You’ve most likely seen the numbers on US prisons that have been making the rounds. More than one in every hundred adults in the United States is in jail or prison, amounting to more than 2.3 million Americans behind bars. This record rate of incarceration in the “land of the free” far exceeds that of any other country, both numerically and as a percentage of the overall population. State governments shell out an average of $50 billion a year on corrections, while the feds pick up the bill for another $5 billion, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center On The States that included data from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics and Bureau of Prisons.
The massive growth in American prison populations is largely because of more rigorous state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s, running an interesting parallel with both both state and federal governments’ devotion to locking up every hippie, hepcat or junkie from sea to shining sea. The US government spent over 19 billion dollars in 2003 on the Nixon-coined War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
It’s interesting to examine the correlation of these prison statistics and the hard-line focus of people like Rudy Giuliani, who saw to it that marijuana arrests increased tenfold on his watch as mayor of New York City. The year before Rudy took office, 5,100 pot busts were reported in New York. In 2002, that number had rocketed to more than 50,000. Over ninety percent of arrests in 2002 were for possession rather than dealing. I wonder how many would-be terrorists were caught during the same period, under the rule of Mr. 9/11.
A study released last week by the Sentencing Project found that arrests for marijuana account for nearly all of the increase in drug arrests seen during the 1990s. The report also found that one in four people in state prisons for marijuana offenses can be classified as a “low-level offender,” and it estimated that $4 billion a year is spent on arresting and prosecuting marijuana crimes. According to drugwarfacts.org, “In 2004, 44.2 percent of the 1,745,712 total arrests in the U.S. for drug abuse violations were for marijuana-a total of 771,605. Of those, 684,319 people were arrested for possession alone.” When you account for the fact that it costs an average of $20,000 a year to incarcerate a person in this country, these numbers begin to get ugly.
Experts have been arguing for years that the US drug war, which costs an estimated $35 billion a year, has has utterly failed in its attempt to rid our nation of illicit substances. The conservative American Enterprise Institute published a report last month titled “Are We Losing The War On Drugs?” In it, the right-leaning authors declare that “criminal punishment of marijuana use does not appear to be justified.” You know it’s time to rethink the format when even the Republicans start making sense.
If the experts and analysts on my TV aren’t all out of their goddamned minds, we’re headed for a pretty serious recession. With the approaching economic crisis, Americans are going to cast a much more skeptical eye on the programs and policies that cost billions of taxpayer dollars each year- particularly ones that a majority of the population objects to. (Iraq, anyone?)
While teachers make less than waiters and garbage men, and school programs are badly underfunded and are being cut left and right, we’re spending staggering, record amounts of money jailing nonviolent drug offenders and an unpopular, deceitfully motivated war in Iraq ($515 billion so far, or $341 million a day, according to nationalpriorities.org). The percentage of states that spend more on corrections than on higher education has, sadly, reached double digits. Five states- Oregon, Connecticut, Michigan, Vermont and Delaware- lead the pack, while Maryland is quickly climbing the ranks, spending 74 cents on corrections for every dollar it spends on higher education.
The point is this: With less than 5 percent of the world’s population, the US has almost a quarter of the world’s inmates. Those numbers are indefensible in a country that has killed so very many in the name of “freedom.” The education system in America is in decline, while more and more jails are built to house the kids that veer from the straight and narrow. Zero tolerance policies leave no room for movement and little differentiation between casual users and those entrenched in the trade. With a looming economic crisis on the horizon, perhaps people will begin paying more attention to the fact that billions of our tax dollars are being wasted while the spinning plates of the infrastructure grow ever more unstable. Something needs to change.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:34 PM
Ehh. I’ve never met a non-drug user who is all into being against the “war on drugs”.
Kinda like people that like to drive fast think the speed limit should be raised.
Drug users hold the solution to the war on drugs. Stop doing them, and you won’t get arrested. Simple.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:57 PM
That is the stupidest argument I’ve ever heard. How about the facts discussed above?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:32 AM
if those fucking iraqis would just stop shooting us, we could forget about the war on terrorism as well.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:47 AM
So wait, Joe, let me see if I get this right. My argument and all the data presented here are completely invalidated by the fact that I’ve ingested narcotics in my life?
Is that what you’re saying? Maybe you could tell us where you got your straight-edge tattoos, so we can get some self-righteous body badges too.
