According to attorney and D.C. City Council candidate Paul Zukerberg, neither the Metropolitan Police Department nor the Metro Transit Police are making the numbers for recent marijuana arrests public. The number of marijuana-related arrests have increased in D.C. over the years, and Zukerberg is convinced that this is why police refuse to share the statistics.
Zukerberg gathered documents thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and presented them to reporters, showing that arrests for marijuana possession had definitely climbed over the years. The numbers ranged from 4,445 arrests in 2009 to 5,280 in 2010 and 5,759 in 2011. He was told that figures for 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 were unavailable because that information didn't "fall within the parameter" of information MPD had available at the time.
According to Zukerberg, authorities are trying to hide the fact that arrests are still climbing.
"They've given us data for 2009, '10, and '11, so you can see the trend," he said. "This is the crime increasing at an incredibly rapid rate, and not to have those figures is troubling. People's lives are getting turned upside down," he added.
During a debate with other candidates, Zukerberg argued that the District was arresting more young people for marijuana as it was producing high school graduates. Twice as many, to be exact. He added that MPD always boasts of stats that exhibit decreases in violent crime. What's the hold up here?
If the numbers that show homicides have reached a fifty-year low are available, where's the info on marijuana arrests? As Zukerberg points out, it's aggressive enforcement against marijuana that's increasing, not marijuana use. Why waste the resources?
[via DCist]
