Facts

Every year million of dollars in illegal drugs enter the United States. Although the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been fighting a “War on Drugs” for years, drug use and related crimes still remain high - as do their costs to society as a whole. From the lawmaker's perspective, the big question is how best to combat drugs: by cutting off demand through education and treatment or by cutting off the supply through going after drug makers and dealers?

Who's doing what?

Drug use varies – depending on your sex and racial/ethic group - but probably the biggest determinant of whether you're doing drugs or not is your age.

% of Americans who have used illegal drugs:

• In their life: 41.7% (2001) WH;

• In the past month: 8.2% (2003) SAMHSA

Age

% that did illegal drugs in last 30 days - by age (2003)

source: SAMHSA

Sex

• Percentage of Users in Past Month by Sex (2003) SAMHSA

  • Men: 10%

  • Women: 6.5%

Race/Ethnicity

% that did illegal drugs in past 30 days - by race/ethnicity

source: SAMHSA

Drugs of choice

• Percent of Americans illegally using – in the past month (2003) (SAMHSA):

  • Marijuana: 6.2%

  • Psychotherapeutics*: 2.7%

  • Cocaine: 1%

  • Hallucinogens: 0.4%

  • Inhalants: 0.2%

*illegal use of prescription pain killers and psychiatric drugs

• Meth madness. Despite the hype about methamphetamines, usage is not skyrocketing. Percent of Americans using meth - in the past month (SAMHSA)

  • 2004: 0.2%

  • 2003: 0.3%

  • 2002: 0.3%

How much and how bad…

Costs

Drugs cost – and not just their street price. The costs to society of illegal drug use are spread between health care expenses, work loss, and property damage, among others.

• Estimate of costs of illegal drug use (WH):

  • $181 billion total, including:

    • health care: $16 billion (prevention, treatment, medical consequences)

    • productivity losses: $129 billion (premature death, prison, drug careers)

    • "other" costs: $36 billion (law enforcement and courts)

Crime

• Drug crimes as percentage of all crimes:

  • 33.9% of all state felony convictions are for possession or selling drugs (1998) (WH).

• Percent of all prisoners who were using drugs at time of their arrest (WH):

  • State prisons: 33% (1997);

  • Federal prisons: 22% (1997);

  • Jails: 36% (1996) (includes convicted and non convicted inmates).

Dealing

War on Drugs

• Amount spent on war on drugs (2002) (WH):

  • Total: $11.5 billion;

  • Prevention: $2.1 billion;

  • Treatment: $3.1 billion;

  • Law enforcement: $6.3 billion.

• DEA arrests

federal DEA arrests made a year

source: DEA

how much the DEA seized - in 2002

source: DEA

Treatment (WH)

• Average cost of treatment: $3,145 (1995, in '98 dollars)

• Cost of one year of imprisonment:

  • In federal prison: $23,900 (1997, in '98 dollars);

  • In state prison: $20,261 (1998);

  • In jail: $19,903 (1998).

• Costs saved by treatment/per person: $9,814 (1995, in '98 dollars).

• Number of inmates who are rearrested within six months of release from prison:

  • who received treatment: 3.3%;

  • who did not receive treatment: 12.1%.

Where the facts are from

• DEA - Drug Enforcement Administration

• SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

• White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy

Other useful sources

• Monitoring the Future - for stats on teen drug use

• One reader suggests that many of the stats above are flawed since they rely on people in surveys openly admitting they've taken drugs. That reader suggests the following sites for an expanded understanding of the facts: Drug War Facts, CSDP, and Drug Policy Alliance.

Updated January, 2007

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