer, Lynn & Steven D. Owens, “Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2001" (Washington DC: US Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 2004), NCJ202792, p. 4.
Source: Arrest Data 1999, Arkansas Crime Information Center
4. Arkansas spends over $29,300,000 yearly on marijuana arrest, prosecution, and jail.
In 2000, marijuana offenses were 3.87% of all state arrests. Police costs were estimated at $13.6 million; judicial and legal costs over $3 million, and correctional costs over $12.6 million.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts Program (2000); Uniform Crime Reports, County-level Details Arrest and Offense Data (2000). Full report “Crimes of Indiscretion” online at www.norml.org.
5. Over 24% of Arkansas’s corrections system population are prisoners of the drug war, costing the state over $86 million per year.
In 1998, Arkansas prisons housed 15,950 prisoners, of which 3834 were drug law offenders (24%). Based on Bureau of Justice statistics where Arkansas’ annual cost for state corrections is $301,054,000, drug law violators account for corrections expenditures of approximately $86,652,960.
The average annual cost in the United States for total justice expenditures in 2001 was $167 billion, of which local police accounted for 30% and state corrections for 23%. Arkansas’s share in this cost per year is $470,940,000 for police and $301,054,000 for state corrections.
Source: Leslie Powell, Director, Arkansas Sentencing Commission by phone July 2000.
Source: Bauer, Lynn & Steven D. Owens, “Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2001" (Washington DC: US Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 2004), NCJ202792, p. 4.
Money Wasted in Failed Drug War Could Help Our Kids
· Arkansas taxpayers spend over $20 million per year paying police to arrest marijuana users. 1 In many states, persons caught with marijuana receive a citation like a traffic ticket, which saves millions of dollars in expenditures for police, legal services, and corrections. Researchers have found that giving 'on-the-spot' fines to marijuana users did not cause marijuana use to increase. 2
· Almost $13 million of the state correctional budget is spent on marijuana offenders if marijuana offenders are incarcerated at the same proportion of overall offenses as they are arrested, at 4.3%. 3
· Do we want to build more prisons instead of schools? In 2002 about 15% of the population admitted using marijuana in the last month. In Arkansas, that's about 305,000 people. Do we really expect our law enforcement community to be diligent in its duty under current law to arrest these nonviolent offenders? 4
· Arkansas spends over $122 million per year in support of failed drug policies. How many children would avoid the risk of addiction if that money was invested in early education, family support, and community health and mental services treatment centers? 5
1 Marijuana arrests comprise 4.3% of total Arkansas arrests at a police cost of $20,250,420 for 2001. The Bureau of Justice Statistics report “Justice Expenditures and Employment in the United States, 2001,” by Lynn Bauer and Steven D. Owens, (Washington D C: US Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 2004), NCJ202792., p. 4, revealed total justice expenditures in 2001 of $167 billion, of which local police accounted for 30%. At .94% of the national population, Arkansas’ estimated police costs in 2001 were $470 million.
2 Ali, Robert, et al., The Social Impacts of the Cannabis Expiation Notice Scheme in South Australia: Summary Report (Canberra, Australia: Department of Health and Aged Care, 1999) p. 44.
3 Bauer and Owens study noted that state corrections accounted for 23% of the $167 total justice expenditures in 2001, of which the Arkansas share would be $301,054,000.
4 Over 24% of the Arkansas prison population are prisoners of the drug war, costing the state over $86 million per year. (Data from Arkansas Sentencing Commission for 2000)
5 The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) estimated that in 1999 state and local expenditures on control of illegal drugs exceeded $13 billion per year. Arkansas’ per capita cost, based on these figures, would be $122,200,000 per year. (National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences “Informing America’s Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don’t Know Keeps Hurting Us,” (Washington DC: National Academy Press, 2001) p. 1)
See www.acic.org for Arkansas arrest data
For the SAMSHA Household Study of Drug Abuse, see www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/2k1NHSDA/vol2/appendixh_1.htm
and
www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/2k1NHSDA/vol2/appendixg.htm
For 2001 census figures on Arkansas population, see http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/05000.html
Check our Website out www.dpeg.org <
Who I'd like to meet:
Drug Policy Education Group's Friend Space (Top 16)
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Texas NORML's 4th Annual 6th Street Smokeout is coming up fast! Saturday, October 17th, at Momo's Club in Austin! You can get your tickets online by clicking "Tickets", and you know it's gonna be a sell-out!!
Ten DANK things you can do to help legalize marijuana (in no particular order).
1. Write a letter to a policy maker. This can be local, state or federal level-if we all take the time to do this it makes a huge difference. Take a few minutes to an hour to draft a letter-then once a week take five minutes-send it to a different official, when there is a bill related to marijuana you will have a good base. DANK recommends using a government website or visiting http://www.makepotlegal555.org to find address information for legislators.
2. Encourage others to write their legislators-each time you write to one, pass the name and address around to your like minded friends-get them writing in, too.
3. Volunteer for a Pro-Cannabis event! Look on online, maybe there is one in your area-there are several on the DANKinfo website and at least once volunteer for Seattle Hempfest-you will be impacted in unimaginable ways. For more info: http://hempfest.org/drupal/Volunteers
4. Attend a Pro-Cannabis event! Bring your friends and family members-especially those that would like to be better educated on the drug war and related issues. See the DANKinfo website for a list and once again, I must say (maybe I am biased) at least once in your life attend Seattle Hempfest-the third week of August. See http://www.hempfest.org/drupal for more info. Another good choice is the Global Marijuana March (www.globalmarijuanamarch.org). Check the website for it-there is likely a march planned near you—if not see #9
5. Support organizations such as LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php), where the proponents of changing the law are those whom have enforced it and seen the failures first hand. Methods of support include donating, volunteering, passing out fliers, attending events, passing on info, re-posting MySpace bulletins, etc.
6. Donate money to those organizations who are influencing policy change-great examples are NORML (www.norml.org),
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