Why can't the cops buy pot or grow their own instead of stealing it from all the other stoners?

You think it was bad before now - now that the Legalize MJ initiative is on the ballot in Cali and Oregon and already so in BC, the feds are going to use all the SPD resources and all the King County Cops resources to crack down on us.

EPIC FAIL - this will just result in the initiative passing next year, and people realizing the cops hate taxpayers.

Excellent use of stoner paranoia to cast doubt on every single fact in your post.

Although if you want to truly cater to the stoner demographic you need to put scare quotes around any concept whose validity could be conceivably questioned: "records", "data", "January" ... "the".

Well this is a great piece of journalism:

"Seattle police appear to be arresting more people this year on charges of possessing marijuana under Interim Chief John Diaz than under his predecessor, Gil Kerlikowske, who left his post in May 2009 to become the nation's Drug Czar."

"Police arrested 88 people for marijuana possession from the beginning of January to the end of April."

Arrests aren't the same as charges.

An arrest stops. A charge is filed. It is then prosecuted - or not. It is then decided - or withdrawn - or tossed out.

Me, I like my charges like I like my women, screaming hot and exploding with passion.

There's far too many factors that are hard to get statistics on...
How many pot smokers are of the stupid variety that mistakenly think it's completely legal to smoke pot in front of a cop?
How often are cops using the pot possession bust to cover for not having the proof of the real crime they stopped the person for? (as in, I know you just spray painted that wall, but I can't prove it so I'll bust you for pot instead)
Has everyone started carrying?
Is everyone smoking now?

@7 exactly. Everyone knows you don't light up a spliff in front of the pigs unless you're in a sharing mood.

And offer them some donuts too. They like that.

@5 it's currently 2010. 88 people were arrested 1/10-4/10 (under Diaz). compared with 52 from 1/09-4/09 (under Kerlikowske).

So a better headline, Seattle Times or Fox News style would be .... say it with me, devilsmoke:

"MASSIVE POT BUSTS BY SEATTLE POLICE RESULT IN 50 PERCENT INCREASE IN ARRESTS - CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUPS THREATEN TO SECEDE FROM USA!"

how's that?

oh, and the follow up article in the Wasila Times would be "Tea Nation activists promise to arm Seattle citizens to prevent federal police from turning Seattle into a Nanny State War Zone - outraged taxpayers protest massive increase in taxes over pot busts"

If 45 of those 88 are black people, that means, more than HALF or marijuana arrest are of black people. Whites and other races outnumber blacks by how many in the Pacific Northwest? Here's comes the "aroma of marijuana" as a reason to search innocent potheads.