Philadelphia Saved 2 MILLION in 2011 with softer cannabis laws

[RainDog]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/09/softer-pot-laws-saved-philadelphia-2-million-in-2010/

"The Philadelphia District Attorney's office estimates that it saved the city two million dollars in revenue through a new program designed to deal with individuals arrested with less than 30 grams (slightly more than one ounce) of marijuana.

...the city no longer has to foot the bill for court-appointed defense attorneys, prosecutorial fees, lab tests, or overtime wages paid to police officers who appear in court. Additionally, says the article, legal personnel at all levels are freed up to concentrate on more serious crimes.

Thousands of cases have been diverted to through Philadelphia's so-called Small Amount of Marijuana (SAM) program, which is designed to process marijuana users quickly through the system and leave them with a clean record. The effort might have been doomed to failure had it not received the support of law enforcement personnel, who say that efforts to take marijuana off the streets use up resources and do little to dent the supply available to users."

[Mimosa]

1. Great topic

The war on drugs is a war on people.

[RainDog]

2. it's funny how the world hasn't come to an end either

because this city made a move to do something rational in relation to drug policy.

[defendandprotect]

3. kr

[toddwv]

4. And it doesn't mention how much was saved because they didn't have to incarcerate those people.

Jobs.
Jail/prison costs.

Now if they would legalize and tax it, it would be MAKING dents in budget deficits not budgets.

[RainDog]

5. I don't know what their policy was before

but a lot of places in the U.S. allow people to attend drug rehab rather than face jail time. If someone is not addicted to a substance, that person doesn't need to attend rehab. Possession does not indicate addiction in any sane world.

The psychologists that I know of who have spoken about this issue, however, seem to be generally supportive of medical cannabis and don't seem to equate recreational use of cannabis automatically to addiction. Just as some people can drink a glass of wine and not care if they have another and they are not addicted to wine because of their ingestion of wine.

I assume that the overwhelming evidence will eventually be too great for even the most corrupt entities to ignore - tho there will probably be the cannabis version of creationists among us for a while.