Independence Day Special: This Is Your Country on Drugs

DRUG WAR INDEX

Number of Americans who say we're losing the drug war: 3 in 4 (1)

Number of Americans over age 11 who have used illicit drugs in their
lifetime: 2 in 5 (2)

Number of times the total of new drug users in 1998 is greater than the
current population of the City of L.A.: 2 (3)

Amount of current federal budget dedicated to controlling drugs: $18.1
billion (4)

Estimated amount Americans spent on retail purchase of illicit drugs in
2000: $62.9 billion (5)

Percentage of Americans favoring decriminalization of marijuana: 46 (6)

Percentage of white evangelical Protestants opposing decriminalization of
marijuana: 65 (7)

Year that President Reagan declared a "War on Drugs": 1982

Percent increase of federal correctional-facility budget since 1982: +1,078 (8)

Percentage of federal inmates doing time for drugs in 1982: 24 (9)

Percentage of federal inmates doing time for drugs in 1999: 58 (10)

Percent growth of combined state and federal inmates doing time for drugs
from 1982 through 1998: 206 (11)

Ratio, in cocaine-use reduction, of money spent on treatment to that spent
on domestic law enforcement: 1 to 7 (12)

Ratio, in cocaine-use reduction, of money spent on treatment to that spent
on source-country control: 1 to 23 (13)

Number of Blackhawk helicopters the U.S. is sending to Colombia: 16

Percentage of budget increase of the Drug Enforcement Agency since 1982:
+492 (14)

Approximate ratio of total pounds of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and hashish
seized by the DEA to pounds seized by U.S. Customs: 1 to 2 (15)

Ratio of DEA budget to U.S. Customs anti-drug budget: 2 to 1 (16)

Number of cars crossing from Mexico into the U.S. legally from October 1999
to October 2000: 89 million (21)

Typical amount of time a San Ysidro border agent spends on vehicle
inspections: 30 to 90 seconds (22)

Amount of cocaine traveling to the U.S. through Mexico in 1999: 277 metric
tons (23)

Percent change in retail price of a gram of cocaine since 1982: -57 (24)

Percent change in retail purity of a gram of cocaine since 1982: +78 (25)

Current estimated purity: 80 to 85 percent (26)

Year in which federally mandated minimum-sentence guidelines for crack
cocaine were passed by Congress: 1986 (27)

Federally mandated minimum sentence for anyone caught with 500 grams of
powder cocaine: 5 years (28)

Federally mandated minimum sentence for anyone caught with 5 grams of crack
cocaine: 5 years (29)

Ratio of punishment for crack cocaine to powder cocaine: 100 to 1

Percent change in number of federal drug prisoners from 1986 through 1999:
+350 (30)

Chance that a new federal prisoner during that time was sentenced for
drugs: 2 in 3 (31)

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are white: 73

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are black: 9

Percentage of cocaine users (within the past 12 months) who are Hispanic:
15 (32)

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are white: 13 percent

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are black: 40 percent

Total DEA arrestees for cocaine who are Hispanic: 43 percent (33)

Percentage of all black males aged 25 to 29 incarcerated in 2000: 13.1 (34)

Percentage of all white males aged 25 to 29 incarcerated in 2000: 1.7 (35)

State in which most manufacture of LSD occurs: California (36)

Year that LSD was declared illegal in the U.S.: 1967

Ratio of number of people who tried hallucinogens in 1968 to 1998: 1 to 3 (37)

Year that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program was founded by
the LAPD: 1983

Effect that DARE participation has on illicit drug and alcohol use by age
20: 0 (38)

Effect that DARE participation has on suburban high school student use of
illicit drugs and alcohol: +3 to 5 percent (39)

Ratio of people who try marijuana for the first time to people who try
cigarettes: 3 to 4 (40)

Chance that a college graduate has tried drugs: 1 in 2 (41)

Chance that a high school dropout has tried drugs: 1 in 3 (42)

Years of federal alcohol prohibition: 1920 to 1933

Percent increase of deaths from poisoned liquor from 1920 to 1925: +290 (43)

Percent increase of homicide rate from 1920 through 1933: +43 (44)

Increase of per capita consumption of alcohol from 1921 through 1929: +550
percent (45)

Year that Eli Lilly and Company began marketing Prozac(R) in the United
States: 1987

Year in which Merck Pharmaceuticals first synthesized
methylenedioxymethametaphine (Ecstasy): 1912 (47)

Effect of Prozac(R) on the brain: inhibits reuptake of serotonin by neural
cells

Effect of Ecstasy on the brain: stimulates release of serotonin by neural cells

Country where Prozac(R) was first introduced: Belgium

Main centers for Ecstasy production: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg (48)

Precursor chemicals necessary for production of methamphetamine (speed):
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine (49)

Active ingredient of Chlor-Trimeton Non-Drowsy Decongestant 4 Hour(R),
Dimetapp(R) decongestants, and Sudafed(R): pseudoephedrine

Year until which speed was available without a prescription: 1951 (50)

Number of Ritalin(R) or generic methylaphenidate prescriptions written last
year: 10.7 million

Number of Americans over age 11 who have used methamphetamines in their
lifetime: 4.3 million (51)

Average time it takes for snorted speed to take effect: 20 minutes (52)

Year that speed was first used in an over-the-counter nasal decongestant by
Smith, Kline and French: 1932 (53)

Estimated number of Americans over age 11 who have used prescription
medicines recreationally in their lifetime: 15.4 million (54)

Estimated number of Americans over age 11 who are current cigarette
smokers: 57 million (55)

Average number of U.S. citizens who die every year due to tobacco use:
430,000 (56)

Average number of deaths per year due to car crashes in the 1990s: 41,513 (57)

Average number of deaths per year due to drugs in the 1990s: 13,412 (58)

Percentage of pregnant American women who smoke cigarettes: 20 (59)

Percentage of pregnant American women who use cocaine: 0.2 (60)

Medical cost that smoking cigarettes and cigars produces in direct (cost of
smokers' diseases) and indirect (secondhand smoke, prenatal care for
low-birth-weight infants and smoking-related fires) expenses: $100 billion (61)

Medical cost (detoxification, rehabilitation and diseases caused by drug
abuse) that drug abuse generates: $9.9 billion (62)

Number of times the number of current U.S. drug users is greater than the
current population of Colorado: 3.5 (66)

Number of times the number of Americans who ever have used illicit drugs is
greater than the current population of California: 2.6 (67)

Year that Frederich the Great (1712­1786, Prussia) declared coffee illegal:
1777

Number of bags of coffee harvested in 2000: 112,901,000 (68)

For further details, see footnotes - http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1192/a01.html

Next Article: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1193/a09.html