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Originally Posted by Amnorix
Those two go hand in hand.
I read an article in the Boston Globe regarding women in prison. Some amazing stuff.
1. Women constitute about 10% of the US prison population. A little under 200K out of 2M incarcerated.
2. 70% of women in jail are mothers.
3. Some absurdly high percentage (like 60%) are in for nonviolent crimes, usually related to drug usage.
Glad we waste our money locking up these folks.  |
The federal government spends about $35 billion a year on the "war on drugs," largely to prosecute marijuana users – but it's fighting a losing battle.
While the number of marijuana arrests has risen sharply since the early 1990s, the crackdown has done little to curtail the demand for the drug.
Police make about 700,000 marijuana-related arrests each year, accounting for almost half of all drug arrests. Pot busts peaked at 755,186 in 2003 – nearly twice the number of arrests in 1993.
While marijuana arrests rose 113 percent from 1990 to 2002, arrests for other drugs increased only 10 percent.
About 88 percent of marijuana busts are for simple possession, not dealing, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report. And the number of arrests for "sale/manufacture" includes all those caught growing marijuana for their own use or for medical reasons.
Marijuana prices have fallen by 16 percent since 1992, when adjusted for inflation – while potency has doubled.
Since 1990, daily marijuana use by high school seniors has nearly tripled, from 2.2 percent of students to 6 percent.
A marijuana user is arrested every 42 seconds in America, according to the Drug War Chronicle – and the number busted yearly exceeds the population of South Dakota or San Francisco.
"These number belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said Keith Stroup, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources. These dollars would be better served combating serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."
And Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said that considering the number of marijuana arrests, "it's safe to say that the drug war isn't preventing people from using marijuana."
Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the MPP, pointed out that while marijuana possession offenses usually draw light punishment, the repercussions of a pot bust can be devastating to the offenders.
"It can literally haunt them for the rest of their lives," Mirken told The Drug War Chronicle. "They lose access to federal benefits, they lose job opportunities because of the arrest record, they can't get student loans."
More than 150,000 college students or would-be students can't get access to federal financial aid because of drug crimes, most of them simple marijuana possession, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The drug war against low-level users also encourages resentment against the police, especially in the minority community. African-Americans account for 14 percent of marijuana users, but 30 percent of arrests, according to The Sentencing Project, a research group favoring alternatives to incarceration.
An editorial in USA TODAY – America's largest circulation newspaper - has called for changes in the enforcement of drug laws: "Today's more potent marijuana carries substantial health and social risks. It can lead to depression, thoughts of suicide and schizophrenia, especially among teens, according to government research. Its use should be discouraged.
"But it's a smokescreen to suggest that rising arrest numbers show the war on drugs is working. It's time for a serious debate on whether massive arrests of low-level users are worth the cost or having any benefit."