Most of the inmates are black or hispanic on drug charges (39% black, 20% hispanic, yet each only constitutes about 10% of the total US population). Legalizing and taxing would solve that issue. "Perhaps the single greatest force behind the growth of the prison population has been the national "war on drugs." The number of incarcerated drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. In 2000, 22 percent of those in federal and state prisons were convicted on drug charges." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States Prohibition is such an easy test case for the law of supply and demand on a society. Why anyone ever thought that outlawing drugs was a solution is beyond me. Unless, the real aim was to incarcerate minorities, in which case, it has been a smashing success.