41 Wouldn't it be best to just lock the users all up? (Marijuana)
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This article is from the Hemp / Cannabis / Marijuana FAQ, by Brian S. Julin verdant@twain.ucs.umass.edu with numerous contributions by others.
41 Wouldn't it be best to just lock the users all up? (Marijuana)
How do you plan to pay for that? Already, well over five
percent of the people in this country (U.S) are in custody
(including probation, parole, bail, etc.) Murderers and
rapists are being let out of our penatentiaries right now to
make room for a few more `deadheads' -- there are about
2,500 Grateful Dead fans in our federal prisons.
Imprisoning one person for one year costs about $20,000.
The United States leads the world in imprisonment -- at any
one time, 425 people out of every 100,000 are behind bars.
In the Federal Prison System, one fifth of the prisoners are
drug offenders who have done nothing violent. State laws
are usually less strict, but state mandatory minumum
sentences for drugs are getting more popular.
Our prisons and our courtrooms are so crowded that the
American Bar Association's annual report on the state of the
Justice System is basically one long plea for an end to drug
laws that imprison users. Even the Clinton Administration
recognizes that locking people up is not the solution. This
is especially true for the people who actually have drug
abuse problems -- they need treatment, not mistreatment.
The Drug War put mandatory minimum jail sentences for drug
crimes on the lawbooks. If we do not take those laws (at
least) back off, we will be in sorry shape come the end of
the century. A retroactive policy of marijuana legalization
or decriminalization would go a long way in helping to solve
this crisis.
Also consider this -- Once a person gets put in jail, he
becomes angry with the world. He will probably be
victimized while he is there, and most likely will learn
criminal behaviors from hard-core violent offenders. There
is also a very good chance that he will have caught AIDS or
tuberculosis by the time he gets let back out. By locking
up drug users, you are digging yourself a very big trench to
fall in -- is it worth it?
Besides, lots of these people don't deserve to be in jail.
Why should they serve time just because they like to get
`high' on marijuana? Especially when someone can drink
alcohol without being arrested... what kind of law is that?
You have to think about what kind of a world you are making
for yourself before you act. How are the police of the
future going to treat the people? How far are you willing
to let the government go to get the drug users? How many of
your own rights will you sacrifice by trying to jail `the
druggies'?
``Drugs, Crime and the Justice System'' pub. United States Government
Printing Office Washington, DC December, 1992.
``The State of Criminal Justice, an annual report'' by the American
Bar Association, 1993 pub. U.S. Government Printing office.
``Social Behavior, Public Policy, and Non-harmful Drug Use'' by
Charles Winick in ``The Milbank Quarterly'' Vol. 69 Iss. 3 pp.
437-459. pub. published for the Milbank Memorial Fund Cambridge
University Press New York, NY, 1991.
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