Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate

News. - 2017 global events.2018.

See: More news. Archive. News sources. Facebook: Global Marijuana March [6][7][8]. Hashtags: [9][10][11]. Twitter: [12][13][14]. India issues its first-ever license to grow medicinal cannabis for research purposes. 2nd Most Populated Country. And: Utah Launches Medical Cannabis Signature Drive for November 2018 ballot issue. And: Federal judge blocks prosecution of Northern California pot growers. Jeff Sessions opposes restrictions. And: Federal Judge Rules Medical Marijuana Patient Can Sue For Being Denied Job Over Failed Drug Test. And: Justice Department (Jeff Sessions) Shuts Down Marijuana Research At DEA. And let's not forget: The war on drugs is racist. Donald Trump is embracing it with open arms. And: Report: Aide says Nixon's war on drugs targeted blacks, hippies. And: Race, ethnicity, and drug war. "They can move in and out of any software still hardwired to their system. That means that anyone we haven't unplugged is potentially an agent. Inside the matrix, they are everyone and they are no one." Morpheus. [15]. 00:46 Lexington, Kentucky mayor announces all Confederate statues are coming down because of Charlottesville. And: Philippines newspaper. "Marijuana as Medicine" on front page. And: Heather Heyer, the woman killed in Virginia was destined to be face of change, mom says. [16]. And: Indiana lawmaker pushes for medical marijuana to curb opioid epidemic. His fellow Republicans are the ones likely to block him. Here are the Confederate memorials that will be removed after Charlottesville. [17][18][19][20][21][22]. Dear America, universal health care is what real freedom looks like. USA Today. And: IT COSTS LESS. [23][24]. And: In Portugal, Drug Use Is Treated As A Medical Issue, Not A Crime. NPR. CBC. [25][26][27][28][29]. And: 90% of drug control money is spent on health care, just 10% on police enforcement. Will 2018 midterm elections remove Republicans? 2018 ballot issues: marijuana and minimum wage. Illinois Is Officially The 21st State To Decriminalize Weed. And: India. The people of Mumbai (also known as Bombay) talk about marijuana. Youtube. Poll. Voters support single payer Medicare-for-all 51 - 38 percent. As do doctors. And: List of countries by total health expenditure per capita. Click any year to sort highest to lowest cost per person. See: Australian single payer. Here's what happened when a Republican senator challenged a Canadian doctor on their single-payer health care system. Bernie Sanders videos. Canadian MSNBC anchor versus Republican congressman. How Canada became an education superpower. Far ahead of the USA. Since decriminalizing all drugs in 2001, Portugal's overdose rate has decreased by ~75% and now has one of the lowest overdose rates in all of Europe. [30][31][32]. Overdose death rates by country. Harvard Study: Big Pharma, US Goverment Behind Opioid Epidemic. &: UK drug deaths. [33] Medicare for ALL. Medicare spends less than 2 percent on bureaucracy. 1.4% to be exact. And: Nearly a third of our health care dollars go to something other than health care. And: Universal healthcare and drug war. Senator Cory Booker Debuts ‘Marijuana Justice Act’ to Legalize Cannabis, & support racial justice. [34][35]. Poland Legalizes Medical Marijuana. And: Massachusetts governor signs bill to allow recreational pot. [36]. Marijuana should be legalised in India for medical purposes: Maneka Gandhi And: Trump Said Sacks Of Drugs Are Falling On Peoples’ Heads. A Congressman’s Response Is Perfect. And: Landmark Study Shows Legal Marijuana Sales Reduce Crime. And: Why Are So Many People Dying from Opiate Overdoses? It's Our Broken Society. Absurdly low minimum wage too.. USA. National Public Radio parrots minimum wage lies. [37]. And: $750,000 settlement after woman dies after going through heroin withdrawal in Mason County, Kentucky jail. And: Washington state distracted driving law starts July 23. And: Medicaid enrollees largely satisfied with the health care they receive. [38]. And: Marijuana was the secret to ending this woman's addiction to heroin. Video. [39]. And: Philip Morris: Tobacco giant ordered to compensate Australia. And: Trump-supporting sheriff in Butler County, Ohio (heart of opioid epidemic): My deputies won't use Narcan. [40]. And: Jeff Sessions: Anti-Weed Crusader Received Big Money From Big Tobacco. And: American Media Silent After UN Just Called for Decriminalizing Drug Use Worldwide. Greece legalises marijuana for medical purposes. That makes 6 EU countries. [41]. And: District of Cannabis. It’s summer, and Washington DC smells like weed. Everywhere, all the time. And: Missouri Republicans Lower St. Louis Minimum Wage From $10 To $7.70. And: Lobbyists Have Pushed for a Big Pharma Monopoly on CBD. And: United Nations and World Health Organisation call for drugs to be decriminalised. [42]. 