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When cops arrest lawful medical marijuana patients for possession, Gray says, it’s “an institutional corruption.” He blames the state government for confusing the common sense out of everyone, including cops.

“I issue an indictment against Sacramento,” he says. “The lack of leadership … it’s virtually criminal.”

“The biggest oxymoron in our world today is the term controlled substances,” he says. “Why? Because as soon as you prohibit a substance, you give up control to the bad guys. That’s a huge problem we've inflicted upon ourselves.”

Dale Sky Jones, a former D.A.R.E. member who now chairs the board for the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform said.
The prison-industrial complex’s lobbying arm is one of the most powerful in the country, spending $45 million in 2012 alone to influence policy. The industry tracks off-the-chart profits by putting large numbers of nonviolent offenders behind bars.

People arrested for substance-related offenses sometimes can escape the prison system, typically by enrolling in drug court. Unfortunately, not everyone caught in possession of illicit substances needs treatment, says Goldstein, the LAPD veteran.

“We make assumptions that every single person that uses drugs is automatically addicted,” she notes. “Most drug use, scientifically, is non-problematic in nature.”

Goldstein is especially unnerved by the fact that addicts who really could benefit from drug court sometimes have problems procuring a spot because of marijuana offenders taking up all the space.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), in 2014, out of close to 1.6 million people arrested for drug-law violations, a little more than 700,000 were detained for marijuana offenses, with 88 percent arrested for possession alone. This staggering statistic begs the question: Can law enforcement not find something better to do with its resources?

“We’ve always advocated ending prohibitions as a cost-efficient measure that will save millions and millions and allow law enforcement to go after more serious crimes,” says Armando Gudiño, a policy manager at the DPA. “Nothing out there shows us incarceration curtails drug use or drug sales or anything like that.”

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