Senator Jim Webb wrote an article for Parade Magazine Why We Must Fix Our Prisons Click link to read full story.
Some quotes from the article:
“With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world, there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different–and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter. “
A wise man once told me, “If what you are doing does not work, do something different.
“The United States has by far the world’s highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world’s reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. In addition, more than 5 million people who recently left jail remain under “correctional supervision,” which includes parole, probation, and other community sanctions. All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year. ”
What message does this send to the rest of the world? Is the cost to our resources worth it? Is it solving the problem?
“Justice statistics also show that 47.5% of all the drug arrests in our country in 2007 were for marijuana offenses. Additionally, nearly 60% of the people in state prisons serving time for a drug offense had no history of violence or of any significant selling activity.’
It is time to end the prohibition and decriminalize marijuana, period, period, period. We cannot keep criminalizing a whole subclass of our citizens. We cannot afford the cost.
In an ideal world no one would need to abuse substances. But I would rather have potheads than alcoholics running around if I had to choose. I see no reason one should be legal and the other not. We get all out of torque about personal freedoms when we talk about taking away someone’s gun. How is this any different? Some of the meaner drugs I understand the prohibition. What are we afraid of Cheeto munching potheads driving too slow on the highway?