Drug War Index

Number of Americans who say we’re losing the drug war: 3 in 41

Number of Americans over age 11 who have used illicit drugs in their lifetime: 2 in 52

Number of times the total of new drug users in 1998 is greater than the current population of the City of L.A.: 2 3

Amount of current federal budget dedicated to controlling drugs: $18.1 billion 4

Estimated amount Americans spent on retail purchase of illicit drugs in 2000: $62.9 billion 5

Percentage of Americans favoring decriminalization of marijuana: 466

Percentage of white evangelical Protestants opposing decriminalization of marijuana: 657

Year that President Reagan declared a “War on Drugs”: 1982

Percent increase of federal correctional-facility budget since 1982: +1,0788

Percentage of federal inmates doing time for drugs in 1982: 249

Percentage of federal inmates doing time for drugs in 1999: 5810

Percent growth of combined state and federal inmates doing time for drugs from 1982 through 1998: 20611

Ratio, in cocaine-use reduction, of money spent on treatment to that spent on domestic law enforcement: 1 to 7 12

Ratio, in cocaine-use reduction, of money spent on treatment to that spent on source-country control: 1 to 23 13

Number of Blackhawk helicopters the U.S. is sending to Colombia: 16

Percentage of budget increase of the Drug Enforcement Agency since 1982: +49214

Approximate ratio of total pounds of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and hashish seized by the DEA to pounds seized by U.S. Customs: 1 to 215

Ratio of DEA budget to U.S. Customs anti-drug budget: 2 to 116

Number of cars crossing from Mexico into the U.S. legally from October 1999 to October 2000: 89 million21

Typical amount of time a San Ysidro border agent spends on vehicle inspections: 30 to 90 seconds 22

Amount of cocaine traveling to the U.S. through Mexico in 1999: 277 metric tons23

Percent change in retail price of a gram of cocaine since 1982: -5724

Percent change in retail purity of a gram of cocaine since 1982: +7825

Current estimated purity: 80 to 85 percent 26

Year in which federally mandated minimum-sentence guidelines for crack cocaine were passed by Congress: 1986 27

Federally mandated minimum sentence for anyone caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine: 5 years28

Federally mandated minimum sentence for anyone caught with 5 grams of crack cocaine: 5 years 29

Ratio of punishment for crack cocaine to powder cocaine: 100 to 1

Percent change in number of federal drug prisoners from 1986 through 1999: +35030

Chance that a new federal prisoner during that time was sentenced for drugs: 2 in 331

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are white: 73

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are black: 9

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are Hispanic: 1532

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are white: 13 percent

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are black: 40 percent

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are Hispanic: 43 percent33

Percentage of all black males aged 25 to 29 incarcerated in 2000: 13.134

Percentage of all white males aged 25 to 29 incarcerated in 2000: 1.735

State in which most manufacture of LSD occurs: California36

Year that LSD was declared illegal in the U.S.: 1967

Ratio of number of people who tried hallucinogens in 1968 to 1998: 1 to 337

Year that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program was founded by the LAPD: 1983

Effect that DARE participation has on illicit drug and alcohol use by age 20: 0 38

Effect that DARE participation has on suburban high school student use of illicit drugs and alcohol: +3 to 5 percent39

Ratio of people who try marijuana for the first time to people who try cigarettes: 3 to 4 40

Chance that a college graduate has tried drugs: 1 in 241

Chance that a high school dropout has tried drugs: 1 in 3 42

Years of federal alcohol prohibition: 1920 to 1933

Percent increase of deaths from poisoned liquor from 1920 to 1925: +290 43

Percent increase of homicide rate from 1920 through 1933: +4344

Increase of per capita consumption of alcohol from 1921 through 1929: +550 percent 45

Year that Eli Lilly and Company began marketing Prozac® in the United States: 1987

Year in which Merck Pharmaceuticals first synthesized methylenedioxymethametaphine (Ecstasy): 191247

Effect of Prozac® on the brain: inhibits reuptake of serotonin by neural cells

Effect of Ecstasy on the brain: stimulates release of serotonin by neural cells

Country where Prozac® was first introduced: Belgium

Main centers for Ecstasy production: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg 48

Precursor chemicals necessary for production of methamphetamine (speed): ephedrine or pseudoephedrine 49

Active ingredient of Chlor-Trimeton Non-Drowsy Decongestant 4 Hour®, Dimetapp® decongestants, and Sudafed®: pseudoephedrine

Year until which speed was available without a prescription: 1951 50

Number of Ritalin® or generic methylaphenidate prescriptions written last year: 10.7 million

Number of Americans over age 11 who have used methamphetamines in their lifetime: 4.3 million51

Average time it takes for snorted speed to take effect: 20 minutes 52

Year that speed was first used in an over-the-counter nasal decongestant by Smith, Kline and French: 1932 53

Estimated number of Americans over age 11 who have used prescription medicines recreationally in their lifetime: 15.4 million 54

Estimated number of Americans over age 11 who are current cigarette smokers: 57 million 55

Average number of U.S. citizens who die every year due to tobacco use: 430,00056

Average number of deaths per year due to car crashes in the 1990s: 41,513 57

Average number of deaths per year due to drugs in the 1990s: 13,412 58

Percentage of pregnant American women who smoke cigarettes: 2059

Percentage of pregnant American women who use cocaine: 0.260

Medical cost that smoking cigarettes and cigars produces in direct (cost of smokers’ diseases) and indirect (secondhand smoke, prenatal care for low-birth-weight infants and smoking-related fires) expenses: $100 billion61

Medical cost (detoxification, rehabilitation and diseases caused by drug abuse) that drug abuse generates: $9.9 billion 62