Compiled by Drug Policy Alliance. Aug 1 & 15, 2000.
By the Government's Own Standards, the Drug War Has Failed . . .
Availability
Despite the Drug War, Illicit Drugs are Readily Available.
12th Graders Reporting Drugs were "Very Easy" or Fairly Easy" to Get in 1999.(1)
| Marijuana: 88.9% |
Cocaine: 47.6% |
Heroin: 32.1% |
Price/Purity
Illicit Drugs Are CHEAPER and PURER Than They Were Two Decades Ago.(2)
| Year |
1981 |
1998 |
| Cocaine |
Cost: $191.35/gram
Purity: 59.59%
|
Cost: $44.30/gram
Purity: 65.92% |
| Heroin |
Cost: $1,194.05/gram
Purity: 19.1% |
Cost: $317.97/gram
Purity: 51.33% |
Treatment
57% of Americans in Need of Drug Treatment Do Not Receive it.(3)
. . . And the Cost to Society Continues to Rise
The Federal Drug War Budget has Dramatically Increased in the Past Two Decades.(4)
| Year |
1980 |
2000 |
| Cost |
$1 Billion |
$18.5 Billion |
| Approximately Two-Thirds of the Rapidly Rising Federal Drug War Budget is Spent on Criminal Justice and Interdiction Efforts. Additionally, State and Local Governments Spend More than $16 Billion Annually on the Drug War.(5) |
Nearly 500,000 Americans are Behind Bars for Drug Law Violations, a Ten-Fold Increase in Two Decases. The Overall Inmate Population has Quadrupled to Nearly 2 Million.
| Year |
1980 |
2000 |
| Number |
501,900 (6) |
1,948,600 (7) |
| % Drug Law Violators |
8% (8) |
24% (9) |
Arrests for Drug Law Violations Continue to Rise.(10) The Vast Majority of These Arrests are for Simple Possession.(11)
| Year |
1982 |
1998 |
| Total |
676,000 |
1,559,100 |
| Possession |
80% (540,800) |
79% (1,228,600) |
More Than One-Third of All AIDS Cases are Linked to Injection Drug Use. Among Women This Number is 60% and Among Children 54%.(12) Yet the Federal Government and Many State Governments Refuse to Fund Clean Needle Exchange Programs.
Notes:
- Monitoring the Future 1999, Drug Abuse Warning Network, 1999.
- Drug Data Summary, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Page 4, April 1999.
- National Drug Control Strategy: 2000 Annual Report, Page 140, Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2000.
- Federal Strategy for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking 1982, Page 73, Drug Abuse Policy Office, 1982 and National Drug Control Strategy FY 2001 Budget Summary, Page 2, Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2000.
- State and Local Spending on Drug Control Activities, Page 3, Office of National Drug Control Policy, October 1993; the most recent available government figures are from 1991 where state and local governments spent over $15.9 billion on drug control activities, a 13% increase over the previous year.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998, Page 462, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999.
- National inmate population of two million projected for 2001 based on government data, The Sentencing Project, 2000.
- Prisoners in 1994, Pages 10-11, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999; 24% constitutes the percentage of drug offenders in 1997, this figure for 2000 has yet to be calculated.
- Crime in The United States, Uniform Crime Reports, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999.
- Crime in The United States, Uniform Crime Reports, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999.
- HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 1999, Centers for Disease Control, Page 14, 1999.
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