20 million more uninsured = 20,000+ more deaths yearly. [43]. And: Politifact: Bernie Sanders' projection of 'thousands' of deaths from lost health coverage is well-supported. June 27, 2017. See article sidebar for many sources. [44][45][46][47][48][49]. And: Politifact: Paul Ryan wrong that most of the 22 million uninsured would be uninsured by choice. [50]. And: 17 Charts and Figures that show the US is not as developed as you’d think. America is not great. [51]. And: 93% of Patients Prefer Cannabis Over Opioids For Managing Pain, According to New Study. And: Medicaid Could Have Saved $1 Billion If Medical Marijuana Was Legalized nationwide. And: How Big Tobacco-style marketing propels U.S. opioid crisis — and powers $400 billion pharma industry. [52][53][54][55]. Nevada becomes 5th state to legalise marijuana for recreational use. [56]. And: Catalonia region of Spain legalises marijuana consumption, cultivation, and distribution. And: 43 arrested. Blood on the floor. Protester: Mitch McConnell Thinks Disabled Americans Are ‘Better Off Dead’. [57][58]. And: Bernie Sanders Slams ‘Moral Outrage’ Of Trumpcare At Pittsburgh Rally. $500 billion in tax breaks to the top two percent. [59]. And: Marijuana legalization doesn't lead to more fatal car crashes. American Journal of Public Health. And: The GOP Health Care Bill Will Doom Millions Of People Struggling With Addiction. And: Healthcare groups issue scathing criticism of Senate bill. Trumpcare 4.0. [60]. And: Do We Really Need A Middleman (private insurers) In Our Broken Health Care System? [61][62]. And: Officer who shot Philando Castile said smell of marijuana made him fear for his life. [63]. And: Brockton, Massachusetts. Firefighters agree to a drug test policy that excludes pot. And: New Jersey Democrats Begin Push to Legalize Marijuana. And: Oklahoma voters will decide fate of medical marijuana. And: Mexico Legalizes Medical Marijuana. And: How Swiss Marijuana Reform Will Lead To Full Legalization In Europe. Artist Projects Image Of Jeff Sessions In KKK Hood Across Department Of Justice. And: Senate introduces bill to end federal medical marijuana prohibition. [64][65]. And: Sessions asks Congress to let him prosecute medical pot shops, patients. [66]. And: Science Calls Out Jeff Sessions on Medical Marijuana and the "Historic Drug Epidemic" - Scientific American. [67]. And: This Arab country is among list of places that smoke most hash. And: Coffee, Cocoa, Cannabis: New Push to Legalize Marijuana Launched in Switzerland. And: Holy Smoke: Israel Begins Decriminalizing Cannabis. [68][69]. And: France Just Ended Prison Terms For Marijuana Use. [70][71][72][73]. And: Uruguay, the first country where you can smoke marijuana wherever you like. And: "I Was Wrong": Former Judge Treated With Cannabis Oil Regrets Having Sent People to Jail for It. And: Duterte tells troops they can RAPE women in 'joke' as he rallies soldiers battling foreign fighters in ISIS 'invasion' of besieged Philippines city. [74][75][76] Will 2018 midterm elections remove Republicans? 2017-18 ballot issues: marijuana & minimum wage. Democratic Party, following Bernie Sanders lead, proposes bill to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2024. Republicans oppose raising federal minimum wage. [77] [78]. Trumpcare 3.0 Would Leave 23 Million More Uninsured, Budget Office Says. [79]. And: Vermont's Republican Governor Scott Vetoes Marijuana Legalization bill of Democrat legislature. And: Democrats pick up two GOP-held legislative seats, the first flips of the Trump era. And: Trump Called Rodrigo Duterte to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War: “You Are Doing an Amazing Job”. [80][81]. And: California. Single-Payer Would Cost A Third of Current Health Care Costs Per Family. Conservative morons worldwide: British Prime Minister Just Claimed Cannabis Leads To Heroin And Suicide. And: American Legion to Trump: Allow marijuana research for vets. [82]. And: Marijuana convictions go up in smoke with California legalization. And: Cannabis may help wean people off crack, study finds. And: Trump thinks health insurance costs $15 a month. And: Doctors hate Trumpcare. And: Prison healthcare, deaths. And: At heated North Dakota town hall watch a man stuff money into shirt Of GOP Congressman Who Voted To Repeal Obamacare. [83][84]. Jeff Sessions once wanted to execute pot dealers. And: Georgia Cop Decides A Sober Woman Is High On Marijuana, Jails Her. And: Criminal Charges For Georgia Police Officers punching and kicking handcuffed marijuana user in head. [85][86][87]. And: Jeff Sessions Rolls Back Obama-Era Drug Sentencing Reforms. Harsher punishments for low-level drug crimes. [88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96]. And: 'The Drug Whisperer': Drivers arrested while stone cold sober by dumbass Georgia cops. And: Willie Nelson to Jeff Sessions: Smoke Some Pot. Gigantic rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Global Marijuana March. May 6, 2017. Videos [97][98] Event. And: Cape Town, South Africa. Videos [99][100] Event. And: Huge joint rolls through New York City. [101][102]. 