Photo by Cannabis Culture | CC BY 2.0
On a recent segment of Democracy Now, Tess Borden made an impassioned plea for the U.S. – both federal and state governments — to end the criminal prosecution of those possessing or using illegal drugs.
Quoting from a new report from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States,” Borden observed, “Every 25 seconds someone is arrested for possessing drugs for their own use, amounting to 1.25 million arrests per year.” She reminded her audience, “These numbers tell a tale of ruined lives, destroyed families, and communities suffering under a suffocating police presence.”
The study is an impressive piece of rigorous research and analysis as well as a statement of moral conviction: it’s a political call to decriminalize all personal drug use. It paints a devastating portrait of not simply the nation’s failed anti-drug policy, but reveals it to be a mean-spirited, moralistic – and racist — program of social repression.
Among the study’s key findings are:
+ Yes, every 25 seconds someone in the U.S. is arrested for the simple act of possessing drugs for their personal use.
+ Sadly, more than 1.25 million people are arrested each year for drug possession – this is more than for any other crime.
+ More than one of every nine arrests by state law enforcement is for drug possession — four times more people are arrested for possessing…