Marijuana is not regulated therfore "dealers" or people who sell marijuana are forced to resolve there dissagrements on there own which attributes to violence and gun crimes throughout are town.
By Decriminalizing only an ounce of marijuana in Albuquerque New Mexico to the extent of a mandatory fine we can unclog and uncroud are prission system, whitch should be set aside for people who are commiting much more violent crimes. and save a young man by NOT putting him in a prision cell with people who can be much more dangerous.
*Government studies conclude that marijuana decriminalization has had virtually no effect on either marijuana use or beliefs and related attitudes about marijuana among American young people in those states that have enacted such a policy.
REFERENCE: L. Johnson et al. 1981. Marijuana Decriminalization: The Impact on Youth 1975-1980. Monitoring the Future, Occasional Paper Series: Paper No. 13. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
*60,000 individuals are behind bars for marijuana offenses at a cost to taxpayers of $1.2 billion per year.
REFERENCE: Marijuana Arrests and Incarceration in the United States. 1999. The Federation of American Scientists' Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin.
*Police arrest more Americans per year on marijuana charges than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
REFERENCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2001. Uniform Crime Report: Crime in the United States, 2000. Table 29: Total estimated arrests in the United States, 2000. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.
