Live
Audio Only
As the U.S. arrests more and more people for marijuana possession than all violent crimes combined, it is also looking to introduce the death penalty and life imprisonment for heroin and opioid dealers.
RELATED:
Big Pharma Spent Nearly $1 Billion to Lobby US Lawmakers
While many states have decriminalized or legalized marijuana use, Wednesday’s report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that arrests made up 13.6 percent more than all of those for murder, rape, assault and other violent crimes. The vast majority were for possession.
“Most people don’t think drug possession is the No. 1 public safety concern, but that’s what we’re seeing,” Tess Borden, who wrote the report, told the New York Times. The report also highlights that Black people are almost four times more likely to be arrested despite using marijuana at similar levels to white people.
The administration of Barack Obama, meanwhile, has also doubled down on opioids, with heroin-related deaths increasing fivefold since 2000. While he focused legislation on treatment and granted clemency to hundreds arrested on drug offenses, states have focused on increasing sentences for drug dealers.
New York proposed the death penalty last month after West Virginia proposed life in prison for selling the drugs. Others are using murder charges to prosecute dealers in the case of users' overdosing, reported Truth Out, adding that people released from prison are more likely to die from an overdose.
RELATED:
Decriminalizing Drugs Saves Money and Improves Health
Another Catch 22: the unprecedented rise in opioid abuse, according to a U.N. study, could be linked to U.S. legislation introduced in recent years which makes it harder to abuse prescription opioids.
The law resulted in the texture of the pills being changed to make it more difficult to crush them and inject them into the bloodstream, chief research Angela Me said.
"This has caused a partial shift from the misuse of these prescription opioids to heroin," she told Reuters.
Newsletter
