||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Progressive News & Views (since 1982) ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| From: "skywolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Somewhere in the execution of the War on Some Drugs, common sense was lost. Let's see..take a known, provable benign/beneficial substance and spend billions of dollars unsuccessfully suppressing it while other, seriously debilitating things happen to our society that we cheerfully ignore. Why? So a number of commercial enterprises can make more money at our expense. How many people would the money spent on suppressing Cannabis feed, clothe, educate and house? How much cleaner would our planet be if we used Cannabis Hemp instead of petroleum? And how healthier would we be if Cannabis were available for medicine? Skywolf. (See below - Let's discuss it) http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-3-6.pdf >The war on marijuana: The transformation of the war on drugs in the 1990s > > Harm Reduction Journal - 2006, 3:6 9 February 2006 > > The war on marijuana: The transformation of the war on drugs in the > 1990s > > Ryan S King and Marc Mauer > > doi:10.1186/1477-7517-3-6 > > Abstract > > Background As the "war on drugs" enters the latter half of its third > decade since being forged into the American lexicon by President Ronald > Reagan, the public has grown more skeptical of the current strategy and > has proven to be receptive to a broader consideration of alternatives to > incarceration. This has been the case most notably with marijuana > offenses, where the policy discussion has shifted in some localities to > one of decriminalization or de-prioritizing law enforcement resources > dedicated to pursuing possession offenses. Despite the increased profile > surrounding marijuana policy in recent years, there remains a > significant degree of misunderstanding regarding the current strategy, > both in terms of how resources are being allocated and to what eventual > gain. > > Methods Previous studies have analyzed drug offenses as a general > category, but there has yet to be a single study that has focused > specifically on marijuana offenders at all stages of the system. This > report analyzes multiple sources of data for the period 1990-2002 from > each of the critical points in the criminal justice system, from arrest > through court processing and into the correctional system, to create an > overall portrait of this country's strategy in dealing with marijuana > use. > > Results The study found that since 1990, the primary focus of the war on > drugs has shifted to low-level marijuana offenses. During the study > period, 82% of the increase in drug arrests nationally (450,000) was for > marijuana offenses, and virtually all of that increase was in possession > offenses. Of the nearly 700,000 arrests in 2002, 88% were for > possession. Only 1 in 18 of these arrests results in a felony > conviction, with the rest either being dismissed or adjudicated as a > misdemeanor, meaning that a substantial amount of resources, roughly $4 > billion per year for marijuana alone, is being dedicated to minor > offenses. > > Conclusions The results of this study suggest that law enforcement > resources are not being effectively allocated to offenses which are most > costly to society. The financial and personnel investment in marijuana > offenses, at all points in the criminal justice system, diverts funds > away from other crime types, thereby representing a questionable policy > choice. > > Full article in pdf (345 KB): > http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-3-6.pdf > > C 2006 King and Mauer, licensee BioMed Central Ltd. ----- / o o \ ====OO=====OO=================================== Hank Roth's Place - http://pnews.org/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (on the InterNUT since 1982) Current Articles - http://pnews.org/archives/ ================================================ fightback list - articles/pointers distribution Subscribe/Unsub at: http://pnews.org/dada/ Expert Opinion from credentialed authors ================================================ [email protected] ("progressive NEWS") NEWS ONLY - subscribe or unsubscribe as Subject Send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================= [email protected] ("progressive VIEWS") OPEN discussion - subscribe or unsubscribe as Subject Send to:: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================== WEBMASTERS: Link Exchange - improve your link rank [EMAIL PROTECTED] - or, go to: http://groups.google.com/group/Links_Only ==================================================