2017 Global Marijuana March. [103]. And: Cannabis Festivals 2017-2018 | Man, I'm hungry. | Everfest. And: World Naked Gardening Day is May 6th. Your marijuana garden needs love too . Poll: Bernie Sanders is most popular U.S. politician [104]. And: Bernie Sanders And Democrats Introduce A New $15 Minimum Wage Bill. And: When Trump was an independent, like Bernie Sanders, and more logical, Trump supported Single-Payer. And: Patrick Stewart Reveals He Uses Marijuana Daily To Help With Arthritis Symptoms. And: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Calls For Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition. Much better healthcare in Canada, Britain, France. I had a health crisis in France. I’m here to tell you that ‘socialized medicine’ is terrific. [105][106][107][108][109]. And: Medical marijuana could save Medicaid $1 billion in prescription drug costs. [110][111]. And: West Virginia becomes 29th state to legalize medical marijuana. [112][113]. And: Republican Governor, Terry Branstad, rolls back local minimum wage increases in Iowa. The 'unimaginable' premium hikes of Trumpcare 2.0 for people with pre-existing conditions. And: Republicans To Vote To Take Away Health Care For Those Tens of Millions. [114][115][116]. And: Poll: Trump, Democrats and Republicans all unpopular. More Than Half of American Adults Have Tried Pot. [117]. Among current users: 14% Republican, 43% Democrats, 42% independents. And: USA. Marijuana legalization support at all-time high. [118]. And: Smoke pot in Oregon? Your name now protected from feds. And: New Mexico's Republican governor vetoes a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana for opioid addiction. And: She also vetoed the 911 Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Bill. And: Idaho's Republican governor vetoes a broadly-supported asset forfeiture reform bill. Bernie Sanders To Introduce Single-Payer Health Care Bill In Senate. And: For The First Time Ever, The Federal Government Is Referring To Marijuana As Medicine. And: Bernie Sanders: Americans pay highest prices for pharmaceutical drugs in the world. And: Canada has universal health care, and higher minimum wage than USA. And: The disease killing white Americans goes way deeper than opioids. [119][120][121]. And: Trump's Health Care Plan Could Exacerbate Opioid Epidemic, But Medical Marijuana Could Help. [122][123]. And: Former premiers and Australian police chiefs call for drug decriminalisation. [124]. And: NPR: Former Drug Czar Says GOP Health Bill Would Cut Access To Addiction Treatment. 17,000 more people annually could die in 2018 if Trumpcare becomes law. 14 million more people uninsured in 2018. 24 million in 2026. 29,000 more dead annually in 2026. Single-Payer for California. Great healthcare for half the cost of Trumpcare. And: Canada: Show health card, get free care. and The $0 Alternative To Trumpcare. See chart below. USA versus top ten healthiest nations. Vancouver's top doctor to Trudeau: Decriminalize all illicit drugs, now. Using Portugal's model. [125][126]. End drug war with universal healthcare. List of countries with universal health care.  Wikipedia country lists: Life expectancy.  And: Total health expenditure per capita.  Those numbers will change over time. Quinnipiac poll: 71% oppose enforcing federal marijuana laws in states where the drug is legal. And: Canada. Human rights board orders insurer to pay medical marijuana costs in precedent-setting case [127]. Bernie Sanders wins CNN healthcare debate with Ted Cruz. Country Life expectancy Infant mortality rate Healthcare cost per person (2). (US dollars. PPP) Murder rate per 100,000 Canada 82.2 years.(2) 4.9 per 1000 births. $4,608 in 2015 1.5 USA 79.3 years.(2) 6.5 per 1000 births. $9,451 in 2015 3.9 Murder rate is lower in Canada due to far less handgun ownership. No deductibles on basic Canadian health care. Co-pays are extremely low or non-existent. And: Canada passes US in middle-class wealth. Median after-tax middle-class income in Canada is higher. [128]. One reason why: Canadians pay so much less for far better healthcare. Single-Payer Healthcare. [129]. Higher life expectancy at half the cost. And: Save $1.6 trillion out of $3.2 trillion spent on US healthcare in 2015. How?: Canadian single-payer healthcare, and Portuguese drug decriminalization and treatment. And: Save more via less incarceration. And: Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland. Vs. USA. [130]. And: No personal medical debt in single-payer countries. And: Canada has higher minimum wage. Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually, and 30 million will lose their healthcare coverage. Physicians for a National Health Program. And: A Trump Fan Cheering Obamacare Repeal Just Found Out He’s On Obamacare. Hilarity Ensues. And: 15 charts that show how Obamacare works now — and how Republicans would overhaul it. See: More News. And: Cannabis is safer.

