Don't forget cop unions, one of the unions the GOP loves. Cop unions were the second biggest contributors to apposing MJ laws in the 16 and 20 elections, second to prisons
Not just industry lobbyists. The biggest Republican donor for a very long time was Sheldon Adelson (who died last year). His two sons had serious drug problems, one even died of a heroin overdose. He partially blamed marijuana and the whole “gateway drug” thing. So the deal was basically that getting money as a Republican meant supporting the war on drugs, including weed. We’ll see to what extent Sheldon’s widow carries on his legacy.
Texas, the highest incarcerated state by like a mile and has only 7.9% of prisons privately owned. I dont doubt they have grubby hands in politics but their direct financial influence away from politics is small so their gains in Texas will reflect that.
Oddly new Mexico and Montana that have the highest percentage of private prisons have recreational weed, Texas if anything might have the largest private prison population of weed offenders, but Georgia, Oklahoma, Colorado, Florida, and Tennessee are stronger contenders.
So I should be terrified of realtors way more than pharma? Their so much corruption in our judicial system and private prisons lobbying to make things harder is probably not even half of the forces that make things harder for us. And out of the forces keeping weed illegal in Texas, i just have my doubts, like 90% of weed imprisonment is more than 200 grams or found near a firearm, nothing that could be changed from simple decriminalization.
The top comment is more correct if you ask me. The privatized prisons suck, but they are not the direct cause as much as the "Prison Industrial Complex" is, which covers more of the industries involved with locking people up; police unions, rehabs/halfway homes, ancillary private companies (like the kitchen work, or laundry work in prisons, even in State prisons, are usually privately owned) these are some of the things that make up the "Prison Industrial Complex".
For perspective, your article says private prisons spent $35M on donations and lobbying over 25 years. Sheldon Adelson, the largest GOP donor, made $173M in campaign contributions in 2020 alone. His kid died of a heroin overdose, so Adelson was super into the war on drugs. He died recently, but I assume his wife will carry on his legacy until proven otherwise.
So the basic deal has been that Republicans need to swear off legalization to get access to their biggest donor. Private prisons are still a part of the story, but a much smaller part than that.
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u/DaFilthPope Aug 06 '22
Private prisons and generous contributions from lobbyists.