Decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States and federal prisons and an upwards of 750,000 in local jails for marijuana related crimes. Today there are over 1.5 million Americans serving time in an institution. If marijuana was decriminalized, these numbers were further be reduced again to below 700,000 inmates and save the taxpayers billions of dollars per year. The United States spends an estimated $68 billion per year on prisoners with a third of that number have been incarcerated for non-violent drug crimes including a sixth of those numbers as marijuana drug related offenses. A reduction in the prison population due to decriminalizing marijuana could save an
TaxPayers' Alliance political research. Revelations by "The Guardian" newspaper in 2009 resulted in the UK's Charity Commission opening a regulatory compliance case into the Trust. It was reported in December of the same year that the alliance requested certain of its donors — identified as "private businessman" located in the English Midlands - to channel funds through the trust for research into policies which might potentially damage their commercial interests. This move allegedly allowed the Alliance to receive tax relief on the donations; tax accountants have stated that the move potentially breached charity law, as UK commission guidelines state that organisations may