Poll. US voters support single payer Medicare-for-all 51 - 38 percent. As do doctors. See: Australian single payer. And: It costs less. Bernie Sanders videos: A Republican senator challenged a Canadian doctor on their single-payer health care. 2. Chart: Portugal's drug decriminalization. 2.

Will 2018 midterm elections remove Republicans? 2018 ballot issues: marijuana and minimum wage.

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Share links: drugwar, massincarceration, and majority. This article was written by Timeshifter. See charts and maps. See also: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, handguns. And: Republican-led drug war.

How the war on drugs affected incarceration rates. By Lauren Carroll, July 10th, 2016. Politifact. The war on drugs led to "a 500 percent increase in incarceration in our country, disproportionately affecting poor and disproportionately affecting minorities." — Cory Booker on Sunday, July 10, 2016 in an interview on "Meet the Press".

Mass imprisonment of drug users driving global epidemics of HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. 14 July 2016. The Lancet. "In parts of Europe, over a third of inmates inject drugs (38%), in Australia (55%) it is more than half. This is in stark contrast with injecting drug use in the general population (0.3% in EU and 0.2% in Australia)." Many users steal in order to get money for drugs. Thus they end up in jail in high numbers, contributing to mass incarceration.

Incarceration Nation.. By Fareed Zakaria, Time magazine, April 02, 2012. "America's War on Drugs Drives High Incarceration Rates."

Drug war + Trickle-down Reaganomics, = mass incarceration and mass control.

See article: Trickle-down economics plus drug war.

The majority of people incarcerated in prisons and jails in the USA are in due to drug-related offenses, crimes to get money for drugs, or drug-related parole or probation violations. Wikipedia: Drug-related crime. The number of inmates in the USA has increased almost 5 times over since 1980. The USA has the highest incarceration rate of any nation b c (except for the tiny country of the Seychelles). Compare incarceration rates worldwide. The cost of the U.S. drug war is at least 1.5 trillion dollars. Cannabis is safer! Share link.

People in prisons and jails for drug-related crime

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See also: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate.

489,000 in 2013 (see chart below). For drug offenses alone.

Does not count drug-related burglary, robbery, murder, etc. to get drug money, defend turf, etc..

How it happened

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Chart below covers prison inmates only. See also: timeline combining prison and jail inmates.

Chart source: The Score: Why Prisons Thrive Even When Budgets Shrink. In The Nation. By Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert, September 24, 2014. Quote below from article (emphasis added):

Explosion in incarcerations since the 1980s. Under the "war on drugs," aggressive policing drove up the percentage of those in state prisons for drug offenses from 6.4 percent in 1980 to 22 percent in 1990. More minor drug charges made it easier for prosecutors to push felony charges by citing a defendant’s prior record. These convictions triggered harsh sentences under new guidelines like California’s "three strikes" law, passed during the same period. The enforcement of these punitive new laws was, and remains, racist: according to the ACLU, black people are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, though they are equally likely to use. This, in turn, makes black people vulnerable to the rest of the criminal-justice system.

See also: commons:File:U.S. incarceration rates 1925 onwards.png.

The drug war is a big cause of the high US incarceration rate. Also, the rest of the developed world has much lower rates of handgun ownership, and much lower murder rates. They never reached the levels of violence the USA did due to handguns and drug war. So they never had the clamoring of the far-right National Rifle Association (NRA) demanding mandatory minimum sentencing. Canada and Europe have long had much lower incarceration rates, better healthcare, and far fewer and shorter sentences for marijuana offenses.

Many innocent people in jail due to bail and bonds

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• The Bail Trap. By Nick Pinto. Aug. 13, 2015. New York Times.

Drug-related crime

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See also: Drug war charts and maps. And: Brutality and the drug war.

Emphasis added to the quotes.

• Prisons & Drug Offenders | Drug War Facts.
• Drugs and Crime Facts. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics: "In 2004, 17% of state prisoners and 18% of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. In 2002 about a quarter of convicted property and drug offenders in local jails had committed their crimes to get money for drugs, compared to 5% of violent and public order offenders. Among state prisoners in 2004 the pattern was similar, with property (30%) and drug offenders (26%) more likely to commit their crimes for drug money than violent (10%) and public-order offenders (7%). In federal prisons property offenders (11%) were less than half as likely as drug offenders (25%) to report drug money as a motive in their offenses."

Drug-related homicides

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U.S. statistics for drug-related homicides are very inadequate.

• Drug Related Crime [131]. March, 2000 article. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Article quote (emphasis added):

Why Statistics on Drug-Related Crime are Difficult To Interpret: Homicide as an Example. ... The FBI does not include as drug-related a murder that occurs during a robbery or a burglary committed by someone under the influence of drugs or a murder that occurs during a robbery committed to obtain money to buy drugs. In these cases, the homicide is recorded by its relationship to the most serious offense only, and robbery and burglary are more serious than drug trafficking in the FBI offense classification and in most State laws. Thus, current FBI homicide information may not categorize a large number of drug-related murders as so related.

• Drugs and Crime Facts. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Has drug-related homicide chart from 1987-2007, with rates of 3.9% to 7.4% for drug-related homicides. "The Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that in 2007, 3.9% of the 14,831 homicides in which circumstances were known were narcotics related. Murders that occurred specifically during a narcotics felony, such as drug trafficking or manufacturing, are considered drug related."

