An increase in the number of marijuana-related arrests in California is reheating the debate on marijuana decriminalization. According to recently released statistics from the state’s Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center, marijuana-related felony and misdemeanor arrests jumped from 65,386 in 2006 to 74,119 in 2007, an increase of 13.35%. Felony arrests accounted for nearly 30 percent of the increase in marijuana-related offenses between 2006 and 2007.

The arrest figures, which are the state’s highest since 1990, have prompted some supporters of marijuana decriminalization to say that the increased number of arrests represent a waste of the taxpayers’ dollars and a diversion of law enforcement resources from more potentially serious problems.

Some law enforcement officials attributed the increase in arrests to a strengthened Federal presence in the state, a condition they do not expect to change. The state’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting also reports that it has increased the number of plants it eradicates annually. Further, enforcement officials expressed the concern that the increased abuse of the medical marijuana statute is a potential threat to patients who possess marijuana legally under the state’s medical marijuana laws.