The “solution to the war on drugs” would just be for everybody to stop doing them? Christ, why didn’t I think of that?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:50 AM
Do I like that billions are being spent on druggies? Of course not. But what is the solution? Do we go to all the inmates and say “You clearly broke the law, but it’s cool, you can go”? Well what do we say to all the other non-druggie inmates that broke laws printed in the same ink? Do we let them out too, or do we just devote the special treatment to adults that can’t stay off drugs that they know ahead of time are against the law?
What druggies fail to see, is the obvious fact that we’re all taught in like 1st grade… drugs are bad. There’s no sensible argument to the contrary, and there’s more than enough history to prove that it’s true.
Not everyone will agree with EVERY law on the books, but they are laws just the same. I’m not sure how I feel about any drugs being legalized, but until that happens, the law is the law, and drug users are the last people that should be granted any kind of special treatment.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:28 AM
how was your time in jail?
care to share personal experiences?
April 30th, 2008 at 10:57 PM
@Joseph
And you never stopped once to think: “Maybe the law is broken”?
[quote=Joseph Rose]What druggies fail to see, is the obvious fact that we’re all taught in like 1st grade… drugs are bad. There’s no sensible argument to the contrary, and there’s more than enough history to prove that it’s true.[/quote]
Sorry to tell you this, but coffee is a drug too.
so is tobacco and Alcohol.
tobacco and Alcohol have a worse effect on you than marijuana.
If the laws where to follow reality, marijuana would be legal, and tobacco and alcohol would be illegal.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:55 PM
Joseph, my drug-user-hating-friend, some suggestions.
First, do a drug (you probably already have since caffeine, alcohol and nicotine are all drugs), and you’ll see that the brain is an extremely flexible organ capable of letting you see things that no sober life could ever convey.
Second, just because one group of inmates would be free, doesn’t mean that a) they would be released willy-nilly (certain provisions would be in place, probation, counseling, etc. b/c drug addiction is what is the root of the issue, no?) or b) all other inmates in jail for murder, rape, theft, etc. would be released. Your assumption that all other inmates should be released is ignorant at best.
Lastly, your last comment of “drug users are the last people that should be granted any kind of special treatment” underscores your idiotic statements above. Druggies should be the last out of our prison system, eh? Well, what about serial rapists? Should they be released before druggies? What about murderers?
Non-violent drug users need treatment, not imprisonment. If they were only harming themselves and not causing a direct-threat to the public, then they don’t need to be in jail. Look at crack-cocaine vs. cocaine sentencing disparity and then you might just see how fucked up the system really is.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 AM
Pay attention stoner. All that weed has caused you to lose your reading comprehension.
I don’t think druggies should be released after the rapists an murderers. If you knew how to read, you would see that my stance is that A LAW IS A LAW, and none of them should be released. Grand theft is a non-violent crime too, should it not count? Everyone on your side of the fence seems to think that all crimes are crimes, except drugs. And like I stated in my original post, its only drug users who have that opinion.
And for the record, no I’ve never used alcohol or nicotine. If you want to compare the fact that I’ve had some soda in my life to any of that, go ahead and make yourself look like an idiot.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 AM
Okay, Stoner at aaaaaa-TEN-SHUN!
Not to waste too much of my time on you, but you’re still glossing over your own words, to quote:
“drug users are the last people that should be granted any kind of special treatment”
Guess you DID write that they should be the last to leave should any “special treatment” occur (and we are all talking about them being released, no?).
“my stance is that A LAW IS A LAW”
It’s this inflexible, dogmatic approach to law & order that’s fucked so many people over in life. By your wonderful logic blacks would still be slaves in this country, women couldn’t vote and only white males could own property because “A LAW IS A LAW”.
Just because it’s written by man doesn’t make it written in stone. Realize that man’s will isn’t perfection despite your perfect life and you might grow some fucking compassion for those being trampled by a system built around profit, pain and punishment.
I second Johnny’s comment: “Maybe you could tell us where you got your straight-edge tattoos, so we can get some self-righteous body badges too.”
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:55 AM
Oh, and not to gloss over your arguments like you do to the rest of us:
“Grand theft is a non-violent crime too, should it not count?”
It’s YOUR reading comprehension that’s shoddy, sir. I said that non-violent drug offenders not impacting the safety or posing a threat to the general public should be released.
