- 1.5 million people are arrested every year for drug-law violations --
75% for possession (not sale or manufacture).
- 600,000 of these arrests are for possessing marijuana for personal
use.
- African-Americans comprise nearly 60% of the people in state prisons
for drug felonies. Due largely to the War on Drugs, one in three Black
men between the ages of 20 and 29 is in prison, on probation, or on parole --
even though their drug usage rates are the same as other Americans'. Indeed,
14% of the nation's Black men have lost their right to vote due to felony
convictions!
- A majority of women in federal prison are there for drug law violations;
70% are first-time offenders. Many are incarcerated on "conspiracy"
charges, such as taking phone messages for a live-in boyfriend who sells
drugs. More than 75% of female prisoners are mothers of small children;
many will be raped or otherwise abused by male prison guards.
- Nearly 40% of the AIDS cases reported in the United States have
been linked to illicit drug injection. The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services determined that needle-exchange programs reduce the
spread of HIV without increasing drug use -- yet the federal government
refuses to fund these programs.
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- Civil liberties violations are a routine part of drug-law enforcement;
e.g., drug dogs, urine tests, phone taps, paid confidential informants,
entrapment, curbside garbage searches, military helicopters, infrared heat
detectors, no-knock warrants, and stop-and-frisk searches of minorities
and young people.
- Mandatory minimum prison sentences have removed the discretion
that judges have over sentencing, resulting in excessive sentences for
first-time, nonviolent drug offenders. Property forfeiture laws
allow police to take someone's property even without a criminal conviction!
- The War on Drugs costs taxpayers more than $40 billion
per year -- two-thirds of which is spent on enforcement, court
and prison expenses, while only one-third is spent on education and treatment.
- Tens of millions of Americans -- including children and adolescents --
still use or abuse illegal drugs. Indeed, nearly 90% of high school
seniors consider marijuana "easy" to obtain ... even easier
than beer. The War on Drugs has failed to accomplish its stated goal of
a "drug-free America." In fact, teen drug use increased
throughout the 1990s.
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