How much does the war on drugs cost?

[John Marston]

Enforcing the war on drugs costs the US more than $51 billion each year, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. As of 2012, the US had spent $1 trillion on anti-drug efforts.
The spending estimates don't account for the loss of potential taxes on currently illegal substances. According to a 2010 paper from the libertarian Cato Institute, taxing and regulating illicit drugs similarly to tobacco and alcohol could raise $46.7 billion in tax revenue each year.

These annual costs — the spending, the lost potential taxes — add up to nearly 2 percent of state and federal budgets, which totaled an estimated $6.1 trillion in 2013. That's not a huge amount of money, but it's enforcing policies that have proven to not be very cost-effective as drug use and trafficking continue to be problems around the world.

Government Spending in United States Federal State Local for 2015 - Charts Tables History
http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics[URL]http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf[/URL]

 

[washamericom]

it's a great topic, should be in politics. separating weed from drugs and alcohol is a great start, on so many levels.

 

[waltky]

Mexican Gangs: 'Greatest Criminal Drug Threat to the United States'...

DEA: Mexican Gangs 'Remain Greatest Criminal Drug Threat to the United States'
November 5, 2015 - "Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group can challenge them in the near term," says the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment released on Wednesday by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks," the report says. The Mexican TCOs serve primarily as wholesale suppliers, and they work with thousands of local, U.S.-based gangs to distribute the drugs at the retail level. The Mexican TCOs serve primarily as wholesale suppliers, and they work with thousands of local, U.S.-based gangs to distribute the drugs at the retail level.

This Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015 photo released by Mexico's Federal Police shows an underground tunnel that police say was built to smuggle drugs from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego in the United States. Mexican federal police said the tunnel extends about 2,600 feet (800 meters) and is lit, ventilated, equipped with a rail car system, and lined with metal beams to prevent collapse.​

And these Mexican criminal enterprises may be coming to a neighborhood near you: "Law enforcement reporting indicates some Mexican trafficking organizations within the United States are relocating from major metropolitan areas to establish bases of operation in suburban or rural areas," the DEA said. "Traffickers are relocating because they feel they can better conceal their operations in an area where law enforcement does not expect to find large trafficking organizations operating or are not accustomed to dealing with such organizations." The report mentions Dallas, San Francisco, eastern Washington State, western Colorado, and parts of North Carolina as places where Mexican traffickers have relocated.

'Family and friends'

The 2015 threat assessment -- based on the most recent 2013 data -- says Mexican TCOs depend on "extended family and friends," including those in the U.S., to build their networks: "Families affiliated with various Mexican TCOs in Mexico vouch for US-based relatives or friends that are deemed trustworthy enough to help run various aspects of the drug trafficking operations in the United States. Actual members of Mexican TCOs are usually sent to important US hub cities to manage stash houses containing drug shipments and bulk cash drug proceeds."

Other findings:

See also:

46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns
November 5, 2015 - "Drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, ahead of motor vehicle deaths and firearms (deaths)," the Drug Enforcement Agency announced on Wednesday.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, 46,471 people in the United States died from drug overdoses, and more than half of those deaths were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin. That compares with the 35,369 who died in motor vehicle crashes and 33,636 who died from firearms, as tallied by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Sadly this report confirms what we’ve known for some time: drug abuse is ending too many lives while destroying families and communities,” Acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said as he released the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment. “We must stop drug abuse before it begins by teaching young people at an even earlier age about its many dangers and horrors."

More than half of the 46,471 drug-related deaths in 2013 were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin, the DEA says.​

Rosenberg spoke one day after Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana use. But 23 other states and Washington, D.C., allow the use of marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational purposes. The DEA ranks controlled prescription drugs and heroin as the most significant drug threats to the United States. It also views marijuana concentrates, with potency levels far exceeding those of leaf marijuana, as an "issue of growing concern."

Meanwhile, the issue of drug abuse is making its way into the presidential campaign, as some of the candidates talk about their personal experience with addictions and even deaths. "My husband, Frank, and I buried a child to drug addiction," Carly Fiorina said at one of the Republican debates. Jeb Bush's daughter was arrested on drug-related charges in 2002, and she has spent time in rehab. He has discussed this at some of his campaign stops. And a video of Chris Christie talking about his good friend who became addicted to painkillers -- and died -- has now gone viral. The National Drug Threat Assessment also discusses the traffickers, concluding that "Mexican gangs remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States."

MORE

 

[Wyatt earp]

How many lives did it save?

I thought liberals were all about saving lives, Ya do know lives are saved by throwing people in jail sometimes.

 

[P F Tinmore]

And that does not include the cost of the destroyed lives in our society due to the drug war.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Enforcing the war on drugs costs the US more than $51 billion each year, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. As of 2012, the US had spent $1 trillion on anti-drug efforts.
The spending estimates don't account for the loss of potential taxes on currently illegal substances. According to a 2010 paper from the libertarian Cato Institute, taxing and regulating illicit drugs similarly to tobacco and alcohol could raise $46.7 billion in tax revenue each year.

These annual costs — the spending, the lost potential taxes — add up to nearly 2 percent of state and federal budgets, which totaled an estimated $6.1 trillion in 2013. That's not a huge amount of money, but it's enforcing policies that have proven to not be very cost-effective as drug use and trafficking continue to be problems around the world.

Government Spending in United States Federal State Local for 2015 - Charts Tables History
http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics[URL]http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf[/URL]

Whole lot less than those tasked with fighting it earn for doing so. It's a job program.

 

[shadow355]

Enforcing the war on drugs costs the US more than $51 billion each year, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. As of 2012, the US had spent $1 trillion on anti-drug efforts.
The spending estimates don't account for the loss of potential taxes on currently illegal substances. According to a 2010 paper from the libertarian Cato Institute, taxing and regulating illicit drugs similarly to tobacco and alcohol could raise $46.7 billion in tax revenue each year.

These annual costs — the spending, the lost potential taxes — add up to nearly 2 percent of state and federal budgets, which totaled an estimated $6.1 trillion in 2013. That's not a huge amount of money, but it's enforcing policies that have proven to not be very cost-effective as drug use and trafficking continue to be problems around the world.

Government Spending in United States Federal State Local for 2015 - Charts Tables History
Drug War Statistics | Marijuana Statistics | Mexico Drug War Deaths | Drug Policy Alliancehttp://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf

Give all Federal Law Enforcement Agencies more man power and pay raises.

The war on Drugs needs to continue.

Shadow 355

 

[Moonglow]

How many lives did it save?

I thought liberals were all about saving lives, Ya do know lives are saved by throwing people in jail sometimes.

Why save them, go ahead and spend...