"There's a lot of stigma with criminalization of drug use," Davies says. "Defelonizing possession could make it easier for people who would otherwise be too scared of punishment to get help seek needed medical attention, and could financially help the state build resources for addicts like harm reduction programs, syringe access programs, and access to health services."
Though most people don't often think about prisons in the financial sense (or at all), it costs a lot of money to arrest someone and keep them incarcerated. About a million people are arrested for drug use in the U.S. every year, Davies says, when advocates for reform say they should actually be treated with health services rather than being locked up in a prison system that statistics show would likely make their struggle with addiction even harder once they're released.
And, of course, that affects people of color much more often than it does white people. Black people and white people use drugs at similar rates, Davies says, yet Black people account for about 29% of drug use arrests and 35% of drug-use-related incarcerations. There are also more than 100,000 people deported because of drug possession each year, he says.
