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Illegal Drug Use Cost U.S. $193 Billion in 2007, Study Says

phr

phr

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Illegal drug use in the U.S. is estimated to have cost the economy more than $193 billion in 2007, according to a government study.

The study, released today by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, includes costs associated with crime, health and productivity.
The study says the cost of illegal drug use is comparable with diabetes, which a 2008 government study said cost more than $174 billion each year.

“This study shows the economic cost of illicit drug use is significant,” said Michael F. Walther, director of the drug intelligence center, in a statement. “This nation’s drug problem is on par with other health problems.”

Link!

Illegal Drug Use Cost U.S. $193 Billion in 2007, Study Says
Justin Blum
Bloomberg
5.26.11
 
Spread the word, somewone in congress is gunna gave to step up and say Legalize at least pot in usa
 
it's because they pay tens of thousands of dollars for everyone they court-order to rehab

tens of thousands of dollars so someone can read you bedtime stories while dropping dipsticks into your urine
 
235360287471352662 said:
it's because they pay tens of thousands of dollars for everyone they court-order to rehab

tens of thousands of dollars so someone can read you bedtime stories while dropping dipsticks into your urine
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I spoke before reading the study. The overwhelming majority of money is spent not on health care, but on enforcement and prosecution:

  • $56,373,254,000 on criminal justice system costs
  • $48,121,949,000 on incarceration costs
  • $49,237,777,000 on lost productivity from those made unemployable by incarceration

The audacity of government to justify its existence by exacerbating a problem of its own design!
 
^Yeah... I have nothing to add, this summarizes it perfectly...
 
kaywholed said:
How much of that can you save by making shit legal?
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Not to mention the money pumped back into the US economy through earnings for domdestic producing companies the salaries of employees who produce, etc. etc.

No, instead we'd rather give it all to cartels... :?
 
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severely etarded said:
No, instead we'd rather give it all to cartels... :?
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and to the police, whose unions have the politics of the United States in a stranglehold (at least at the local level). These are the uniformed thugs who forever preclude a scientific approach to drug policy.

(I am resisting the temptation to go on a rant about how "The children" are more powerful than "Jesus" because I am under the influence of an anabolic substance)
 
Gotta love it, ten times that amount could be brought INTO the economy if it wasnt for goverments perfering to ass rape the people they are suppose to be serving
 
I often hear more noise then answers coming from illegal drug users and drug laws. I agree the system right now is broke, but what do you guys have in mind?
 
smackem said:
I often hear more noise then answers coming from illegal drug users and drug laws. I agree the system right now is broke, but what do you guys have in mind?
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Legalize & regulate drugs with the FDA. Make it legal for drug companies to produce drugs that are currently illegal. Then the money gets put back into the economy by sales taxes, income taxes for the drug companies' profit revenue, payment for employees of newly added jobs. That's a dickload of money that ends up mostly abroad in the hands of bad people who make dirty drugs maximizing profits anyway possible, regardless of health risks imposed (levamisole-tainted cocaine, dirty X pills, dirty heroin, etc.)

Drugs should not be illegal. I could see age limits, like being 21 though. That's cool with me... Although violations would result in fines, not jailtime... Unless you are DWI, that is dangerous and should be a crime.

Drugs should be just like alcohol IMO. Which is also a drug :?
 
We can at least hope for further Decriminilazation. They dont need to give drug companies the right to make illegal drugs. They could simply stop prosecuting people and sending them to jail. Focus there time catching murders and child molesters.
 
This study is just one more instance proving that the "war on drugs" is completely irrational.

That is some serious money. When will the government fucking wake up?! That ~200 billion could go to strengthening homicide units and the like. Plus all the DEA agents could be utilized in those departments to actually catch real criminals.

Its like they think that society would all be doped up if drugs were legal and that crime rate would go up... but the fact is most people aren't junkies and wouldn't just become one because drugs were legalized... if people want to use drugs they can get them legal or not... and don't get me started on how alcohol is legal?! Don't get me wrong, I love alcohol but it is such a dangerous drug to sell at gas stations!!! It turns people into blacked out assholes who get in fights, kill people with their car, not remembering anything that happened, stumble and slurred speech and last but not least, it is physically addicting! Alcoholics are just as dysfunctional, if not more, than dope fiends.

All the drug cartels and gangs would disappear and thus the crime rate would go down... people wouldn't have to rob people to cop a shitty cut bag of dope that might have fentanyl in it and kill them... that robbery and OD could easily be avoided!! If legal, the overdose numbers would drop down soooo low because people would know exactly what dose they were taking.

The government actually has people believing that people on drugs would fuck up society. But the fact is that some people actually just chill with a buddy at home, smoking crack and playing video games... completely harmless.

Its not what drugs you take, but rather how you behave on those drugs. If somebody robs a store on crack, the problem is that they robbed a store and not that they were on crack.

The government should not regulate what we can and cannot put in our bodies!!! Next thing you know they will regulate what we can eat!!! Damnit this makes me so mad. The amount of money that could be made on taxing drugs should be reason enough to legalize them all.

'Nuff said.
 
Its pretty safe to say our current policies are illogical and a total failure. A lot of people around where I live believe there is some sort of biblical mandate to treat drugs and users the way they do. The generations of misinformation is the real culprit in my view, the public has been lied to and now their heads are full of bullshit.

As far as I can tell most people refuse to learn new things. There is this glut of blue collar bible thumpers who do not read or educate themselves in any way. Their political views do not change over time, and to call what goes through their heads "thoughts" is probably a misnomer.
 
hydrochron said:
We can at least hope for further Decriminilazation. They dont need to give drug companies the right to make illegal drugs. They could simply stop prosecuting people and sending them to jail. Focus there time catching murders and child molesters.
Click to expand...

If alcohol is legal, there's no reason other drugs cant be too. Fuck decriminalization.

What makes it obvious money is the sole objective reason for prohibition is that being high on drugs IS decriminalized, yet possession/conspiring/dealing isn't. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of "keeping people off drugs"? You don't necessarily have to be using to possess a chemical ...
 
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