>drug offenders (i.e. dealers for one does not end up in the big house for
>mere possession)
This is simply not true. Google "felony drug possession" and "united states" to see for yourself. For now, here's a little something from the entertainment section.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) Rocker Courtney Love pleaded not guilty Friday to felony charges that she illegally possessed prescription painkillers.
[...]
She is charged with two felony counts of possession of controlled substances the painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone. She could face up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted.
[...]
http://www.courttv.com/people/2004/0430/love_ap.html
>As far as the prison population is concerned, the data, easily available
>form the Bureau of Justice Statistics
><http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/>http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ show
>that in 2001, 49% inmates in state prisons were violent offenders, while
>drug offenders
They also say this: Drug offenders, up 37%, represented the largest source of jail population growth between 1996 and 2002.
You're also leaving out federal sentences:
In 2000, an estimated 57% of Federal inmates and 21% of State inmates were serving a sentence for a drug offense; about 10% of Federal inmates and 49% of State inmates were in prison for a violent offense. Violent offenders accounted for 53% of the growth in State prisons between 1990 to 2000, drug offenders accounted for 59% of the growth in Federal prisons.
And what exactly do you mean to suggest by citing violent crime statistics here?
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#inmates>
>People die every day in turf wars, enforcement of drug debt, revenge for
>bad drug deals - and that does not even take into account the ravaging
>effect drug trade has on households and entire communities.
This is true. But are you taking into account how much of this is related to drug war policies themselves. Doesn't this description apply to prohibition era Chicago too?
And households and entire communities are also damaged immeasurably by children growing up with parents in prison.