A Billion Dollars A Year For Pot Prisons?

[BIGBUCK$]

American taxpayers are now spending more than $1 billion per year to incarcerate themselves for pot, according to statistics released last week by the US Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics. According to their new report, "Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004," 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug violations are serving time for marijuana offenses. Combining these percentages with separate US Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics on the total number of state and federal drug prisoners suggests that there are now about 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates behind bars for marijuana offenses. (The report failed to include estimates on the percentage of inmates incarcerated in county jails for pot-related offenses.) Multiplying these totals by DOJ prison-expenditure data reveals that taxpayers are spending more than $1 billion annually to imprison pot offenders.

The new report is noteworthy because it undermines the common claim from law-enforcement officers and bureaucrats, specifically White House Drug Czar John Walters, that few, if any, Americans are incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses. In reality, nearly one out of eight US drug prisoners is locked up for pot. Of course, several hundred thousand more Americans are arrested each year for violating marijuana laws, costing taxpayers another $8 billion annually in criminal-justice costs.

According to the most recent figures available from the FBI, police arrested an estimated 786,545 people on marijuana charges in 2005 - more than twice the number of Americans arrested just 12 years ago. Among those arrested, about 88 percent - some 696,074 Americans' were charged with possession only. The remaining 90,471 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. These totals are the highest ever recorded by the FBI and make up 42.6 percent of all drug arrests in the United States. Nevertheless, self-reported pot use by adults, as well as the ready availability of marijuana on the black market, remains virtually unchanged.

Marijuana isn't a harmless substance, and those who argue for a change in the drug's legal status don't claim that it is. However, pot's relative risks to the user and society are arguably fewer than those of alcohol and tobacco, and they don't warrant the expenses associated with targeting, arresting and prosecuting hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.

According to federal statistics, about 94 million Americans - 40 percent of the US population age 12 or older - self-identify as having used cannabis at some point in their lives, and relatively few lay claim to having suffered significant deleterious health effects from its use. America's public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it. It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals.


http://www.hightimes.com/ht/legal/content.php?bid=377&aid=3

 

[Megalomaniac]

that is because american is mainly made up of the infamous jackass. If you look around you will see them everywhere.

 

[borris]

lmao, money isn't even as half as bad as to understand the real issue is that we have other legal recreational drugs and alcohol that kill off 30 times as many more people a year than a cannibus

but ofcoarse our forefathers used to get loaded and blow on cigars so that point is completely irrelevant to our gov't

 

[BIGBUCK$]

lmao, money isn't even as half as bad as to understand the real issue is that we have other legal recreational drugs and alcohol that kill off 30 times as many more people a year than a cannibus

but ofcoarse our forefathers used to get loaded and blow on cigars so that point is completely irrelevant to our gov't

EXACTLY

 

[txbondsman]

I was smoking pot in 73', were any of all born then? I smoked daily for over 15 years, then went to the "somtimes" deal for a few more. I swore that I'd never quit smoking, it was just the coolest thing, I thought.
The biggest downside is that pot makes 99% of the people who use it lazy. That's kind of the whole deal, get stoned and gel out for awhile, right. I didn't, and nobody I knew, got up and went and did much of anything productive. It will keep your ass on the couch when you really need to be working or taking care of business, instead you just put it off for later. If your a kid in school, studying becomes a bitch, listening to an important lecture in college becomes a daydreaming fest, etc.
All in all, I personally think that it's that biggest counterproductive substance known to man.
Should it be legalized, prolly. Is it harmless, oh HELL no.

 

[jestro]

Manditory minimums are fucking everything up. Dudes get 10 year for selling weed, while violent offenders are in and out in a year or two.

I blame the jackass Ronald McDonald Raygun.

 

[DannoMight]

Manditory minimums are fucking everything up. Dudes get 10 year for selling weed, while violent offenders are in and out in a year or two.

Yep a rapist or murderer can be out in as little as 3-4 years where someone holding some weight does over 10. its complete crap.

 

[Lestat]

the country is is backwards when it comes to drug enforcement, and the classification of drugs. We're still better than SOME countries though where you can't buy booze and if you get caught with pot you are in jail forever.

 

[txbondsman]

TX just passed new legislation that will decriminalize DWLI (license invalid), POM < 2oz, TBC, and a few others. At the discression of the arresting officer, he can give you a citation.
The overcrowding of prisons here has the legislature lookng at decriminalizing alot of non violent crimes as well, including some that are level A misdemeanors. The burden will be put on the towns/ cities to prosecute the people, more revenue for the towns, but also a big headache. I think that atleast 30% of the criminals won't show up to court or send in their fines. That means tons of warrants will go out for their apprehension, meaning the city will spend $$ on manpower to arrest the violaters and prolly most of the money will never be collected. Stupid idea if you asked me...

 

[txbondsman]

Manditory minimums are fucking everything up. Dudes get 10 year for selling weed, while violent offenders are in and out in a year or two.

contact your senators and tell them that if they don't advocate for Jessica's Law you'll find some that will. Also, they need to tell the ACLU to go PHUK it's self w/ all these sex offender rights BS. The judges wo let the bastards out should be removed, period.
Jessica's Law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica's_Law

There are some cases where mandatory minimums have not done what they were designed to do, but the vast majority of the cases that will affect someone wrongly are corrected at the DA's office, like changing the charge to actually fit the circumstances, etc. Otherwise, the drug dealers who can afford a good connected lawyer will walk everytime.