Grand theft does impact the public, specifically the person or company whose goods are being stolen. A student smoking pot in a parking lot is not impacting the public and doesn’t deserve prison time for toking on a plant that has been used for MILLENNIA and only recently (< 80 years) has been deemed evil by our retarded, puritanical government.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:56 AM
I am not a drug user, nor have I ever been, and I don’t believe that drug users should end up in jail with thieves and violent criminal. Yes, using drugs is against the law, so if you use them, you are technically a criminal, and there’s no debating that. The debate is whether or not those laws make sense, and I don’t believe that they do.
Why is a person addicted to heroin a criminal, but a person addicted to alcohol is just sick? We send one of these people to AA to help cure them, and the other to jail to rehabilitate them. Why the difference? No reason other than social norms. For an alcoholic to be a criminal they have to be in a car while using, but a pot head is a criminal just becuase. This makes zero sense, costs bundles of money for something that according to most evidence, doesn’t work. Treatment, on the other hand, has been shown to work, but if you really think that the old ways are best, good luck to you, and have fun living in the past. I, for one, would like to improve things, and that’s not going to happen just doing things the same old way.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 AM
evan said precisely what i thought from the instant i read joe’s first comment, but didn’t say because i knew it’d be no use to say it to anyone on joe’s “side of the fence.”
another reason not to bother to say it was that it was already pretty clearly implied in johnny’s original piece.
but then again johnny’s a raging pothead or something so his opinion is irrelevant. thanks evan.
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 PM
“By your wonderful logic blacks would still be slaves in this country, women couldn’t vote and only white males could own property because “A LAW IS A LAW”.”
No dummy, those laws were changed. Blacks are not slaves now because THAT IS THE LAW. When they legalize your dope, then it won’t be an issue. Until then it is simply a matter of people selectively choosing which laws suit them.
Personally, I feel the speed limit should be raised, but only for people named Joseph Rose, who live in Pennsylvania. Let’s argue about it.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 PM
The point you are apparently not seeing is that it takes people to see when a law is bad and needs to be changed. Laws don’t just change on their own. People need to decide that a law has outlived its usefulness and a change is required. In this case, there is a lot of evidence that the law is not effective, yet you seem to want everyone just to follow it and ignore the facts. Following laws blindly and without question is not a sign of a healthy and free society, but quite the opposite.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Let’s face it, it’s as “cool” to be against the man (the law), as it is to do drugs.
If all the druggies sitting in jail spent their free time working toward real change in the world instead of buying, selling, searching for, and using drugs, we probably wouldn’t need to focus on such a dumb issue.
Again, everyone wants to gloss over the most basic fact about drugs. They are bad for you. Duh. To me it’s the same thing as fighting for the right to bash yourself in the head with a hammer. Should you be allowed to do that? Maybe… but holy shit is it dumb!
Instead of blaming THE MAN for running up such huge prison bills by locking away law-breaking druggies, why not blame the druggies for it? They know ahead of time that what they’re doing is illegal, and could lead to jail time, thereby costing someone some money.
The only change that should be made is that on your 2nd (if not first) drug offense, there is a mandatory sentence of death, carried out within 24 hours of arrest. That would scare enough people straight right off the bat, and the ones too stupid to follow along would be removed in a simple cost-effective way. Everyone wins.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Joseph, your an idiot. You realize that a death sentance’s price is equal to that of life in prison in most cases. Also, do you know what an addiction is? These people have a CHEMICAL ADDICTION in the brain (well, some drugs such as heroin) which basically makes them feel like they need the drug.
If we kill people for drugs because it’s stupid, why can’t we kill people for stupidity?
If you say you support that statement, your suicidal =/
May 4th, 2008 at 9:02 AM
Joseph you are completely missing the point. This article is advocating for a reform of laws and a rethinking of where our money goes not blaming “the man” for locking up druggies.
And not all drugs are bad for you. if you believe that marijuana is bad for you then you are a victim of the fear mongering, ignorant, self-serving politicians who have created the menace of marijuana. i would argue that some of the best learning and behavior is under the influence of weed. should i go to jail for simply getting high? Did i hurt anyone or anything by lighting up that simple naturally existing plant?
May 4th, 2008 at 11:41 AM
I myself do not use,but i do agree that marijuana should be legal why spend money to stop people that want to use. the government could just tax it like they do with cigarettes. and make money of of the deal. besides cigarettes have been proven to be far more addictive and dangerous. i think people should lighten up about this whole thing make it legal if you don;t want to do it don’t end of story!
