Filling our prisons with non-violent drug offenders is not the answer to reducing crime in California.
The "war on drugs" is a failure. We are not any closer to stopping the flow of drugs into our state then we were when the "war on drugs" was started in the 1960's. The "war on drugs" has created a black market for drugs similar to that of alcohol during prohibition. The gangs of today are the Al Capone's of the 1930's. History has repeated itself! Making drugs illegal forces drug addicts to buy their drugs from street-corner drug dealers. These dealers are usually gang members who work for organized crime families who buy the drugs from drug cartels south of our border. Once the dealers establish a clientel of addicts, you become a possible candidate for armed robbery, mugging or a home invasion robbery. If an addict must pay $200.00 to support his habit, you can bet he is going to want your wallet or your TV. The "war on drugs" is also filling our prisons with non-violent drug offenders whose only crime was getting caught with a little marijuana. Non-violent drug offenders are clogging our prisons while violent criminals are being released to make room for them. What is wrong with this picture? Drugs must be legalized in order to seriously reduce crime in our state. Building more prisons is not the answer. If we simply release all of the non-violent drug offenders, there would be room for all of the violent criminals and then some! Police could spend more time locking up theives, muggers, child mollesters and other violent criminals who deserve to go to prison.
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