The United States houses more human beings in prisons than any other country in the world. This is true whether you are counting total numbers or in relation to population size. This wasn’t always the case. The number of prisoners in the US began to rise dramatically in the 1970s.



So what changed in America compared to other countries while there are several competing theories a look at the data reveals that a significant part of the prison growth in the last 40 years has been driven by the war on drugs. Here is the data by 1980 there were over 315,000 prisoners in state and federal facilities.



57 percent were violent offender 30 percent were property violators such as those convicted for fraud. 5.5 percent of inmates were in for public water and other miscellaneous offences and the 7.5 percent were non-violent drug law violators. Ten years later the drug war had grown and the total American prison population had more than doubled to over 740,000 inmates.



The proportion of offenders in each type of crime had also changed dramatically. The most growth occurred in the non-violent drug offender population which grew to a significant 24 percent and this last statistics actually understates the influence of the drug war on prison populations.



Many studies have shown that drug prohibition causes violent crime by leading to the formation of gangs and cartels and thus it is safe to say that the number of violent criminals under prohibition is higher than it would otherwise be.



From 1990 to 2000 the drug driven population growth continued. By 2000 the total prison population had almost doubled again to over 1.3 million inmates and by 2010 the prison population was up to 1.6 million people. The growth has started to settle and even decline in recent years but the proportions of offences are retaining their post 1990 levels.



Americas unique methods of enforcing drug prohibition seem to parallel its unique prison population and one has to ask is our country really better off with so many non-violent drug offenders behind bars. Are drug users likely to be cured from addiction by being locked up? Has locking up dealers and users lessened the demand for drugs?



Certainly the effects on overall usage could not be called a success and yet we spend billions every year on this war and lock up hundreds of thousands. Surely there must be a less costly approach to addressing drug use in America.