1995 Drug Data Summary

The Drugs and Crime Clearinghouse of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (the "drug czar") issues an annual Drug Data Summary, a statistical summary of drug law enforcement and drug use. The data is collected from government agencies such as the DEA, FBI and Federal Bureau of Prisons.

From the June 1995 Drug Data Summary:

• Total number of drug law arrests: 1,066,400 in 1992; 1,126,300 in 1993.
• Drugs seized in fiscal year 1994 by all federal agencies: 2,824 pounds of heroin; 282,086 pounds of cocaine; 778,714 pounds of marijuana.
• Average incarceration sentence of federal drug offenders: 47 months in 1980; 82 months in 1992.
• Total federal spending on drug control programs: $1.5 billion in fiscal 1981; $13.3 billion in fiscal 1995.

To all those who believe we just need to "get tough" to prohibit drugs: despite increasing jail time by almost 100% and drug war spending by almost 1000% since 1980, the price of illegal drugs is still rising slower than inflation.