<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color:#ffff00;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/6f99a185-4111-478a-8046-4eb65d0414ae/CF9ACAA5-F08B-41F2-BB0A-6DF5EA44E233/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/netherlands-to-close-prisons-not-enough-criminals/05262009/" href="http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/netherlands-to-close-prisons-not-enough-criminals/05262009/" style="font-size: 11px;">blog.mpp.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/netherlands-to-close-prisons-not-enough-criminals/05262009/">Netherlands to Close Prisons: Not Enough Criminals</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/netherlands-to-close-prisons-not-enough-criminals/05262009/"><P class="MsoNormal">For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation <A target="_blank" href="http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/demand/speakout/09so.htm">a nest of crime and drug abuse</A>. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:</p> <P class="MsoNormal">The Dutch government is getting ready to <A target="_blank" href="http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals">close eight prisons</A> because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.</p> <P class="MsoNormal">Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its <A target="_blank" href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html">population of 36.7 million</A>, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s <A target="_blank" href="http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/jtf/JTF_PrisonsJTF.pdf">actual prison population is 171,000.</A></p> <P class="MsoNormal">So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CF9ACAA5-F08B-41F2-BB0A-6DF5EA44E233/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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