While waiting for [RR] to break…
>>1845657 - (pb #2325)
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/06/20/data-1-4k-american-children-separated-from-parents-for-every-one-separated-at-border/
^^^THIS^^^ has a minor link to the cannabis topic, but larger for perceptions.
How many of these incarcerations are due to the DRUG WAR? For a simple plant?
Reality is that it's a relatively small % - maybe only 1% for cannabis. In addition, there is the seizure of assets through forfeiture laws, another gov scam. It's also a racial issue.
End the WAR - FULL Decriminalization is one answer.
Some older data:
"According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana. Nationwide, the arrest data revealed one consistent trend: significant racial bias. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana."
https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers
NEW YORK – Despite an increased emphasis on treatment and prevention programs in recent years, the Obama administration in its 2013 budget still requested $25.6 billion in federal spending on the drug war. Of that, $15 billion would go to law enforcement, interdiction and international efforts.
The pro-reform Drug Policy Alliance estimates that when you combine state and local spending on everything from drug-related arrests to prison, the total cost adds up to at least $51 billion per year. Over four decades, the group says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war.
What all that money has helped produce – aside from unchanged drug addiction rates – is the world's highest incarceration rate. According to the Sentencing Project, 2.2 million Americans are in prison or jail.
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310
About 750,000 people are arrested every year for marijuana offenses in the U.S. … Most are fined or are placed into community supervision. About 40,000 inmates of state and federal prison have a current conviction involving marijuana, and about half of them are in for marijuana offenses alone; most of these were involved in distribution.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/lists/top-10-marijuana-myths-and-facts-20120822/myth-prisons-are-full-of-people-in-for-marijuana-possession-19691231
Also, for decriminalization, let's not use 18 as the legal age. 21 would be more appropriate given brain development impacts for younger ages, that are not relevant for adults.