Pot Debate

THE FINANCIAL AND PERSONAL EXPENSE OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

The U.S. federal government spent more than $19 billion in 2003 on
the War on Drugs at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has
since been increased by more than $1 billion.

The federal and state governments spent at least another $30 billion
on the War on Drugs that year.

Arrests for drug law violations in 2009 are expected to exceed the
1,841,182 arrests of 2007. Law enforcement made more arrests for drug
abuse violations (an estimated 1.8 million arrests, or 13 percent of
the total number of arrests) than for any other offense in 2007.
Almost 200,000 people have been arrested already this year, nearly
90,000 of which were cannabis violations.

Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds.

Police arrested an estimated 872,720 people for cannabis violations
in 2007, the highest annual total ever recorded in the United States,
according to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Of those charged with cannabis violations, about
775,137, or 89 percent, were charged with possession only. An
American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.

Drug overdoses killed more than 33,000 people in 2005, the last year
for which firm data are available. Drug overdose is the
second-leading cause of accidental death, behind only motor vehicle
accidents (43,667) and ahead of firearms deaths (30,694). Sources:
Centers for Disease Control, Uniform Crime Reports - Federal Bureau
of Investigation, DrugSense.org, DrugWarFacts.org, Office of National
Drug Control Policy, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University