Consequences of Prohibition
Politics & Advocacy
Please use our web form to urge your US Representative and your two US Senators to pass S. 306 so the commission can get started! Please follow-up by calling their offices too -- if you don't know their numbers (or aren't sure who they are), you can reach them by calling the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. And please use our tell-a-friend form to spread the word.
The need for S. 306 is urgent. As Sen. Webb's web site notes:
- With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners.
- The number of incarcerated drug offenders has soared 1200% since 1980.
- Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.
- Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the US, many of them foreign-based, and Mexican cartels operate in 230+ communities across the country.
- Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society.
Every day that passes without criminal justice reform is a day that thousands of people who don't need to be in prison, who may have never deserved to go there, continue to languish needlessly behind bars, separated from their friends and families who want them back. Thank you for taking action.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Money, Power and Greed Rule on Capitol Hill
The "War on Drugs" has made corruption in our local, state, and federal government more corrupt that it was during Alcohol Prohibition times. This must be stopped. Since an outright crook at the helm in 1970 started all of this, far too many have seen it as an opportunity to cash in using the "War on Drugs" as a reason when the real truth is that they want a piece of the action. This must stop as scientific research is rapidly exposing the true nature of the "War on Drugs". The hammer is about to drop and the criminal justice system is going to take a direct hit. Leaders will fall from glory and the money laundering will be exposed. The true nature of the reasons for marijuana being made and Illicit or Schedule 1 drug will be made known nationwide and those who have been involved in profit from this corruption over the years are going to be made public. How will this happen, you ask? I am not ready to reveal that at the present, because, as a professional addictions futurist it would be somewhat unethical. Just trust me, it is in the process behind closed doors and held secret by closed lips. The entire nation and even many of the other nations will feel the economic blow but, as I see it, there will be no stopping it. It is time that we at least make some reasonable to cushion our nation against what is about to befall us all. Legalizing marijuana, taxing and regulating it by RESPONSIBLE AND ETHICAL individuals must happen now. We, as in 1933 have no other real good option. Decriminalization of the rest of the illicit drugs and granting pardons and amnesty to those in prison on non-violent Drug War related crimes is also an imperative. Wipe their record clean so that they can add to our nation's economic recovery. Much more has to be done but this is the up front moves that must be made now or it will simply be too late.
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