Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
Each year Maryland police officers make thousands of drug arrests, costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and yet there continues to be no visible evidence that the war on drugs is decreasing the amount of drug users in Maryland. Police officers focus a large portion of their time and effort making arrests for possession of cocaine, heroin, and prescription medication throughout Maryland, and especially in Baltimore City. Perhaps the most staggering data comes from the amount of marijuana arrests that Maryland cops make, and the money spent to make these marijuana arrests.
Maryland police officers made almost 25,000 marijuana arrests in 2007 which averages to roughly 440 people arrested for marijuana per 100,000 people in the general population. This according to drugscience.org is the fourth highest cannabis arrest ratio in the country. About 90 percent of these arrests were for possession, while the other 10 percent were for trafficking, sale, or dealing.
More alarming is the amount of money and resources Maryland spends on enforcing its marijuana laws. While Maryland does not have the strictest marijuana laws in the country, millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on police protection, the judicial system, and the corrections department to enforce these laws. Simple possession of marijuana in Maryland is a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in jail for a first time offender. Sale and trafficking of marijuana are both felonies with much larger maximum jail sentences. Sale carries up to 5 years in jail. and may carry a mandatory jail sentence, while trafficking can carry up to a 40 year jail sentence and heavy fines.
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