186116_674704860_4694386_n_small
Reputation: 3

How much does the war on drugs really cost?

I am wondering how to find out how much is spent by the United States annually on the war on drugs for all costs in this country and throughout the world (not the dollars the other countries are spending, but any dollars we are giving them to assist them in their war on drugs or money we spend in other countries to provide personnel or services for the war on drugs). This would include, but not be limited to, the costs expended by the DOJ, DEA, DOD, CIA, FBI, ONDCP, ATF, regional and local drug task forces, border patrol, state and local police. It also should include the cost of getting all of the arrested people through the criminal justice system, and finally the cost of incarcerating all the people that wind up being incarcerated (and the cost of moving them from prison to prison like they are doing with Marc Emery). Also please include any other costs that you are aware of that I have not mentioned. If you have any information about the probably unknowable sum that is being spent in the war on drugs that is the money recovered from asset forfeiture that is then being used to fund additional war on drug activity, that would be good to know as well. I am trying to get an idea of the total amount we spend on this so I can compare it to the total cost of other things that we "can't afford to pay for as a country". If this is too much information for you to produce, perhaps you can just give me a few ideas as to where I might look this information up. Thank you!

Asker's Favorite

  • Cdc_logo_color_smaller_border
    Reputation: 39

    See the Drug War Clock from DrugSense. The short answer: approximately $40 billion -- $40,000,000,000 -- or $500 per second.

    In addition to these wasted tax dollars, the effects of the drug war in America this year will include approximately:

    * 1.6 million arrests for drug law violations -- around 13% of all arrests in the country. That's one arrest every 19 seconds.

    * More than 850,000 arrests for cannabis law violations, and 89% of those charged will be for possession only. That's one arrest every 30 seconds.

    * Approximately 25% of America's 2+ million prisoners -- which is more than any industrialized nation ever, in total or per capita -- are sentenced for drug law violations.

    * In some cases, an almost incalculable cost of our drug war is death by murder, as was the case in our state's first medical cannabis murder, which is still being ignored by Pierce County police, who had a history of harassing the murdered patient.

    Share this answer with a friend:

1 Other Answer

  • Sb_5516_press_conference_small
    Reputation: 68

    We put up a blog post last May that builds off an excellent AP piece analyzing what the War on Drugs has cost the U.S. since it was launched forty years ago, and how the Office of National Drug Control Policy has doctored its books (including a link to the FY2010 budget) to downplay the disparity between the federal dollars spent on failed law enforcement strategies versus the dollars spent on treatment and prevention.

    Share this answer with a friend: