1 out of 100 American adults are in jail. When you see that figure, what comes to mind? You may ask yourself, “Why are so much people in jail?”

One of the big answers is: Marijuana. In the year 2006, 43.9 percent of the 1,889,810 total arrests for drug violations were for marijuana- a total of 829,627. Out of that 829k, 738,916 people were arrested for just marijuana possession alone. Think of how much it would have risen since then? In the recent news report about the jail rates it said on average a state spends 25k per inmate. That’s around 18,472,900 dollars- If they where arrested all in the same state, since some sates spend even more, or less per inmates.
Oh, yes. Don’t forget the cost of fighting Marijuana “States spent $42.89 billion on Corrections in 2005 alone. To compare, states only spent $24.69 billion on public assistance.” So, in 2006 to around 2005, if you add all that up, the cost of jailing the inmates, and the correction costs: it all adds up to more then 42,908,472.900 being spent!
Those 829,627 people did nothing wrong, they did no violent act. If free they’d be any normal working tax payer in the US.

The point of this article is to show you that Marijuana isn’t the work of a bad force. Rather the work of a good force but clouded by the government and its drug laws. If we stopped spending all that money, we could put it into something that’d help the economy. Give it to schools, or help feed some poor people. This war on drugs has done nothing to stop the flood of drugs entering the US. “Did alcohol use decrease during the Alcohol Prohibition? No.” in fact “Consumption by women and children increased dramatically” Today we’re seeing the exact same thing when it comes to the drug war. “Every hour spent investigating a drug user or seller is an hour that could have been used to find a missing child…”

I’m in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my value system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.”