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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Are drugs as big a component of incarceration rates as the C.W. suggests? The overwhelming majority of IL inmates were sentenced for property crimes (which in the uniform crime classification do not include drug crimes of any sort). Certainly the C.W. on the impact of marijuana legalization isn't accurate; cannabis accounts for a tiny fraction of all incarcerations (significantly less than 1%). I checked a few months back, and a plurality of Cook County incarcerations were due to domestic violence.

Three strike laws and Kafka-esque probation policies could definitely be a big part of the problem.

(N.B.: I'm a strong supporter of cannabis legalization, and of decriminalization of all but a few of the rest of the recreational drugs).

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I think the CW overestimates drug crimes, and also overestimates what those sentenced for drug crimes would be doing with their lives otherwise. Having read through quite a few criminal files, I can think of only a single example of someone that made me think: "gee, he's in jail solely because drugs are illegal."

I support legalization and oppose three strikes laws because they fuck over a small minority of people who don't deserve it. But it's a small minority.

Some property crimes are caused by people trying to fund their addiction to hard drugs.

So if we just legalized drugs, people who are so fully addicted to them that they'll burglarize houses to pay for them will, presumably because drugs will be so much cheaper, get a job at McDonalds instead?

Also, if drugs are something that cause otherwise law-abiding people to burglarize houses, isn't that a strong argument for making them illegal?

It's part of a strong argument for making them illegal. You'd also need to show that making them illegal actually decreases the rate at which that happens.

It is the price. Not many people addicted to cheap legal drugs become criminals. To buy cigarettes or grog, it is enough to work a low-paying job or just beg for money. Personally, i don't believe you should be able to buy hard drugs in the supermarket, but there should be a cheap legal way to buy them from a doctor and get help at the same time.

Probably. Decriminalization and being able to get hard drugs from a doctor would go a long way in reducing drug-related crime. I don't think society is ready for hard drugs in the supermarket aisle. At least i'm not ready for it.

Drug convictions are 20% of the national prison population. That said, you can link many of the other crimes to the drug trade or drug abuse.

Cannabis to drug dealers is like ground beef to your butcher -- it's often the base of the business. Harder drugs attract more profit and police attention.

Where are you getting the number 20% from?

From a summary of federal survey data: http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=0...

Note than many cannabis associated crimes are misdemeanors that don't call for jail time. In a "tough" state like New York, possession of very small quantities of cocaine or heroin often result in felony conviction. But at the same time, drug distributors move a lot of weed (hence the ground beef analogy).

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