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Presently, The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world and the population has risen by more than 500 percent since the early 70s, which is far greater than the 28 percent rise in the national population. Drug trafficking, harsher laws and the increase of drug use is the reason why the prison population has increased and caused prison overcrowding. 50 Billion dollars per year is the cost involved to fight the “War on Drugs.” As of 2004, the prison population was close to 2 million people and another 20 billion dollars is spent to keep the sellers and drug users in the prison system.
Currently in the state of Georgia, many citizens as well as the legislature for the state of Georgia feel as if the policies for drugs need to be reformed. Decriminalizing the use of Marijuana as an example would be a good place to start because Marijuana is considered as a criminal offense even with less then an ounce, and also due to the fact that Marijuana does less harm than any other drug, especially when being compared to Nicotine and Alcohol. The use of Marijuana does not stop there as certain factors further escalate the crime like using communication equipment such as a radio or telephone during any drug felony may add one to four years and a fine of Thirty Thousand Dollars (NORML, 2004). If a sale or possession occurs within a thousand feet of a school zone or any other place that is considered as a drug free commercial zone than the penalty can be as much as Twenty Years in prison and a fine up to Twenty Thousand Dollars for the first offense and anyway from five to forty years in prison and a fine up to Forty Thousand Dollars for any offense afterwards.
In 2002, the state of Georgia had 23,977 individuals that were arrested and charged with the use of Marijuana. These arrests made up over fifty percent of the drug arrest that year (NORML, 2005). Out of all those arrests 18,994 were simply for Marijuana possession (NORML,...