The total U.S. federal budget for the war on drugs in 1999 was $17.8 billion. (Source: DPF)

The combined federal and state prison population in the U.S. is over two million.

By the end of the year 2000, 150,000 persons will be imprisoned in U.S. Federal prisions, up from 24,252 in 1980 and 57,331 in 1990. 60 percent of the prisoners are serving drug sentences. Many of these sentences are so long -- 20 years, 25 years, life -- that Federal judges across the nation have called them "manifestly unjust." [Criminal Justice Policy Foundation: cjpf.org]

In the 1998 election, voters in 4 states (Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) passed new medical marijuana initiatives, and voters in 2 states (Arizona and Oregon) rejected attempts by state legislators to make drug laws more repressive. "This is further evidence that a growing number of Americans do not believe that people whould be arrested for using marijuana," said H. Alexander Robinson, DPF's Public Policy Directory.

In Alaska, Medical Marijuana Proposition 8 passed with 58% of the vote. In Nevada, Medical Marijuana Ballot Question 9 passed with 59% of the vote. In Oregon, Medical Marijuana Measure 67 passed with 55% of the vote. In Washington, Medical Marijuana Initiative 692 passed with 59% of the vote.

Re-criminalization initiatives (which would roll back harsh punishments for drug users failed spectacularly. In Oregon, 67% of the voters rejected Measure 57. In Arizona, 57% of the voters rejected Proposition 300 and 52% of the voters rejected proposition 301.

Exit polls indicated that the Medical Marijuana initiative in the District of Columbia (Washington DC) was approved by 69% of the voters. Unfortunately, Congress passed a law (incorporated into the Omnibus Appropriations bill) which prohibited the use of any D.C. funds to "conduct any ballot initiative which seeks to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the posession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance..." (Source: DPF)