• OPED: War Won't Solve the Drug Problem. July 15, 1999. Washington Post. By Rob Stewart, of the Drug Policy Foundation. "In 1988, just over half of the murders in the city [New York City] were 'drug-related.' But once the researchers examined the circumstances of the murders, they discovered that the clear majority, 74 percent, were results of the drug trade, not drug use (14 percent) or the need to get money for drugs (4 percent)."

• The 50 Most Violent Cities In The World. (On one page). Nov. 10, 2014. By Pamela Engel and Christina Sterbenz. Business Insider. "US cities also made the list, led by Detroit at No. 24 and New Orleans at No. 26." And Baltimore at 36, St. Louis at 45.

Drugs and bail and probation violations

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• Probation and Bail Violations :: Providence Probation Attorney Joseph Lamy. From the article:

Another difficulty for defendants charged with a probation violation is that the condition “to keep the peace and be of good behavior” is ambiguous and open to interpretation. For example, you are arrested for marijuana possession and are also charged with a violation of probation. Even if the marijuana possession charges are dismissed, you may very likely be found to have violated probation. Why? Because a judge can be “reasonably satisfied” that you were not of good behavior if you were even near drugs or someone who had drugs or involved in any incident that caused the police to be called.

Parole violations and drugs

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16.1% of parole violators returned to state prisons in 1997 for drug related violations; for failing drug tests, possession of drugs, failing to report for drug testing, failing to report for alcohol or drug treatment. Info is from Table 21 (below) of the PDF for this report: Trends in State Parole, 1990-2000. NCJ 184735. October 2001. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

See image info.

Sentence length causes huge incarceration rate

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Federal mandatory minimum sentencing charts.

First mandatory minimums chart below is from an older FAMM report, "Correcting Course: Lessons from the 1970s Repeal of Mandatory Minimum Sentences". FAMM is Families Against Mandatory Minimums. [132]. See Wikipedia: Mandatory minimums. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 increased the amounts of crack cocaine required to trigger 5 and 10 year sentences. [133]. See revised charts since then. Share link to this page. For charts of all federal mandatory minimums (not just for drug offenses), go here. Later chart with revisions, such as the amount of crack cocaine required for various sentences:

American Exception. Inmate Count in US Dwarfs Other Nations'. April 22, 2008. New York Times. Page 1, section A, front page. Archive. From the article (emphasis added): Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher. ... "Rises and falls in Canada's crime rate have closely paralleled America's for 40 years," Mr. Tonry wrote last year. "But its imprisonment rate has remained stable."

November Coalition graph. Some Congressmen and police who prosecuted the War on Drugs now believe it caused a large increase in the United States incarceration rate. See Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and larger chart with sources. See template. Incarceration peaked in 2008.

"I Was Wrong About the War on Drugs – It's a Failure". By Bob Barr (former Republican, former federal prosecutor, and former Congressman). June 11, 2008. AlterNet. "The solution to the failed drug war". By Jack A. Cole of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Sept. 13, 2008. Boston Globe.

• 2003. Federal Judge Quits, Calls Judicial System Unjust. Associated Press (AP) story, National Public Radio interview, and Judge John S. Martin's statement. "The result, he said, is a slew of lengthy prison sentences for low-level drug dealers 'who society failed at every step.' ... While many judges have criticized sentencing guidelines, it is unusual for a judge to publicly cite the frustrations of the job in stepping down." -June 25 2003 AP story. See also: Let Judges Do Their Jobs. By Hon. John S. Martin Jr..
• Dissenting Opinions of Judges, Federal Drug Sentencing, Mandatory Minimum Sentences. A list of many articles by judges. At November Coalition.

Mandatory Minimum sentences or truth in sentencing

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See also: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, NRA, and guns.

Some people don't know that the National Rifle Association had a large part in causing the huge increase in the U.S. incarceration rate. The NRA strongly lobbied state-by-state for mandatory minimum sentences (also known as "Truth in Sentencing"), and "Two and Three Strikes" laws. Mandatory-minimum sentences are the root cause of the astronomical US incarceration rate according to a New York Times article. The majority of people incarcerated in the U.S. are in prison or jail due to drug-related offenses, crimes to get money for drugs, or drug-related parole or probation violations. For more info see National Rifle Association and mandatory minimum sentencing. See template.

See Wikipedia: Mandatory sentencing. See also this page. Mandatory Minimum sentencing is often used for non-violent crimes such as drug possession. It is a modern-day way to create concentration camps for drug-using "undesirables." Sentences that usually do not allow parole until at least around 80% of the sentence served. Federal laws, and most states, have mandatory minimums. The majority of U.S. prisoners are in due to the drug war in some way or another.

See Wikipedia: War on Drugs, and Wikipedia: Sentencing Reform Act.

Life for pot

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See main article: USA. Life for pot. See also: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA.

