Pubdate: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH) Copyright: 2013 The Columbus Dispatch Contact: http://www.dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93 Author: Alan Johnson Page: 23 DRUG ARRESTS DWARF THOSE FOR OTHER CRIMES While violent crimes showed a slight uptick for the first time in six years across the U.S. in 2012, drug arrests continued to dominate the Ohio and national crime picture. There were more than four times as many arrests for drugs as violent crimes in Ohio last year - 26,936 to 6,236 - according to new Uniform Crime Reporting statistics released on Monday by the FBI. The report is compiled using statistics provided by more than 18,000 law-enforcement agencies across the country. Violent crimes include murder, voluntary manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and assault. Violence has shock value in the report: A violent crime happened every 26 seconds, a rape every 6.2 minutes, and a murder every 35.4 minutes in the U.S. FBI Director James B. Comey noted in releasing the statistics that violent crime rose 0.7 percent last year. But a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition also underlined numbers showing law enforcement made a drug arrest every 20 seconds and a marijuana arrest every 42 seconds. The group is composed of police, prosecutors, judges and others who argue that the U.S. is losing a lengthy, massive and costly war on drugs. "These numbers represent a tremendous loss of human potential. Each one of those arrests is the story of someone who may suffer a variety of adverse effects from their interaction with the justice system," said Neill Franklin, executive director of the group and a police officer for more than three decades. "Every time a police officer makes an arrest for drugs, that's several hours out of his or her day not spent going after real criminals," added Diane Goldstein, a retired police lieutenant commander. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has pushed hard for arrests for possession and sale of narcotic prescription pills, heroin, methamphetamines and synthetic drugs, but has not made a similar move against marijuana. The FBI report showed that nationally, 80 percent of all drug arrests were for possession as opposed to sale or trafficking. There were 1,531,251 U.S. drug arrests, more than theft (1,264,986), and drunken driving (1,215,077). Midwest law enforcement had the highest percentage of any region in marijuana-possession arrests compared with all drug arrests at 51.9 percent; the West had the lowest at 22.1 percent. The full report is at http:// tinyurl.com/lh88zks. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt