Tl;dr / excerpts:<p>1) Decriminalization benefits public safety and health.<p>2) Drug possession arrests fuel mass incarceration and mass criminalization – not to mention institutionalized racism and economic inequality.<p>"U.S. law enforcement arrests about 1.5 million people each year for drug law violations – and more than 80% of those arrests are for simple drug possession."<p>"For noncitizens, including legal permanent residents – many of whom have been in the U.S. for decades and have jobs and families – possession of any amount of any drug (except first-time possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana) can trigger automatic detention and deportation, often without the possibility of return."<p>3) Other countries have successfully decriminalized drugs – and the U.S. is moving in the right direction<p>4) The American public – as well as leading governmental, medical, public health, and human rights groups – already support drug decriminalization.<p>"Polls of presidential primary voters last year found that substantial majorities support ending arrests for drug use and possession in Maine (64%), New Hampshire (66%) and even South Carolina (59%)."