• Life in prison for selling marijuana: Meet the people new pot laws forgot. MSNBC. 8 Sep 2015. [134][135]. "At least 67 people are in prison right now, sentenced to die there for selling marijuana". And: LifeForPot.com. And: POW420.com also lists some cannabis lifers. Facebook: Life for Pot. And: Life In Prison For Pot And Other Travesties Of Marijuana Prohibition. 4 Sept. 2014. Forbes.
• Jeff Mizanskey, life without parole: Missouri man freed after spending two decades in prison for marijuana charge. 1 Sep 2015. Guardian. [136]. And: Grandpa Doing Life Without Parole. [137][138]. Nazi Republican prosecutor.
• Saudi Arabia beheads 4 for pot.[139][140][141][142]. Religious Right: Supported Life for Pot. [143][144][145]. Republican Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich wanted executions.
• Life for Pot Prisoner Larry Duke Released! [146][147][148][149][150][151][152][153].

Cannabis arrests

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See: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA.

Nixon and Reagan. War on Drugs

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Nancy and Ronald 6 Wilson 6 Reagan 6 riding the drug war Beast in 1986. Note Nancy's "Just Say NO" sign. Larger image.

Republican evil, Democrat complicity, corporatist control: The Drug-War Industrial Complex.

Drug War Invented by Nixon to Extend His Power. By Fintan O'Toole. Aug. 13, 1999. Irish Times.

In June 1971 Richard Nixon declared a "War on Drugs."

Tricky Dick Nixon (above) has won his drug war! The Prison-Industrial Complex. Corporatist Dictatorship. A Nixonian "enemies list" that almost everyone is on at some time.

Papa Bush's massive drug war escalation

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• 2nd nationwide televised Bush speech on drugs on September 12, 1989: "Some think there won't be room for them in jail. We'll make room. We're almost doubling prison space. Some think there aren't enough prosecutors. We'll hire them, with the largest increase in Federal prosecutors in history."
• CNN, Sept. 3, 2014: Life sentence for buying weed? 25th anniversary of Papa Bush's War on Drugs escalation speech on September 5, 1989. The first prime time address of his presidency. Result: USA. Life for pot has info on Drug War POWs.

Reagan, and propaganda of incarceration nations

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• Reagan's war on cannabis is where the U.S. incarceration nation began. Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA: 40,000+ in 2011. All drug offenses: 489,000 in 2013.

Ronald Reagan, 1980 campaign speech 1: "Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass, whatever you want to call it, is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States, and we haven't begun to find out all of the ill effects, but they are permanent ill effects. The loss of memory for example." See Reagan say it at 1 minute 7 seconds into this video clip narrated by Woody Harrelson.

Propaganda of incarceration nations. Reaganism is about drug war, code-word racism, hate radio, mass incarceration, and above all, trickle-down economics (Reaganomics).

Drug war + Trickle-down Reaganomics, = mass incarceration and mass control.

See article: Trickle-down economics plus drug war.

Cult of Personality. (2). by Living Colour. Music video. 04:53 Youtube link. See lyrics.

See Wikimedia Commons: Category:Government propaganda. Note the "glorious mission" or "glorious war" nature of much propaganda. Like the Republican-led Holy War, the "War on Drugs". See Wikipedia: War on Drugs. It is really a war on some drug users. This particular glorious war was reinvigorated by the cult leaders, Ronald and Nancy Reagan. The B-movie actor Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6) is still worshiped like a God (or idol) by some segments of the Republican Party.

Welcome to America

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"Welcome to America, home to 5% of the world's people & 25% of the world's prisoners." NAACP, ACLU File Lawsuit Against City of Philadelphia for Rejecting Criminal Justice Reform Ad. Article by NAACP. Lawsuit filed October 19, 2011 during the period of the Occupy movement. Also see the ad banner article by Courthouse News Service. The drug war and prisons are big business, and a big part of how the 1% controls the 99%. See Facebook comments about the banner. The Republican Party leads the racist drug war. Incarceration peaked in the USA in 2008. <<--See that article for sources, stats, and charts for the banner. Most inmates are incarcerated due to the drug war.

USA and territories. 2,424,279 inmates in 2008. ... In 2008 with less than 5% of world population the USA had 2.4 million of 9.8 million world prisoners (b). See latest numbers and World Prison Population List. The majority of inmates in the USA are in due to the drug war. The number of inmates in the USA has increased almost 5 times over since 1980. It peaked in 2008.

Chart below is from a July 2000 report:

From the report: "Nearly one in four persons (23.7%) imprisoned in the United States is currently imprisoned for a drug offense. The number of persons behind bars for drug offenses (458,131) is roughly the same as the entire prison and jail population in 1980 (474,368)."

2017 Global Marijuana March and 420

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May 6, 2017, Saturday, or thereabouts. And April 20 (4/20), or thereabouts. Rallies and marches overall change public opinion for the better! See: Cannabis polls.

