While Bush is touting the new FBI report showing violent crime (except for murder) is down, he neglects to mention some other important statistics. According to NORML, which has studied the report:

Police arrested an estimated 755,187 persons for marijuana violations in 2003.... The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 45 percent of all drug arrests in the United States....at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 42 seconds in America.

The cost of these marijuana arrests is $7.6 billion. Isn't it peculiar that Bush doesn't realize that this $7.6 million could be far better spent finding and stopping terrorists?

If you're thinking the numbers may reflect a lot of big dealer sales, forget it.

Of those charged with marijuana violations, 88 percent - some 662,886 Americans - were charged with possession only. The remaining 92,301 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes all cultivation offenses - even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use.

Marijuana arrests last year were up 8%. What does that mean?

The total number of marijuana arrests for 2003 far exceeded the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.