TRUE COST OF DRUGS: MORE THAN HALF OF INMATES CURRENTLY IN U.S.
FEDERAL PRISONS WERE CONVICTED OF NARCOTICS OFFENCES

More than 50 per cent on inmates in U.S. federal prisons were jailed
for drug offences, shocking new figures show.

The statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Justice, reveal that out of a total inmate
population of 215,888, 102,391 (that's 50.8 per cent) were jailed for
drug offences.

The second highest crime area was weapons, explosives and arson
offences with a prison population of 30,509, that's 15.1 per cent,
according to the figures published on the Department's website on May
28 of this year.

Murder, aggravated Assault and kidnapping Offenses made up 2.7 per
cent with 5,473 inmates.

The drug offences relate to crime in multiple ways. Most directly, it
is use, possession, manufacturing and distributing drugs classified as
having a potential for abuse, such as cocaine, heroin, morphine and
amphetamines.

But the offences also involve crimes such as drug trafficking and drug
production controlled by drug cartels, organized crime and gangs.

The concept of drug related crime, however, has frequently been
criticized for its failure to distinguish between the types of crime
associated with drugs.

Use-related crimes are those that result from or involve people who
ingest drugs and who commit crimes as an result of the effect the drug
has on their behaviour.

The second main area is economic-related crimes where an individual
commits a crime to fund a drug habit. These include theft and
prostitution.

The third are system-related crimes resulting from the structure of
the drug system, including manufacture, transportation, sale of drugs
and violence related to the production or sale of drugs, such as a
turf war.

The Washington DC-based Justice Police Institute, in its 2009 paper
'Pruning Prisons: How Cutting Corrections Can Save Money and Protect
Public Safety,' said: 'The number of people in state prisons for drug
offences has increased 550 per cent over the last 20 years. A recent JPI
report found that the amount spent on "cops and courts" - not rates of
drug use -- is correlated to admissions to prison for drug offences.

'Counties that spend more on law enforcement and the judiciary admit
more people to prison for drug offences than counties that spend less.
And increases in federal funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant Program have promoted
increases in resources dedicated to drug enforcement.

'As crime continues to fall in many communities, law enforcement will
have more time to focus on aggressive policing of drug offences; this
can be expected to lead to even higher drug imprisonment rates and
crowded jails and prisons.

'According to FBI reports, 83 per cent of drug arrests are for
possession of illegal drugs alone. And regardless of crime in a
particular jurisdiction, police often target the same neighbourhoods
to make drug arrests, which can increase the disproportionate
incarceration of people of colour.'

The new figures are sure to ignite the debate over whether drug
offenders need more treatment instead of being dealt with through the
traditional judicial system.

The National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers concluded after a
two-year study that national standards must be developed to deal with
drug offenders, and the role of drug courts should be reduced in
favour of more treatment programmes

The figures come after a report earlier this year that showed that
African Americans are eight times more likely to face jail for petty
drugs crimes than whites convicted of the same offence.

The report, by the Illinois Disproportionate Justice Impact Study
Commission, found 19 per cent of black defendants accused of minor
drug-possession crimes in the state were sent to prison, compared to
just four per cent of white defendants.