Monetary Cost
$1,000,000,000,000. One trillion dollars. Ever since President Richard Nixon started the war on drugs in 1971, over one trillion dollars have been spent combating the war on drugs. That’s more than what the United States spent on World War I and the Vietnam War combined (in 2011 monetary figures)[1]. The amount spent on the war on drugs in the United States is equivalent to the amount spent by the United States government on the war on terrorism, post-9/11. If the United States is spending so much money on the war on drugs, why has it not been a prominent aspect of the 2012 presidential election?
In 2012, a total of about 40 billion dollars was spent on the war on drugs, approximately 15 billion by the federal government, and 25 billion by the state[2]. Out of the one trillion dollars spent on the war on drugs, over 450 billion dollars have been spent on incarceration alone. To put that number into perspective, the amount spent on incarceration alone is almost 6.5 times the annual Department of Education budget. The money spent on fighting the war on drugs can be better spent by reallocating the money to different federal departments that need it more, such as the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, or even put into the Department of Defense[7].
It is also estimated that the cost of drugs in ‘lost productivity’, in the sense that they are estimates of ‘what might have been’ had all drug users been completely sober average citizens, is over 94.5 billion dollars, in 2003’s monetary value. Out of the 94.5 billion dollar in loss productivity, 30.1 billion dollars is loss from productivity because individuals were incarcerated for drug offenses, these are the people who could have been out working and aiding the society but instead they are spending time in prison for their drug offense[6]. In addition to the cost of imprisonment, over 121 billion dollars have been spent on arresting 37 million nonviolent drug offenders, about 10 million for the possession of marijuana[6].
To learn more about the true cost of the war on drugs, visit The Real Cost of Prison Projects: Prisoners of the War on Drugs.
To get a sense on how much the United States is spending on the war on drugs this year, take a look at this clock created by DrugSense.
Societal Cost
When someone is convicted of a felony, there are certain privileges that are lost as a United States citizen. When looking at the growing number of prisoners in the country, the reports all come back the same; Black and Hispanic citizens are being jailed at a much greater level than White citizens. This could potentially be a modern day version of the United States’ efforts to suppress the minority vote. Since the inception of the United States, there has been efforts to allow only a certain portion of the population to vote. Whether it be a tax or a literacy test, we have a long history of voter suppression. So, as more and more minorities are being given felonies for non-violent drug offenses, less and less minorities are allowed to vote. Along with a loss of vote, citizens interested in attaining education from a higher learning institute are no longer able to receive federal aid. Not only can these citizens not vote, but they also have huge barriers to entry in gaining entry to a college.
Another cost of the war on drugs is the seizure of property for minor drug offenders in the United States. In a process called asset forfeiture, “the process by which property may be forfeited to the United States without judicial involvement”[3], minor drug offenders can potentially be forced to forfeit personal property. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1607, a convicted drug offender forfeits the following:
• any amount of currency;
• personal property valued at $500,000 or less, including cars, guns, and boats;
• hauling conveyances of unlimited value.
Another effect of the war on drugs is the toll it has taken on college students; over 200,000 college students have lost federal financial aid eligibility because of a drug conviction[4],[5]. This policy affects minorities and the lower income class who cannot afford to go to college normally, without federal financial aid.
Reference
[1]http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf
[2]http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock
[3]http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/files/Forfeiture-Facts-from-Drug-War-Facts.pdf
[4]http://www.iseek.org/iseek/static/FAFSA%20Drug%20Conviction%20Worksheet.pdf
[5]http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics
[6]http://thedea.org/itsresults.html
[7]http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Overview