incarceration

[Adam Stevens]

At 08:40 AM 3/15/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Does it say how many people are behind bars due to drugs? Last I had heard it
>was something like 63%.
>
>Jay>

        It's not that high for state and federal PRISON, but it may be that
high for local county jails.  Drug offenders made up %8 of the prison
population in 1980, but now account for over %26.  

        Here's another figure for you:  as of 1995, more people had been
sentenced under California's "Three Stikes" law for simple marijuana
possession than for murder, rape, and kidnapping combined, and more for drug
possession generally than for ALL violent offenses.