Federal Drug War Spending vs Initiation of Use Rates

To achieve the goal of reducing drug use, the President set out an ambitious, balanced strategy that focuses on three primary elements: stopping drug use before it starts, healing drug users, and disrupting the market for illicit drugs. -- Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2006 National Drug Control Strategy, p.5

Sources: ONDCP National Drug Control Strategy
National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Total Federal Drug War Budget versus New Use of Marijuana Cocaine and Heroin
Year	Original Budget (billions)	Adjusted Budget (billions)	New Marijuana Users	New Cocaine Users	New Heroin Users
1981	1.5	--	2,438,000	1,546,000	90,000
1982	1.7	--	2,323,000	1,518,000	55,000
1983	2.0	--	2,351,000	1,557,000	66,000
1984	2.4	--	2,113,000	1,419,000	89,000
1985	2.8	--	2,165,000	1,441,000	37,000
1986	2.9	--	2,062,000	1,315,000	67,000
1987	4.8	--	1,823,000	1,162,000	82,000
1988	4.7	--	1,702,000	1,084,000	94,000
1989	6.7	--	1,647,000	968,000	82,000
1990	9.8	--	1,482,000	843,000	50,000
1991	10.9	--	1,694,000	687,000	63,000
1992	11.9	--	1,920,000	747,000	109,000
1993	12.2	--	2,154,000	634,000	59,000
1994	12.2	--	2,420,000	655,000	79,000
1995	13.3	7.0	2,635,000	744,000	111,000
1996	13.4	6.8	2,483,000	825,000	140,000
1997	15.2	8.1	2,603,000	861,000	114,000
1998	15.8	8.2	2,498,000	868,000	140,000
1999	17.7	9.8	2,640,000	917,000	121,000
2000	18.5	10.7	2,746,000	1,002,000	114,000
2001	18.1	10.4	2,793,000	1,140,000	154,000
2002	18.8	11.5	2,686,000	1,073,000	147,000
2003	--	11.4	2,463,000	1,094,000	96,000
Grand Totals:			51,841,000	24,100,000	2,159,000

Note: The ONDCP changed their accounting practices in determining the levels of total federal drug war spending. The Drug Policy Alliance wrote a critique of the new calculation methods here.

Latest complete use rates data: NSDUH (12 and older) or MTF (HS, College, Young Adult)

Spending versus Lifetime Use	Spending versus Past Year Use	Spending versus Past Month Use