Approximately $41.3 billion is spent per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition of illegal drugs. Money that is spent towards a war that arguably does more damage than good. Drug lords, gangs, and illegal trafficking of mind altering substances constitute an aspect of illegal activity that is separate from those that are criminalized for having a substance abuse problem. Many people who are imprisoned on possession charges returned to the public domain to a life that is dramatically altered for the worse. Substance abuse and illegal drug use is a mental health issue not a criminal issue. Ideas such as separate institutions for drug-use rehabilitation need to be considered seriously as the standard rather than exception to possession charges and abuse problems.
This is historical material “frozen in time”. The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.
