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
National Asset Management Agency with Lenihan recognising that it would be difficult to raise funds on the stock market. On 10 October 2009, the "Irish Times" reported that Bank of Ireland and AIB could need to raise a combined €9bn as a result of write-downs associated with the transfer of assets to NAMA. The article quotes a Merrion Capital report that estimates that AIB and BoI's equity Tier 1 Capital ratios would fall to 3.3% and 3.5% in 2010/11. In the "Draft NAMA Business Plan" published on 13 October 2009, it stated that: "After the transfer of their L&D and associated loans to NAMA,