Posted on 10/14/2016 4:25:58 PM PDT by BBell
On any given day in the United States, at least 137,000 people sit behind bars on simple drug-possession charges, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch.
Nearly two-thirds of them are in local jails. The report says that most of these jailed inmates have not been convicted of any crime: They're sitting in a cell, awaiting a day in court, an appearance that may be months or even years off, because they can't afford to post bail.
"It's been 45 years since the war on drugs was declared, and it hasn't been a success," lead author Tess Borden of Human Rights Watch said in an interview. "Rates of drug use are not down. Drug dependency has not stopped. Every 25 seconds, we're arresting someone for drug use."
Federal figures on drug arrests and drug use over the past three decades tell the story. Drug-possession arrests skyrocketed, from fewer than 200 arrests for every 100,000 people in 1979 to more than 500 in the mid-2000s. The drug-possession rate has since fallen slightly, according to the FBI, hovering near 400 arrests per 100,000 people.
Defenders of harsh penalties for drug possession say they are necessary to deter people from using drugs and to protect public health. But despite the tough-on-crime push that led to the surge in arrests in recent decades, illicit drug use today is more common among Americans age 12 and older than it was in the early 1980s. Federal figures show no correlation between drug-possession arrests and rates of drug use during that time.
But the ACLU and Human Rights Watch report shows that arrests for drug possession continue to make up a significant chunk of modern-day police work.
"Around the country, police make more arrests for drug possession than for
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Dumbest crime ever invented.
It needs to be repealed. It’s totally useless.
On any given day in the United States, at least 137,000 people sit behind bars on simple drug-possession charges,”
LOL.
The war on drugs has literally looted the tax payers for decades. All it did was increase the size and scope of government dramatically. One big con job.
Cops aren’t necessarily looking for this, rather pot charges are used to go after petty criminals, vagrants, and go after people who they may not be able to get on more serious charges, etc
There is no better refutation than a LOL.
Possibly... possibly. It’s easy.
The more socialized that medicine is, the more impetus there is for wanting to bust users as drags on the system.
Just my expression of emotion at reading that...
Of course, since emotion bare tells us where we ought to go.
Last I looked Sorts was the major funder of legalizing marijuana
Soros
The Fifth Amendment reads in part, “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;”
Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment applies a similar provision to states. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;”
The "war on drugs" is really a war on Americans and they God-given rights and freedoms which the Constitution is supposed to defend.
I don’t follow Soros
Entirely believable.
Stoners don’t fight and can’t run well. Much easier to catch than an armed robber.
I guess what we need are more violent crimes.
I say so long as people aren’t smoking dope and driving,on the job or smoking next to children, it may not always be a crime.
The same restrictions that apply to tobacco and alcohol, should apply to marijuana. The emphasis is it should still be illegal for teens and younger to be smoking it, unless there is some legitimate medical benefit from it. I have heard that cancer patients sometimes use it to endure chemotherapy.
Would an end to these arrests put over 30% of our Police out of a job? Would an end to the tickets, paroles lawyer fees and fines paid by those accused of pot possession put a city at great financial compromise? I hope not. That’s an interesting question.
If Soros believed in kicking a smoking habit, you would smoke to spite Soros?
You specialize in illogic.
There were far fewer violent crimes associated with pharmaceutical misuse back when this was an ethical issue in the purview of doctors and pharmacists.
It would end a government welfare problem... sinecures at taxpayer expense.
I would take any charge from them with a grain of salt....
I don't care to see people thrown in jail for a small amt of weed, but I won't cry for them either....
its still a law in many places....they broke the law...
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