• 2017 Global Marijuana March and 420 events. - Worldwide.
• USA. 2017 Global Marijuana March and 420 city list. - USA.
• 420 event lists. - Worldwide.

2017 Facebook event pages for Global Marches and 420. - Some cities.
Main Facebook pages for organizing global marches.

US states that have legalized as of November 2016 election.

Cannabis is safer

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See: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration.

Ronald Reagan, 1980 campaign speech 1: "Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass, whatever you want to call it, is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States, and we haven't begun to find out all of the ill effects, but they are permanent ill effects. The loss of memory for example."

See Reagan say it at 1 minute 7 seconds into this video clip narrated by Woody Harrelson.

• Obama correctly said that cannabis is safer than alcohol. See: Cannabis is safer. He also said marijuana should be treated more as a public health issue than a criminal one. And: Obama signals support for legalizing medical marijuana. [154]. See video.
• USA. 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults are alcohol-related (disease, overdose, car crashes, falls, violence, etc). 87,798 per year, 2006 to 2010. [155][156][157][158][159].

See longer article: Cannabis is safer.

• Imagine if Mitt Romney had been elected President in 2012 instead of Obama.

• Obama on marijuana legalization. [160]. "My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this". The Washington Post. Jan. 22, 2015.

Above quote is from Sanjay Gupta interview of Obama on April 15, 2015. Interview aired on CNN on April 19, 2015. [161][162][163].

• Obama administration asks Supreme Court to reject lawsuit filed by Republican governments in Oklahoma and Nebraska to stop legal marijuana in Colorado [164]. December 2015.

• Holder's Legacy: Steering Away From the Drug War and Mass Incarceration. [165][166].

USA. Republican war on cannabis

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See: Republican-led drug war. And: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate.

The Cannabis War is over and the U.S. Republican Party has lost. They may not know it yet, so keep marching, lobbying, and voting! Please register and vote! See: Reagan's War on Cannabis. And: Drug war, control, and Republican-led income inequality. And: Alternatives to Republican-led mass incarceration.

Vermont's Republican Governor Scott Vetoes Marijuana Legalization bill of Democrat legislature. May 24, 2017. And: New Mexico's Republican governor vetoes a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana for opioid addiction. April 7, 2017. And: New Mexico's Republican governor vetoes the 911 Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Bill. April 7, 2017. And: Idaho's Republican governor vetoes a broadly-supported asset forfeiture reform bill. April 7, 2017.

U.S. Republican Party: Greed, Ground Wars, Drug Wars, and Mass Incarceration.

Will 2018 midterm elections remove Republicans? 2017-18 ballot issues: marijuana & minimum wage.
Democrats, following Bernie Sanders lead, propose bill to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2024. Republicans oppose raising federal minimum wage. [167] [168].

• Missouri's Republican governor signs state law lowering St. Louis minimum wage. [169]. July 3, 2017. And: Iowa's Republican governor signs law overturning local minimum wage increases. March 30, 2017.

Presidents alone can not reschedule it

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See main article: Presidents alone can not reschedule marijuana.

The president alone can not reschedule marijuana. [170] [171][172][173]. Since HHS (Health and Human Services) and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) have again declined to reschedule or deschedule cannabis, then only Congress can do so. But Congress removed help for veterans: Republicans in Congress Won’t Let Veterans Access Medical Marijuana After All. [174][175]. And Congressional Republican committee leaders refuse hearings on CARERS bill to reschedule cannabis. See: Medical Marijuana Advocates Rally to Loosen Restrictions. By Alicia Ault. 23 Mar 2016. Medscape.

• Wikipedia: Drug Enforcement Administration. See "Criticism" section.
• Wikipedia: Removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
• DEA Removes Marijuana Misinformation From Website After Months of Pressure. By Steve Elliott. Feb 13, 2017.
• DEA Pulls Back From Calling Marijuana One Of The 'Most Dangerous Drugs'. By Cody Fenwick. August 16, 2016. Patch Media
• The Science behind the DEA's Long War on Marijuana. 19 April 2016. Scientific American. Unless Congress acts, the DEA has final say on rescheduling or descheduling marijuana.
• Pot Matters: For Legalization, Set Your Sights on the Senate. 23 Mar 2016. By Jon Gettman. "it will be helpful, and indeed crucial, for advancing legalization for Democrats to take control of the Senate." Maybe in 2018?
• FDA Weighs in on Rescheduling Cannabis. By Ben Adlin. 28 Dec 2015. Leafly.

Drug war, control, mass incarceration

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See: Drug war, control, and Republican-led income inequality. And: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, handguns. And: US incarceration peaked in 2008. And: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA. And: List of countries and U.S. states by incarceration rate. See articles: Cannabis prisoners and Drug war cost charts, infographics..

The majority of people incarcerated in prisons and jails in the USA are in due to drug-related offenses, crimes to get money for drugs, or drug-related parole or probation violations. Wikipedia: Drug-related crime. The number of inmates in the USA has increased almost 5 times over since 1980. The USA has the highest incarceration rate of any nation b c (except for the tiny country of the Seychelles). Compare incarceration rates worldwide. The cost of the U.S. drug war is at least 1.5 trillion dollars. Cannabis is safer! Share link.

