What America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs. Includes Executive Summary

摘要

The paper is part of an ongoing project to develop estimates of what Americans spend on illegal drugs each year. The report focuses on the amount and retail sales value of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and other illegal drugs consumed in 1988, 1989, and 1990. The authors use two approaches to estimate the amount of illicit drugs consumed and available for consumption in America. Starting with drug consumers, the authors multiply estimates of the number of drug users by estimates of the average amount of drugs consumed. Then they examine the supply of drugs available for consumption by estimating the amount of drugs that enters the United States and escapes seizure. Although these estimates are imprecise, they are reliable enough to imply that the trade in illicit substances is immense--roughly $40 billion to $50 billion. To put this amount into perspective, consider that Americans spend $44 billion on alcohol products and another $37 billion on tobacco products. Federal, State and local governments spend $46 billion on the criminal justice system and $183 billion on public elementary and secondary education. The social costs from drug consumption greatly exceed the $40 billion to $50 billion spent on illicit drugs. Drug use fosters crime, both property crime to support consumption and violent crime to support drug distribution networks, intensifies catastrophic health problems, and promotes general social disorganization as it disrupts or severs personal, familial, and legitimate economic relationships.