should be MUCH longer to protect the rest of us who do not commit crimes. After all if the criminals are in prison they are not preying on the rest of us. I seem to remember reading that in each area the majority of crime is committed by just a few people. Also about a family who were finally arrested by the Police and, whilst in custody, crime in the area dropped by half! So if these people are not around much less crime is being committed. If someone commits 1 burglarly per week, locking them up for over 10 years stops over 500 burglaries. Obviously we could do the same by rehabbing them so they don't commit any burglaries at all, but as has been pointed out you have to commit a heck of a lot of burglaries to get yourself locked up. So if the rehab doesn't work, isolation will. Agree, but only so long as decriminalising such use would only apply in the private sphere and not in the public arena, e.g., the workplace, schools, public transport shopping malls etc. And wouldn't we need more traffic police to deal with those idiots who would think it was legal to snort and drive? What, not even from the people who would be kept in jail longer? On that argument, society would be just as safe, or safer, if no one were ever jailed at all. There probably are some people who actually believe that, I suppose. But apart