Cost of the War on Drugs
$s Billions
Year `89 `90 `91 `92 `93 `94
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1 Stolen 148 154 160 168 176 184
2 Incarceration 73 80 88 96 104 112
3 Lost taxes 41 43 45 47 49 51
4 Construction 20 21 23 25 25 25
5 Federal War 7 10 12 13 20 25
6 Extra Welfare 13 14 15 16 17 18
7 Harrassment 10 11 12 13 14 15
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Totals 312 333 355 378 405 430
Reagan's 8 years: $1.860 Trillion Bush's 4 years: $1.378 Trillion
Notes
- Value of goods stolen. These goods are later replaced
at additional cost by owner or insurance.
- Total for additional police, judges, courtrooms, prosecutors,
court costs, maintenance of jails, guards, probation personnel,
and the entire police, justice and prison system required
to deal with the WoD.
- Income taxes associated with perpetrators' lost wages.
- Construction of new jail and other facilities to deal with
burgeoning case load.
- Federal WoD consists of arming and paying interdiction
forces along with international efforts to stem flow of drugs.
- Extra welfare needed to support families of drug offenders
while they are in prison.
Developed from information supplied by "Save Our Liberties" of Sunnyvale CA
(415) 964-3655. 1994 figures are projections.
Ohter costs:
Cost of lives lost to drug associated crime, plus productivity and taxes
associated with those lives.
Does "lost taxes" include lost sales taxes from supposed
legal prices of drugs?
End