Money and Drugs

1. The current decade has logged the heaviest drug use per person per year in the history of the United States. 23.9 million Americans aged 12 or older – 9.2% of the entire population – were “current users” of an illicit drug in 2012, the latest data available from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows. 

That’s up from 7.1% in 2001, and more than double the rate of 1969’s 4% (according to a 1969 Gallup poll). 

2. The most “Typical” drug user is apparently an 18-25 year old male living in the urban South, based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The South is the biggest drug consuming region in the country by sheer numbers with 7.5 million current users, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. But New England and the Pacific West had the highest rates of usage at 11.4% and 12.3% of the total population. 

Males are almost twice as likely to use as females (11.2% versus 6.8%), though the numbers are rising among both genders. And finally, drug usage among ethnic backgrounds vary widely: 9.1% of whites report being current users, compared to 10.7% of blacks, 3.5% of Asians, and 12.1% of American Indians.

3. According to the CDC, median prices for 0.1-10 grams of the 5 most common drugs are as follows: Powder cocaine – $150; Crack cocaine – $180; Heroin – $650; Meth – $280; Marijuana – $14. Marijuana is actually the only drug that has increased in price (in current dollars) compared to its cost in the 1980s. The CDC’s drug price data shows that, in 2007 dollars, powder cocaine costs have dropped by -87.2% crack cocaine by -66.5%, Heroin by 93.2%, and Meth by -43.1%. Marijuana has doubled from $6.57 in 1981 to about $14 today.

4. While the drug market might generate large amounts of cash for suppliers, its cost to the state is astronomical. Of the roughly 1.6 million people in prison in 2012, some 330,000 were doing time for drug offenses, and at an average cost of about $25,000 per inmate. All together that’s a whopping $8.2 billion.

5. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that illicit drug use costs the U.S. $11 billion in healthcare every year, and $193 billion when accounting for crime costs and lost work productivity. Those abusing prescription narcotics and rotating multiple doctors for scripts are estimated to cost insurers $10,000-$15,000 every year.