As you have probably read more than once, offenders with some connection to drugs make up the greatest percentage of people in our prisons. Often, the criminal commits his/her crime either under the influence of drugs, or to gain money to support a drug habit.
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But many of the prisons in the U.S., prison population has doubled or tripled over the last 20 years. Are people committing more crimes? In fact, national statistics show violent crimes on the decline by over 30%. What, then, accounts for this Weed for Sale huge increase?
You can blame a good part of it directly on our `get tough on drugs' policy. The increasing incidence of drug use, the death of youths by overdose, (and also some very famous persons), and the connection of drugs with other crimes, have created this mindset of `lock `em up and throw away the key'.
This phenomenon spread across the country. Prisons were being built in record breaking numbers. Private industry was getting on the bandwagon, erecting prisons and bidding on housing, (or warehousing), offenders.
And the bill for this is getting higher and higher. But what are we to do? Ignore the problem? Let uncontrolled drug trade flourish?
Drug trade wouldn't be a lucrative business without clientele. If we throw the `buyer', (user), into jail without significant rehabilitation programs while he/she is there, we're just taking the customer out of the marketplace temporarily.
Another unproductive aspect
