U.S. Drug Addiction rate: 1970-2010

[RainDog]

compared to spending on the War on Drugs during this same time.



The rate of addiction stays relatively stable. Rates of addiction average about 1.3%.

Different drugs become fads and then fade as another takes its place. But addiction, overall, doesn't show much of a change, even with more than a trillion dollars spent to stop the sale of addictive substances that are not legal. Those that are legal, of course, are regulated and taxed.

This chart comes from documentary film maker Matt Groff. He compared the rate of addiction to illicit drugs from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pairing it with federal drug control budget spending numbers from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy.

The numbers on this chart alone don't add up to $1.5 trillion, which represents a more inclusive count of drug control spending, with prison costs and state level costs determined by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but instead to $800 billion. Groff included that $1.5 trillion because the chart appears in the documentary as a source discusses that more complete amount.

"Drug use and abuse exists on a spectrum and as a society we must accept that some portion of the population will be addicted to drugs even if we don’t like it," Groff says.

http://www.thewire.com/national/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/57913/

[handmade34]

1. K&R n/t

[RainDog]

2. Spending really took off when Reagan declared war

Before that, not so much.

I often wonder if the war on drugs was simply part of the ruse to fund paramilitary groups in Latin America against leftist elected officials.

Reagan lost that war, too.

[handmade34]

3. visuals really help

although this information should be a given by now

[bemildred]

4. That is what a complete waste of money looks like, no effect at all.

And those numbers are likely exaggerated.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. What some people won't do to stop adults from making their own choices!

[central scrutinizer]

6. scales are misleading

The population has increased a lot between 1970 to 2010 so the number of addicts has increased, not stayed level. Also, are the dollars adjusted for inflation?

[bettyellen]

7. has our population incresed tenfold since 1984? Five fold? Doubled?

[Maedhros]

9. Here you go:

U.S. Population July 1 1970: 205.05 Million

U.S. Population July 1 2013: 316.16 Million

% Increase 1970 - 2013: +54.19%

http://www.multpl.com/united-states-population/table

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. It's not misleading at all, in fact that percentage is the only thing that really matters

in discussing the perceived problem of addiction. The legal status of the substance doesn't effect the line, the amount of money wasted on the effort to enforce prohibition doesn't effect the line, and the severity of the punishment doesn't effect the line.

The hard fact is that a small percentage of people are going to become addicted to something for their own reasons and almost certainly a genetic predisposition.

So what's the purpose of ruining millions of lives and bankrupting the nation? It certainly isn't about the addicts...

[RainDog]

13. excellent post n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

17. Thank you very much. The depths that some will go to trying to justify this insane

power trip is, IMO, a much bigger cultural problem than drug abuse.

[RainDog]

15. did you check the official publications to see?

they're both included in links in the OP.

the point is the percentage of a population, not the number itself, if addiction rates are fairly stable over a long period of time.

[Logical]

16. Percent of population is the key! What is your point??? nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. K&R&That blue line can be extended all the way back to before any drug was outlawed,

and that percentage doesn't budge at all. The whole idea of prohibition has been forced on us by those who believe they know better, no matter how often or how badly wrong they are proven to be.
& R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. There is this major myth that ONE TIME USE makes you an addict.

[Politicub]

12. I would like to see an incarceration trend line overlay

I expect it will match the spending curve.

Sheer insanity. And big money.

[RainDog]

14. Since 1970, the incarceration rate has risen 700%

according to the ACLU

THE NUMBERS:
 With only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has 25% of the world’s prison population –
that makes us the world’s largest jailer.
 Since 1970, our prison population has risen 700%.
 One in 99 adults are living behind bars in the U.S. This marks the highest rate of
imprisonment in American history.
 One in 31 adults are under some form of correctional control, counting prison, jail, parole
and probation populations.

https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/massincarceration_problems.pdf

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. Go into the statistics on black men and be prepared to be seriously shocked.

Much more than even gays, I'm completely mystified that any black person at all would have anything to do with any authoritarian, regardless of purported party affiliation.

[RainDog]

20. Yeah. I'm familiar with them

And also note that the southern states, with the greatest numbers of African Americans as part of the population, have the most restrictive laws and the least move toward reform of possession laws or sentencing for possession.

In Louisiana, a man can spend life in prison for three arrests for a small amount of marijuana.

life in prison.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Lotta gravy on that train.

Yes, indeed.