In the latest news from the United States, "Drug Sentencing Guidelines Reduced For Current Prisoners," we learn that the United States Sentencing Commission, a

In the latest news from the United States, "Drug Sentencing Guidelines Reduced For Current Prisoners," we learn that the United States Sentencing Commission, a federal agency, voted on Friday to reduce terms for convicted drug offenders already in prison.[1] The state jurisdiction I live in already very rarely imprisons anyone for a drug offense unless the offense involves a large degree of dealing combined with other criminal offenses. Possession offenses are still in the statute books, but they are mostly dealt with here by diversion to drug treatment programs. The great majority of persons in the United States who are in prison are in prison for offenses other than drug offenses. States that have sentencing commissions (mine was the first) by state policy mostly only imprison repeat offenders who are convicted of serious (mostly violent) crimes, not mere drug possession.[2] [1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/18/332619083/drug-sentencing-guidelines-reduced-for-current-prisoners http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/18/332619083/dru... http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-drug-sentences-reduced-20140718-story.html http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-drug-sentences... [2] http://mn.gov/sentencing-guidelines/images/2013%2520Guidelines.pdf http://mn.gov/sentencing-guidelines/images/2013%2520Guidelin...