One thing many people do not realize is how much of our money is spent when drugs are illegal. On his website, Dr. Babula claims that the United States spends approximately $600 per second on the war on drugs. Not only that, but it cost a total of $15.2 billion to lock up all of the nonviolent state and federal prisoners in 1998. That cost taxpayers a total of $24 billion to incarcerate the nonviolent prisoners. These numbers do not include the hidden costs like construction, operation of the prisons, and debt services on prison bonds which drive the cost it takes to incarcerate a prisoner from $20,224 to around $40,000. (America’s One Million Nonviolent Prisoners) If the jailing of all of these prisoners actually stopped people from doing drugs than all the money might be worth it, however the drug problem still exists. The nation also spends even more on the anti-drug campaigns. John Walters, the head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the governments anti-drug campaign failed in producing results, and has even encouraged more teenagers to try marijuana, costing taxpayers $929 million by 2002. (http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2002/walters-says-anti-drug-ad-a.html) All of our money is going towards a weak attempt to stop a strong epidemic.
Despite all of the money that the nation is spending on the war on drugs, it is also missing out on gaining money. Governments would gain a lot of money if they were able to tax the drug trade because it is such a huge business. “According to researchers John Gettman and Paul Armentano, "Marijuana ranked fourth out of all United States cash crops in 1997, amassing a greater value to farmers than tobacco, wheat, or cotton. In several states--Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia--marijuana stands as the largest revenue producing crop. Marijuana ranks as one of the top five cash crops in 29 others. Nationally, marijuana growers reaped an estimated $15.1 billion on the wholesale market. Only corn, soybeans, and hay rank as more profitable cash crops." (Drug Economies of the Americas) Drugs have become a large part of our economy, and we could use it to improve our economy.
The reason why this change has not taken place is because people think that the consequences are worse then the gains. Dr. Babula explains that drugs are an inelastic product, and therefore an increase in usage will not occur because a change in price is not relevant to users. Donna Edwards and Albert Wynn, who are also running for congress, have failed to mention their stand on the war on drugs in relation to the economy.
Works Cited
Irwin et al. (2000). America's one million nonviolent prisoners. Social Justice. 27(2), 135-47.
Drug economies of the Americas. (2002). NACLA Report on the Americas. 36(2).
Join Together. Walters Says Anti-Drug Ad Campaign a Failure. May 15, 2002. January 19, 2008. <>
Michael Babula for Congress. Crime Rates and Legalization of Drugs. January 19, 2008.
9 comments:
Although it may be true that drugs may be harmful to our economy, I think the legalization of all drugs, in the end, would be even more harmful to our nation as a whole. I do agree with the legalization of some recreational drugs, which I also think we could benefit economically from; however, the harm that many harmful drugs cause, especially if easily attainable, would negatively effect our people as a society.
The U.S. Government's attitude and approach to drug control has proved ineffective so far. There would certainly be benefits of taxing marijuana other than the obvious financial gain, it would alleviate violence and crime to an extent. But, this does not necessarily translate into a healthier economy overall.
i think the government spends too much money trying to prosecute criminals. theyre wasting the government and tax payers money. instead they should just legalize and tax marijuana and make a profit off of it.
I'm going to have to agree with what has been said. Although there are plenty of monetary gains that we are "missing out on", the intangible costs are way higher. The statement about the inelasticity could not be more correct though, people will pay any price if they have to, and if the US were to somehow take hold of drug trafficking and skim profits, the sky would be the limit.
I think it is ridiculous how much money we as taxpayers are spending to incarcerate the nonviolent prisoners and on the "war on drugs." For the amount of money we are paying, I do not believe we are seeing beneficial results in our society. The idea of making marijuana legal and helping our economy through taxes is only a good idea if our tax money actually goes to where it should be. Otherwise legalizing drugs make backfire and negatively effect our society.
I was unaware of how grave of an issue the war on drugs in America is. The statistics are absolutely shocking. It is very disturbing to think that that much of our tax dollars are going towards housing non-violent criminals. I would like to see more mention of this topic and have become increasingly interested in Dr. Babula and his mission.
The numbers in this article are surprising. I think it's safe to say that most people don't know how big the drug industry is. The tax dollars are being wasted. I think the legalization of recreational drugs (marijuana) would be beneficial to our economy. I agree with the authors point about jail space wasted on non-violent criminals. People often forget about the drug problem in the country if they are not surrounded by it..
It is no surprise we throw so much money at drugs yet there is still a problem. I for one agree that an economy can benefit from taxing "natural" drugs. Drugs such as opium, marijuana and cocaine are natural occurring plants that have grown without any human altercation and therefore should be allowed to co-exist in a society (at least in my opinion). However, one should keep in mind that such a debate is more about ethics than it is about the economy.
Although I believe that the legalization of certain drugs could work to the detriment of society, I was astounded by the amount of funds appropriated to the War on Drugs. While I do believe that money should be allocated for programs, such as DARE, aimed at educating potential users, I believe that money is being wasted in the attempt to wholly eradicate drug use. We should educate, not waste money.
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