[adityasankar]

Not a US citizen, but I was under the impression that the "War on Drugs" was another major contributor to incarceration. Intent to sell (bad) and indeed even possession (harmless?) of marijuana could land you in jail, correct?

[sandworm]

Yes. Drugs, at least the illegal ones, can/do/will land you in jail and eventually prison. Marijuana possession alone is enough, depending on how much you have and/or how it is packages (ie "with intent to distribute"). This depends on which state you are in, whether you are caught while crossing a state line (air travel) and the colour of the uniform on the officer who catches you (federal v. state). Some states have decriminalized possession but the US fed has not.

As a general rule, US "jails" house people awaiting trial and/or serving short sentences. "Prisons" house people with more than one year to serve. Prisons are generally much nicer places than jails.

(I went to a US law school, spent lots of time dealing with low-level offenders all of which were drug related. It's a horrible horrible system.)

[smcl]

"Prisons are generally much nicer places than jails"

If this piqued anyone's interest, you can see this in a little more detail in Louix Theroux's "Miami Mega Jail" two-part documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSM_UvZ-Jic (part 1 only, if you enjoy you should be able to find part 2). Like the GP I originally thought jail = prison, but it's definitely not and could even be a good deal worse in some cases.

[Vespasian]

Thank you for that last part. As a non US citizen i never knew there even was a difference between jails and prisons. Interesting :)

[sandworm]

I should have added that prisons are physically different. Most of the structures recognizable in the OP are prisons, multiple buildings separated by open yards. Jails are more likely to be a single converted building, with the roof open for exercise. They cannot be spotted on google maps.

Take a look at this infamous jail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Towers_Correctional_Facili...

[jimkri]

For possession of marijuana it depends on where you are. In Philadelphia where I am in college, possession up to an ounce of marijuana is now just a $25 fine. However in the suburbs where I am from they have zero tolerance and you will go through a lot of crap. So it depends on where you are and what drug you have.

[rhino369]

While simple possession could land you in jail, it's very rare for that to happen. There are 750,000 weed arrests in the US and maybe 500 people are in jail for simple possession only.

The big way weed gets you to jail is because it's a conviction that breaks your parole and you get sent back for your previous crime.

[marincounty]

I know a guy who went to the Midwest to sell small amounts of weed. Some "Silm Shady" type bought from said friend. Slim Shady decided to shoot someone over a bag. Said friend is in jail for 20 years. Said friend knew nothing of the murder, but the judge felt said friend should be punished--because he supplied an Idiot with weed, and broke federal and state law. The sad part is somehow he talked his brother into joining him in the Midwest. 'Hay, leave your Waiter position. We can sell small amounts of Mendocino's finest, and as long as we keep the weight low; we can live comfortably, with low risk.' His older brother got caught up in the drama, and was thrown in ail along with his brother. The judge called them Drug Kingpings. They found less than a pound of weed in the house, but still threw the book at the two.

[draugadrotten]

> I know a guy who went to the Midwest to sell small amounts of weed. ... we can live comfortably, with low risk

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time, as they say.

I find it really hard to feel sorry for criminals that are selling so much drugs that they can live comfortably on drug money. That's a significant amount of illegal activity.

They knew about the risk, and they took it. Now they have to live with the consequences of their decisions.

[thraw1]

Dude, if the same thing happened in an enlightened society, they would be free people right now.

[mcherm]

> That's a significant amount of illegal activity.

No one questions that. The question is over what amount of HARM was done and what is a reasonable response to that.

In other words, if you accept the existing laws at face value, then this is, indeed, terrible "drug kingpin" behavior deserving of severe punishment. And (ducking Godwin's law) if you accept the laws of North Korea, then thousands of people deserve lives of horror and torture for the crime of being born to a prisoner at a re-education camp. The question that I believe we should be asking is whether such laws are just and the punishment appropriate.

[lectrick]

There's enough scientific studies out by now that show that marijuana use is not really a problem.

The fact that an unjust law is still on the books just means that politics and law move too slowly.

I don't know how anyone can stand behind an unjust law "because law, duh," and that's why you're getting downvoted.

[mikeash]

How many crimes have you committed this week?

[pcthrowaway]

Please do some research on this. I guarantee you there are more than 500 people in jail at any given time for possession of weed. At least two out of roughly 40 people in my pod when I spent a week in jail were there for possession of marijuana alone.

[pcthrowaway]

Actually, I just remembered, one of those was in jail for possession of marijuana paraphernalia not even marijuana.

[rhino369]

Simple possession or with intent to distribute?

Or are we talking about awaiting a bail hearing?

[pcthrowaway]

When you are arrested in the United States, you are taken to jail. After you have your bond set, you will be released upon someone posting bail. You stated that it's very rare for simple possession to land you in jail. There was one person in jail for having been arrested with weed, and another arrested for paraphernalia. Both may have received a sentence of time served plus probation, but that doesn't negate the fact that lots of space in our jails at any given time is being filled up by people arrested with marijuana.

[jacalata]

Backed up by Rolling Stone at http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/lists/top-10-marijuana-m...

[sandworm]

That article only speaks to the prison population. It doesn't count those in jails, those serving less than one year. For simple possession it is unlikely that anyone would be sent away for more than a year so I'm not surprised that so few are in prisons. Jails are a totally different story. They've got lots of people in after being arrested for pot.