CANNANNEW REPORT

Apologies for not being aware of this report earlier in the year. The numbers are terrifying in terms of what's been spent June 16 2021 New Jersey spent $11.6 billion over the last decade enforcing the War on Drugs, exacerbating inequality and costing people their lives.   Executive Summary ". . . A rational statewide drug policy requires that the coercive force of the criminal justice system be used constructively to influence far more people, numbering in the millions, than could ever be arrested, adjudicated, and sentenced." — New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, 1990 "We are no longer locking up this disease. We've acknowledged — and it's a cliché now because we've said it so many times — that we're not going to arrest our way out of this problem. But we mean it. We're walking the walk and we're taking that public health approach to this crisis."  — New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, 2020 Report Overview On the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's declaration of a War on Drugs, it is time for New Jersey to "Just Say No" to an expensive, ineffective, racially discriminatory war against its residents. In 2021, the need for investment in public health, racial equity, and economic well-being for New Jersey's families is more urgent than ever. New Jersey's overdose and COVID-19 crises created a "pandemic within a pandemic," and residents have borne the consequences of years of underinvestment in New Jersey's public health infrastructure. At the same time, the growing Movement for Black Lives makes clear the urgency of addressing head-on policies that fuel racial injustice, police violence, and the murder of Black residents. This report highlights state budget spending dedicated over the past decade to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate residents for drug war violations. This analysis is contextualized…

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Source : Report: A War on Us: How Much New Jersey Spends Enforcing the War on Drugs

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