[adventured]

For anyone curious about the numbers around what tptacek is saying (given the popularity of the myth that the US mass incarcerates pot smokers):

https://i.imgur.com/whWAVs3.jpg

The strong majority of all prisoners are in for violent crime and property crime. Public order offenses (which includes eg weapons and DUIs) are nearly as large as all drug offenses.

There are about 60% as many people in state prisons for just burglary, as all drug offenses.

In 2015, only 3.4% of people in state prisons were in for drug possesion of any type. Marijuana would be a small subset of that figure.

[kleopullin]

Well played. Now, what percentage of people were in local jails for drug possession? Pre- and post-conviction?

[SEJeff]

And what you will find by reading Thomas’s HN or twitter feed is that he’s often opinionated yet rarely wrong.