Here’s a short AP story about the growth of the American prison population.
49% of its growth over the last ten years is the result of our anti-drug laws.
The Republican Party has been very aggressive in its get tough policies on drug offenses. Milton Friedman, whose free trade recommendations the Party has gladly adopted, has gotten the cold shoulder from them where recreational drugs are concerned. The Party’s anti-drug policies come more from its anti-temperence roots in severe midwestern protestantism. Sin should be punished. Nevermind that most Republicans my age smoked grass or worse in the seventies, they are very self righteous about putting behind bars today.
The cost of incarcerating drug users, which draws money away from public education, not only ignores Friedman’s invisible hand, it fuels drug mafias around the world. Even the Taliban.
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