WHY DIDN'T PROP 5 PASS?

I honestly sometimes cannot believe the denial and ignorance that Americans participate in. It is absurd. Did anyone even read what proposition 5 would have done? I doubt it. I presume that the majority of voters saw that it would help people who do drugs, and drug offenders, and immediately voted no. If they would have taken the time to read what would have been involved in the passing of this proposition or maybe done a little due diligence on the subject they would have realized that voting no, further prolongs America's struggle with drugs.

Proposition 5 would have done a few things. First, it would have allocated $460,000,000 annually to improve and expand treatment programs for persons convicted of drug and other offenses. Second, it would limit the court's authority to incarcerate offenders who commit certain drug crimes, break drug treatment rules or violate parole. Third, it would shorten parole for certain drug offenses, and increase parole for serious and violent felonies.

Let's look at the $460,000,000 annually. Yes, it is a lot of money, but pennies compared to what we are spending on the war in Iraq, and what we have spent on the "war on drugs" in America since the 80's. The second part says it would "limit" the court's authority to incarcerate offenders of certain (not all) drug crimes, specifically non-violent ones. Why are we filling our jails with people spending months and years for simply having drugs on them, if people want to do drugs, let them, but if they commit a crime, then they should be punished accordingly. It is a fact that the United States incarcerates more of it's citizens than any other country in the history of the World. People don't realize that it costs seven times as much to incarcerate an individual rather than rehabilitate them. That is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the recidivism rate between people who spend time in jail and people who go through drug treatment programs. Only approximately 16% of people who go through treatment programs are repeat offenders, however, 32% of people who spend time in jail end up becoming repeat offenders. Why doesn't the American public educate themselves on this issue. The government sure won't educate us, considering how many billions of dollars the prison industry brings in every single year. Are they somehow participating in a cut of these profits? You can bet your ass they are. They are the ones who put the laws in the Legislature, and the prison industry, many of whom are privately owned corporations are sure loving them and giving them "gifts."

Take a look at how much money the state would save if proposition 5 would have passed. State savings would potentially exceed $1 billion annually! Are you kidding? What does that tell you? It tells you that it is much cheaper to rehabilitate someone, rather than jail them. Even more astounding would be the net one-time state prison savings exceeding $2.5 billion. I wonder why it didn't pass. I am sure many politicians and Legislators made a fortune in payoffs from this proposition not passing. Yet again the public fooled. Watch this video to get a taste of what I am talking about... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7mHGnrUIvI