Jail, jail deaths (2), and bail. A Lot Of People Are Dying At This Understaffed Texas Jail. And: How the Money Bail System Perpetuates America’s Mass Incarceration Problem. 2. And: Justice Department blasts ‘unconstitutional’ fixed bail schedules. Many innocent people in jail. And: Many marijuana users in jail without bail money. And: Senator Kamela Harris push for bail reform.

The mentally ill. Rundle Won't Charge Prison Guards Who Allegedly Boiled Schizophrenic Black Man to Death for 2 Hours in Shower. Death Ruled An Accident. Documents Show They Omitted Key Details. Florida inmate in for cocaine possession. 2345. Due to lack of single-payer universal healthcare the mentally ill end up incarcerated and untreated. Prison costs far more than caring for them to begin with. For their non-violent offenses three-quarters of Americans favor ‘rehabilitation’ over jail time, survey finds. Poor health care in general in prisons and jails. Inmates Pay A Small Fortune To See A Doctor. 2.3.

Green love

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The Global Marijuana March is the first Saturday in May. The first Saturday in May is also World Naked Gardening Day. Your marijuana garden needs love too . (see Google search for it). But, be safe!

• Abortion Rates Dropped Sharply. What Caused It?
• Free birth control under ObamaCare.
• Colorado’s Effort Against Teenage Pregnancies Is a Startling Success. Free birth control.

Republicans think they can spend an infinite amount of money (many trillions of dollars) on health-insurance-company-based healthcare, and have an infinite number of babies, to feed their appetite for endless ground wars, and for more inmates for more prisons for more drug war.

Wikipedia: Population milestone babies.

As with cannabis legalization Colorado leads the way.. More info. 2.3..

Single Payer. Half the cost of Trumpcare

20 million uninsured: 20,000+ deaths yearly

Portugal. Few die of overdoses

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Bernie Sanders' projection of 'thousands' of deaths from lost health coverage is well-supported. By Louis Jacobson. June 27, 2017. Politifact. See article sidebar for many sources. [176][177][178][179][180].

See: End drug war with universal healthcare.

See: Canadian single-payer healthcare and Portuguese drug decriminalization.

Portugal has decriminalized all drugs. Like Canada it has universal healthcare. See: Portugal. Cannabis-related links. See: Wikipedia: Drug policy of Portugal and Wikipedia: Health in Portugal. Nearly all of the European Union (EU) has universal healthcare. [181][182]. See: List of countries with universal health care.

Source for above chart: Are any conservatives in the US for a single payer and a universal health care system, or can they not coexist? Chart is from comment around March 11, 2017 by Dan Munro, "author of Casino Healthcare and Forbes contributor".

Canadian Single Payer: Show health card, get health care paid for by taxes. No deductibles on basic Canadian health care, and co-pays are extremely low or non-existent.

Single-Payer Healthcare. Higher life expectancy at half the cost. Country Life expectancy Infant mortality rate Healthcare cost per person (2). (US dollars. PPP) Murder rate per 100,000 Canada 82.2 years.(2) 4.9 per 1000 births. $4,608 in 2015 1.5 USA 79.3 years.(2) 6.5 per 1000 births. $9,451 in 2015 3.9 Murder rate is lower in Canada due to far less handgun ownership. Save $1.6 trillion out of $3.2 trillion spent on US healthcare in 2015. How?: Canadian single-payer healthcare, and Portuguese drug decriminalization and treatment. And: Save more via less incarceration. And: Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland. Vs. USA. [183]. And: No personal medical debt in single-payer countries.

Canada passes US in middle-class wealth. Median after-tax middle-class income in Canada is higher. [184]. Why? Canadians pay so much less for far better healthcare. And: Canada has higher minimum wage.

The $0 Alternative To Trumpcare. See chart below. USA versus top ten healthiest nations.
Universal healthcare and longer life, at half the cost of US healthcare.

Wikipedia country lists: Life expectancy.  And: Total health expenditure per capita.  Those numbers will change over time.

Portugal decriminalised drugs 14 years ago – and now hardly anyone dies from overdosing. 2015 article by Chris Ingraham. Chart below is from the article.

"The country has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3."

In 2014 the USA had 147 overdose deaths per million people. [185] [186] [187] [188]

• Overdose stats for the rest of the world.
• Wikipedia charts: Drug-related death statistics. See the upload page.

US charts:

• Overdose Death Rates. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Charts.
• These Are the Drugs That Cause the Most Overdose Deaths. Chart.
• Our nation’s drug overdose problem, in five bleak charts.
• How the opioid epidemic became America’s worst drug crisis ever, in 15 maps and charts.

Ibogaine cure:

• Wikipedia: Ibogaine.
• Facebook: Ibogaine Universe!!!!

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