4 ms·
Also, cocaine is a lot further from being decriminalized. However, it is still ridiculous someone could face up to 40 years in prison for non-violent crimes.
by joejohnson 15y ago
Also, cocaine is a lot further from being decriminalized. However, it is still ridiculous someone could face up to 40 years in prison for non-violent crimes. The number one reason for incarceration in the US is drug-related offenses.
From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_Sta...):
- 1 in 100 adult Americans is in prison (the other 99% are effectively paying for that)
- only 7.9% of inmates are for violent crimes
- learc83 15y agoYes, I'm for legalizing all drugs. Our incarceration rates are insane. My local sheriffs office is building a brand new 115 million dollar jail to house 1500 inmates. Our county only has about 130,000 people. Are there really 1,500 people out of 130,000 that are so dangerous they need to stay locked up to protect everyone else.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15y agoI fail to see why people bring this up as an argument to legalize drugs. This is really only an argument to change the penalty so you don't go to jail.
- joejohnson 15y agoEven if drug offenses held a less-serious punishment, there would still be an immensely wasteful amount of money spent trying to find and apprehend drug criminals. This whole underground market is thriving; instead of collecting tax revenue, we are using taxpayer money to enact an impossible ban.