Although Colorado and Washington have decriminalized the use of marijuana and more than 20 states have allowed prescribing and limited possession of medical marijuana, the recreational drug still remains a sure ticket to prison in the rest of the country.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for 2012, there were 1,552,432 drug arrests nationwide, slightly higher than in 2011, among which nearly half were for marijuana possession and use. That’s one marijuana arrest every 48 seconds in [...]