May 4th, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Joseph Rose said:
“A LAW IS A LAW”
“Blacks are not slaves now because THAT IS THE LAW. ”
So if slavery was a law, you’d be ok with that? Because after all “a law is a law”.
You are blind. A sheeple. I feel sorry for you. You can no longer think for yourself. You’ve bought what they’re selling. It’s sad, really.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:39 PM
After conducting such a large argument, I realize that I’ve exaggerated many of my points. Last night, one of my friends introduced me to weed for the first time, after I told him about how I was having to go back and forth with a bunch of law breakers. He suggested that I tried the object in question, and in the safety of my own home, I ingested marijuana.
Never before have I felt such an effect, and this was certainly an out of body experience.
I know realize that the use of this particular drug, is not comparable with grand theft auto. I see no reason why people should be locked up, for simply using this. When we put a ban on something nature has given us, aren’t we literally going against nature?
Oh, and speaking of marijuana and Grand Theft Auto, I played the latest one on the Xbox 360, while under the influence (or above the ignorance), of marijuana. IT WAS AWESOME, I was giggling out of control. And, my friend was being extremely philosophical. We then went out to eat, as I was very hungry, and I met a nice woman. Marijuana helped my normally absent offline-confidence, and I got laid for the first time in 10 years. Don’t fear the reefer people!
May 4th, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Dude, that was EPIC.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:57 PM
Moderately successful troll is moderately successful.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:26 PM
That was the greatest thing I have ever read.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:30 PM
DONT FEED THE TROLL YOU FOOLS
May 4th, 2008 at 5:15 PM
BUT THE TROLL IS HUNGRY!
May 4th, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Oh cool, so someone else used my name. Another bullshit website into the scrap pile for having no integrity.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:34 PM
I have a solution: legalize pot, but to balance the scales for the prohibitionists out there, outlaw tobacco. Tobacco smokers could get through their withdrawal pains with the help of generous prescriptions of medical marijuana.
Tongue in cheek, obviously!
But seriously, any law that can’t be enforced is a dumb law. It doesn’t matter whether marijuana is good or bad for you, there is no way the government can monitor everyone’s behavior closely enough to keep people from using it. Well, not exactly true… The government could begin random house-to-house searches with drug dogs, random urinalysis of the population at large, automatic, draconion punishments, etc.. But then the solution would be much worse than the problem, wouldn’t it? There is no way the government can CONSTITUTIONALLY keep people from doing pot.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Skwerl, If you would just fuck off out of their country maybe they would stop shooting at you…
May 4th, 2008 at 11:15 PM
i’m all for getting out. don’t get me wrong.
also, i swore that was joe being sarcastic. nice one, whoever that was.
p.s. you can register your name and set a password to keep folks from impersonating you.
http://www.antiquiet.com/wp-login.php?action=register
May 5th, 2008 at 12:38 PM
there is absolutely no logical reason for anyone to require mind altering drugs including alcohol.
make em all illegal.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:00 PM
chocolate is considered by many to be a mind altering drug. doctors prescribe a whole holy shitload of mind altering drugs to patients “in need” of them. from caffeine to morphine. you’d have a hard time convincing a majority of the first point.
but regardless, there’s no logical reason for anyone to “require” hot pockets either, but do we make them illegal because they’re not very healthy?
i say it should be perfectly legal to harm yourself in any damn way you’re crazy enough to want to, from smoking pot to committing suicide. when it harms others- including but not limited to unwelcome secondhand smoke, providing narcotics to minors, or endangering others by driving or operating heavy machinery while under the influence, you should face a penalty.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:54 PM
ok,go shoot yourself
May 5th, 2008 at 2:47 PM
no thanks. i personally prefer to avoid marijuana and suicide et cetera.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Joe, it’s senseless to believe that a first time drug offense warrants a death penalty. People make mistakes! I understand you feel that if a death penalty looms over the use of a drug, who would be stupid enough to use it? And if that said person is that stupid, should they deserve to live in conjunction with the rest of the human race?
By those measures, much of the population would be gone! And what are your thoughts on the medical use of marijuana, its original use before it became a recreation drug?
Would you still support this if Darwin chose to be experimental at a point in his life? When we shroud drugs like we do now, we urge kids to uncover these things for themselves. Cigarettes are such a taboo thing when you’re young, and look how the stats read; 90% of all smokers start before they are 18. And this is dealing with something that is already legal.
It’s interesting to see all the different view points, and just because I disagree with some of your statements, doesn’t mean I don’t see value in them.