Drug Trafficking - Substantial World And U.s. Trade

The United Nations, in its Economic and Social Consequences of Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking (New York: International Drug Programme, 1998), estimated the total revenue of the world drug trade at about $400 billion.

TABLE 6.1
Federal trafficking penalties*
SOURCE: "Federal Trafficking Penalties," U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm (accessed February 15, 2005)

Drug/schedule	Quantity	Penalties	Quantity	Penalties
Cocaine (schedule II) Cocaine base (schedule II) Fentanyl (schedule II) Fentanyl Analogue (schedule I) Heroin (schedule I)	500-4999 gms 5-49 gms mixture 40-399 gms mixture 10-99 gms mixture 100-999 gms mixture	First offense: Not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 or more than life. Fine of not more than $2 million if an individual, $5 million if not an individual	5 kgs or more 50 gms or more mixture 400 gms or more mixture 100 gms or more mixture 1kg or more mixture	First offense: Not less than 10 years, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 or more than life. Fine of not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual.
LSD (schedule I) Methamphetamine (schedule II) PCP (schedule II)	1-9 gms mixture 5-49 gms pure or 50-499 gms mixture 10-99 gms pure or 100-999 gms mixture	Second offense: Not less than 10 years, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, life imprisonment. Fine of not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual	10 gms or more mixture 50 gms or more pure or 500 gms or more mixture 100 gms or more pure or 1 kg or more mixture	Second offense: Not less than 20 years, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, life imprisonment. Fine of not more than $8 million if an individual, $20 million if not an individual.
				Two or more prior offenses: Life imprisonment.
Other schedule I & II drugs	Any amount	First offense: Not more than 20 years. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, or more than life. Fine $1 million if an individual, $5 million if not an individual.
Flunitrazepam (schedule IV)	1 gm or more	Second offense: Not more than 30 years. If death or serious injury, not less than life. Fine $2 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual.
Other schedule III drugs	Any amount	First offense: Not more than 5 years. Fine not more than $250,000 if an individual, $1 million if not an individual.
Flunitrazepam (schedule IV)	30 to 999 mgs	Second offense: Not more than 10 years. Fine not more than $500,000 if an individual, $2 million if not an individual.
All other schedule IV drugs	Any amount	First offense: Not more than 3 years. Fine not more than $250,000 if an individual, $1 million if not an individual.
Flunitrazepam (schedule IV)	Less than 30 mgs	Second offense: Not more than 6 years. Fine not more than $500,000 if an individual, $2 million if not an individual.
All other schedule V drugs	Any amount	First offense: Not more than 1 year. Fine not more than $100,000 if an individual, $250,000 if not an individual.
		Second offense: Not more than 2 years. Fine not more than $200,000 if an individual, $500,000 if not an individual.
*Does not include marijuana, hashish, or hash oil.

TABLE 6.2
Federal drug trafficking penalties—marijuana
SOURCE: "Federal Trafficking Penalties—Marijuana," U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm (accessed February 15, 2005)

Description	Quantity	1st offense	2nd offense
Marijuana	1,000 kg or more mixture; or 1,000 or more plants	Not less than 10 years, not more than life If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life Fine not more than $4 million individual, $10 million other than individual	Not less than 20 years, not more than life If death or serious injury, mandatory life Fine not more than $8 million individual, $20 million other than individual
Marijuana	100 kg to 999 kg mixture; or 100-999 plants	Not less than 5 years, not more than 40 years If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life Fine not more than $2 million individual, $5 million other than individual	Not less than 10 years, not more than life If death or serious injury, mandatory life Fine not more than $4 million individual, $10 million other than individual
Marijuana	More than 10 kgs hashish; 50-99 plants More than 1 kg of hashish oil; 50-99 plants	Not more than 20 years If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life Fine $1 million individual, $5 million other than individual	Not more than 30 years If death or serious injury, mandatory life Fine $2 million individual, $10 million other than individual
Marijuana Hashish Hashish oil	1-49 plants; less than 50 kg mixture 10 kg or less 10 kg or less 1 kg or less	Not more than 5 years Fine not more than $250,000, $1 million other than individual	Not more than 10 years Fine $500,000 individual, $2 million other than individual
Note: Marijuana is a schedule I controlled substance.

The World Drug Report 2004 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2005, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html) estimates that 185 million people—4.7% of the world's population ages fifteen to sixty-four—were users of illicit drugs during the period from 2001 to 2003. The survey concluded that about nine million used heroin; thirteen million used cocaine; 146 million used cannabis; and thirty million used amphetamine-type stimulants.

TABLE 6.3
Total expenditures on illicit drugs, 1988–2000
[In billions]
SOURCE: "Table 41. Total U.S. Expenditures on Illicit Drugs, 1988-2000," in National Drug Control Strategy: Data Supplement, The White House, March 2004, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs04/data_suppl_2004.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005)

Year	Cocaine	Heroin	Marijuana	Meth-amphetamine	Other drugs	Total
1988	107.0	26.1	12.1	5.8	3.3	154
1989	88.4	24.3	11.0	5.8	2.8	132
1990	69.9	22.5	15.0	5.7	2.2	115
1991	57.1	20.3	14.0	3.7	2.3	97
1992	49.9	17.2	14.6	4.8	1.5	88
1993	45.0	13.8	12.0	5.1	1.5	77
1994	42.8	13.2	12.2	7.6	2.6	78
1995	40.0	13.2	10.2	9.2	2.7	75
1996	39.2	12.8	9.5	10.1	2.7	74
1997	34.7	11.4	10.5	9.3	2.5	68
1998	34.9	11.1	10.8	8.0	2.3	67
1999	35.6	10.1	10.6	5.8	2.6	65
2000*	35.3	10.0	10.5	5.4	2.4	64
Note: Amounts are in constant 2000 dollars.

According to the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the U.S. share of drug expenditures in 2000 was $64 billion. (See Table 6.3.) In 1998, by way of comparison, states spent about half that sum and the federal government one-fourth on various programs and efforts to control drugs.