And here's a statistic that might be interesting. For prison guards, stiff mandatory sentences mean job security. The money we are spending on our drug war while it has only made the drug problem a thousand times worse has infected many federal and state agencies, many professions and unions, whose jobs are fueled by this money, and who therefore find reasons to support it. But they are not supporting it for the health of the country. They are supporting it for the security of their jobs and their purpose.
Police are even better at catching women for drug offenses.
Between 1986 and 1996, the number of women imprisoned for drug offenses increased by 888 percent, compared to an increase of 129 percent for non-drug offenses. But legally, these mothers have abandoned their children, who are sent to child dependency court. Then there is the impact of our massive prison program on ethnic minorities. The figures for Hispanic males was 12.3 percent, and for white males it was just under 7 percent. Well, a lot of them take drugs.