More than 1,200,000 Americans are in state or federal prison throughout the United States. Only Russia holds more people in prison than the United States.
More than 50% of current inmates are in prison for non-violent drug-related offenses. At the same time, many violent criminals are benefiting from early release because the prisons are crowded with drug-offenders.
Governments at all levels are failing to protect people from violent crime and theft, but the bipartisan politicians continue to divert police resources to the arrest and incarceration of those who use or sell controlled substances.
Drug Prohibition has had the unenviable result of turning millions - even tens of millions - of Americans into criminals. The Prohibition laws strike at the basic human right to be left alone if you are not hurting another person.
Turning millions of peaceful citizens into criminals has several unintended effects. It makes people less respectful of law, and fearful of cooperating with police in prevention or detection of other crimes. The belief that most people are law-breakers causes police officers to be less respectful of citizens.
The inability of the police to arrest everyone who violates the Drug Prohibition laws leads to a widespread perception that the police and the legal system are unfair and capricious. The fact that African-Americans and Hispanics are arrested and jailed for drug offenses more often that Whites leads to a belief that the law enforcement system is permeated with racism - a charge that may be true.
Libertarians call for focusing police resources on the protection of life, liberty and property. It is not proper to use the police power to deal with cultural issues involved in marijuana use. Nor is it proper to use the police power to deal with the medical problem of pathological drug use.
The Cato Institute has published a more in-depth analysis titled "The Crisis in Drug Prohibition" available @ $9.50 postpaid from Renaissance Bookservice, P.O. Box, 2451 Riverside, CA 92516.