Friday, August 28, 2009 , Updated
Aerial arrest maps show where people in Dallas-Fort Worth are arrested for posession, sale of marijuana
The dots are small, but we think you get the idea -- there are lots of marijuana arrests for possession and selling.
DALLAS — ProtectYouth.org, a Dallas-based nonprofit, recently released a collection of aerial maps that show where arrests for marijuana possession and sales have occurred in 30 cities throughout Texas during years 2006 to 2008.
ProtectYouth.org believes it is important that the public is aware of the marijuana market trends in their community and law enforcement's impact on trends, such as youth marijuana use rates. The maps show that in some cities, such as Dallas and Fort Worth, minority and low-income neighborhoods bear a significantly greater burden of the marijuana law enforcement than in other areas.
To accompany the release of the maps, ProtectYouth.org has also released a Tobacco and Marijuana Market Impact Index report to track long-term trends in tobacco and marijuana use among youth attending Texas school districts, grades 7 - 12. The information is based on results from the established Texas School Survey, which has been administered to over 500 Texas school districts since 1989 and coordinated by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in conjunction with the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) at Texas A&M University.
The ProtectYouth.org study shows that despite record levels of marijuana arrests in Texas over the past ten years, current use of regulated tobacco cigarettes has dropped below current marijuana use, or is declining at a significantly faster rate, among middle and high school students in school districts across the state. This trend is also reflected among school districts that participated in the nationwide 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is conducted biennially by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cities such as Houston and San Antonio have seen teen cigarette use drop below marijuana use while arrests for marijuana possession and sales in those cities have skyrocketed since 1997 with little or no impact on marijuana use rates.
The Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Synar Report showed that since the passage of comprehensive tobacco control laws by the state and federal governments in 1997 there has been a dramatic decrease in tobacco sales to minors. In Fiscal Year 1997, 56% of Texas retailers violated laws against tobacco sales to minors. In 2009, the rate had dropped to 11.3%.
"Texas has been dramatically successful in reducing cigarette use among young teens with the retailer 'We Card' programs, passage of public smoking bans, and state and federal tax increases on cigarettes, which fund our tobacco enforcement and education programs. It’s time to apply that success to the marijuana market to reduce its influence on our youth and stop enriching criminal groups who are currently exploiting the unregulated market," said Craig Johnson, the executive director of ProtectYouth.org.
Source: Protect Youth
Travis Bush, says:
"It’s time to apply that success to the marijuana market to reduce its influence on our youth and stop enriching criminal groups who are currently exploiting the unregulated market,"
Really? With what, a smoking ban? Haven't these monkeys tried the Reaganite "Just Say No" approach to no avail?
As well, make it legal tax it, and issue bigger fines to businesses that would sell to minors....by their logic, if it worked for cigarettes, then it will work for pot.
If anything, a crackdown on smuggling cheap dirt weed from Mexico would be much more effective, but then again for all the money the DEA spends and confiscates, they can't seem to do that right either. For the most part, I'm betting isn't the local growers selling to the kiddies..it is the gangs and those with large amounts of inexpensive dope that are responsible. The only way to beat them, is to take away their business.
Other than that, all I see this doing is pissing in the wind and keeping the Project Youth people employed.
Verified
3 months agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Pavel Lishin, says:
Hey, I fixed the intro paragraph.
<blockquote>DALLAS — ProtectYouth.org, a Dallas-based nonprofit, recently released a collection of aerial maps that show where you can probably score some weed in 30 cities throughout Texas during years 2006 to 2008.</blockquote>
Verified
3 months agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Mike Orren, says:
Meh. The maps pretty much mirror population density and are therefore of limited use.
Staff
3 months agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
McCool, says:
End the new prohibition, make our children safer! Drug warriors can get their adrenaline rush catching murderers and other violent predators. More time could be spent catching those who sell drugs to children.
Many supporters of a change to science-based policy do not use so called illicit drugs or plan to but are just compassionate liberty lovers! We believe less people will be lost to violence, suicide, overdose and skid row or will stoop to prostitution with policy that offers help and treatment to addicts in place of incarceration.
Paramilitary drug raids increase the chances for violence to occur in America's homes and streets. "Drug prohibition causes more pain, suffering and death than the drugs themselves." Cries Howard Wooldridge of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Watch the LEAP video, "End Prohibition Now!" http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name...
Weed out morally bankrupt servants of tyranny, gun control fanatics and racists by taking away the main tool they use to extend their agenda, the new prohibition. Help construct better, safer drug policies for society and the individual. The violence, official lawlessness and prison over population are a policy created nightmare.
Anonymous
3 months agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal