If you are in doubt about who the REAL enemy is, here are some statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Please keep in mind that this is FEDERAL prison only. The statistics for state prisons are even worse. The first number is the number of prisoners currently serving time and the second is the percentage of prisoners for each "crime." The MAJORITY of drug prisoners are serving time for NON-VIOLENT "crimes."

Additionally, many drug prisoners are indicted and convicted for conspiracy, rather than actual physical possession of drugs. Indeed, merely talking on the phone or email about a drug deal can net you up to four times the sentence for possession and/or sales. When one is charged and convicted of conspiracy, the penalties escalate beyond reason.

Drug Offenses: 87,174 (54.3%)

Weapons, Explosives, Arson: 19,163 (11.9%)

Immigration: 17,370 (10.8%)

Robbery: 10,228 (6.4%)

Burglary, Larceny, Property
Offenses: 7,079 (4.4%)

Extortion, Fraud, Bribery: 7,102 (4.4%)

Homicide, Aggravated Assault,
and Kidnapping Offenses: 5,226 (3.2%)

Miscellaneous: 3,100 (1.9%)

Sex Offenses 1,664 (1.0%)

Banking and Insurance,
Counterfeit, Embezzlement: 1,108 (0.7%)

Courts or Corrections:
(e.g., Obstructing Justice) 724 (0.5%)

Continuing Criminal Enterprise: 611 (0.4%)

National Security: 102 (0.1%)

Be sure and check out the difference between drug prisoners and National Security threat prisoners. Don't you feel a lot safer now? No matter what the government tells you, the cold, hard facts show us exactly where their REAL priorities are. But then it's MUCH easier (and SAFER) to bust somebody's grandmother for growing a few dozen pot plants than it is going after dangerous criminals who might have guns or bombs.

It's also not difficult to explain the government's reasoning behind this obscene policy of trouncing on personal liberties. I'll give it to you in two words: PROPERTY SEIZURE. If you do some research on how much money and property the drug police steal from non-violent offenders it would absolutely blow your mind. In many states EVEN IF ONE IS FOUND INNOCENT the police still get to keep your property! Property seizure in drug offences began in earnest during the Reagan years and it's been getting WORSE every year. FAR WORSE!

Are you happy paying your hard earned taxes to incarcerate people in the numbers reflected in the statistics stated above? I didn't think so.

And now that "Prisons for Profit" (prisons owned by private corporations) are becoming the next big thing, what would be the incentive for the ultra-rich to change anything? If a member of congress (and the lobbyists who pull his strings) owns large amounts of stock in a holding company that controls a for-profit prison, wouldn't it behoove him to keep as many things illegal as possible?

Think about it.