cannabisnews.com: We're Still #1! America's Gulag Just Keeps Growing We're Still #1! America's Gulag Just Keeps Growing Posted by CN Staff on June 27, 2007 at 14:02:09 PT By Ethan Nadelmann Source: Huffington Post USA -- There are now 2.24 million people behind bars in the United States. According to the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, released today, the number of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails jumped by more than 60,000 in the year ending June 30, 2006. That jump represents the largest increase since 2000.The U.S. continues to rank first among all nations in both total prison/jail population and per capita incarceration rates -- with about 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. The United States has held first place for years, followed by China at 1.5 million and Russia at 885,670, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College in London.America's prison population explosion is fed in part by the failed drug war policies of the past 30-plus years. Back in 1980, around 50,000 people were incarcerated for drug law violations. The total is now roughly 500,000. And this number does not even include hundreds of thousands of parolees and probationers who are incarcerated for technical violations such as a drug relapse, nor does it include non-drug offenses committed under the influence of drugs, or to support a drug habit, or crimes of violence committed by drug sellers.Two powerful forces are at play today. On the one hand, public opinion strongly supports alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent and especially low-level drug law violators -- and state legislatures around the country are beginning to follow suit. On the other hand, the prison-industrial complex has become a powerful force in American society, able to make the most of the political inertia that sustains knee-jerk, lock-'em-up policies.Voters should be outraged that their tax money continues to be wasted on failed drug war policies. It's time for a change.Despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent and millions of Americans incarcerated, illegal drugs remain cheap, potent and widely available in every community; and the harms associated with them -- addiction, overdose, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis -- continue to mount. Meanwhile, the war on drugs has created new problems of its own, including rampant racial disparities in the criminal justice system, broken families, increased poverty, unchecked federal power, and eroded civil liberties. Our elected officials need new metrics to determine whether progress is being made.It's time for a new bottom line for U.S. drug policy -- one that focuses on reducing the cumulative death, disease, crime and suffering associated with both drug misuse and drug prohibition. A good start would be enacting short- and long-term national goals for reducing the problems associated with both drugs and the war on drugs. Such goals should include reducing social problems like drug addiction, overdose deaths, the spread of HIV/AIDS from injection drug use, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and the enormous number of nonviolent offenders behind bars. Federal drug agencies should be judged -- and funded -- according to their ability to meet these goals.To find out more, visit the Drug Policy Alliance online at: http://www.drugpolicy.orgSource: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Ethan Nadelmann Published: June 27, 2007Copyright: 2007 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/CannabisNews Arrests Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/arrests.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #26 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 10:22:15 PT That boy needs therapy The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatristhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8BWBn26bX0 [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 10:17:34 PT FoM Psychopathy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by FoM on June 28, 2007 at 10:13:07 PT whig Emotion free sounds like what I call having a seared conscience. [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 10:04:38 PT Actually He calls it "emotion-free crisis management."This is what passes for an ideal for some people, apparently.Emotionlessness. [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 10:00:15 PT FoM He's the one who says he would double Guantanamo. He's not a very nice man and is proud of being cruel. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by FoM on June 28, 2007 at 09:58:12 PT whig I never heard of anyone doing such a thing. They should have kenneled the dog instead of doing that. Unbelievable! [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 09:53:58 PT FoM Dog lovers might take note of this story.http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.htmlIt's about how Mitt Romney thinks its okay to strap the family dog to the roof of the car and go on a road trip, with occasional stops to hose him off. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by FoM on June 28, 2007 at 09:43:32 PT whig Thank you for the Slate article. Cheney looks like the only thing he wants in life is power and money and nothing else seems to matter to him. He is one scary person. [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 09:35:53 PT Slate article Impeach Cheneyhttp://slate.com/id/2169292 [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by whig on June 28, 2007 at 08:58:52 PT MikeEEEEE Patrick Leahy and John Conyers are competent impeachment managers, I think. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by FoM on June 28, 2007 at 08:56:40 PT MikeEEEEE I agree that this is the worst administration that I can remember. There is one good thing about it. People are finally turning towards the left and we sure need to stop this madness. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 28, 2007 at 07:33:26 PT Off-topc: Worse administration in history Latest news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070628/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_subpoenas&printer=1;_ylt=AlKx7BfQtaVhpMSymn2JWmsGw_IE [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by dongenero on June 28, 2007 at 07:27:58 PT subpoenas This bunch of Tricky Dicks is way more slippery than Nixon's bunch of criminals.The Bush/Cheney administration is like the crack cocaine of organized criminal administrations. These guys are professional, corporatized crime.I think we're riding this train wreck out to the end. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 28, 2007 at 06:47:40 PT Competence You can’t assume competence with these guys. These weasels have advisors, paid with our taxes, to help them slither out of these types of situations.The masses have become lethargic sheep. You don’t see the activism of days past. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by whig on June 27, 2007 at 21:11:49 PT MikeEEEEE Hard to say how this will play out, there's still a good deal of free will available to them. Increasingly less, I'd imagine. When you are caught in the currents, you paddle to stay afloat. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 27, 2007 at 21:09:48 PT whig bush is next, I hope! [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by whig on June 27, 2007 at 20:58:02 PT SUBPOENAS http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070627/ap_on_go_pr_wh/eavesdropping_subpoenasOff-topic, but here goes the impeachment of Dick Cheney. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by mayan on June 27, 2007 at 18:18:53 PT Land of the Free??? It's time for a new national anthem.I just stumbled across the following linked story which is a couple weeks old but interesting...Student suspended after voicing marijuana opinion: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=747fd81c-d834-4385-94f1-25043051e2e7&k=17594On an unrelated note, it's really going to be something watching the mainstream media try to brush Ron Paul under the rug considering that the internet is quickly becoming the dominant medium for campaign 2008 info... Clinton Surpasses Obama in Site Traffic Race, Paul Rockets to First: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626275THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Giuliani Acknowledged Explosions on 9/11, Didn't Believe They Were 'Gas Related' (video): http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/260607_giuliani_gas_leak.htmlProf. Jones Summarizes His Vancouver Keynote Address (videos): http://911blogger.com/node/96589/11 Truth Squads: http://www.911truthsquads.org/9/11 TV: http://communitycurrency.org/911TV/9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB - OUR NATION IS IN PERIL: http://www.911sharethetruth.com/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 27, 2007 at 15:24:44 PT OverwhelmSam Who do you mean by the angry children? I am not around children anymore so I am out of touch with how they are. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 27, 2007 at 15:22:53 PT We the people.... support through our taxes the industrial/military/PRISON complex.This democracy was an experiment. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 27, 2007 at 15:09:47 PT FoM It's just not the right thing to do. So much hate in the world. There must be a way to open the angry children's eyes. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 27, 2007 at 15:01:40 PT OverwhelmSam I sure know what you are saying. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 27, 2007 at 14:58:20 PT One Consolation At least one day, when I will lay down to go to sleep forever, I won't have to see ignorance like this anymore. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 27, 2007 at 14:34:05 PT JHarshaw Maybe someone knows but I never heard of it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by JHarshaw on June 27, 2007 at 14:18:01 PT Off Topic I was just wondering if anyone knows what happened to budmail.bizI just found the website and now it has been suspended?Rotten luck!just a thought, peace and pot [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 27, 2007 at 14:05:25 PT Related Associated Press Article Prison and Jail Populations See Increases *** June 27, 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) - People are getting jailed at a faster rate than those being released, causing a major bulge in the prison system.In the largest increase since 2000, federal and state authorities had an additional 42,000 people behind bars in the year ending June 30th, 2006, an increase of nearly three percent from the previous year.The Justice Department says the number of prisoners nationwide, including those in local jails, totals more than 2.2 million.Idaho, Alaska and Vermont have reported the largest increases in prison populations. Eight states had declines, with Missouri, Louisiana and Maine seeing the most dramatic drops.Copyright: 2007 The Associated Presshttp://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=6718888 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment