Cost of Republican-led U.S. drug war

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 * Share links: cost and costs. See also: Drug war charts and maps. And: cannabis arrests. And: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: U.S. Drug War. Republicans lead. Sheep follow. Everybody pays. And: Life for pot


 * People in prisons and jails in the USA for drug-related crime. And: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA.
 * Grandpa Doing Life Without Parole—for Pot. . Nazi Republican prosecutor. See: LifeForPot.com
 * Yes, We DO Give Life Sentences For Marijuana in the USA. By Cheri Sicard. June 16, 2014. Newt Gingrich wanted executions. Long mandatory minimum sentences are one factor in making the drug war so costly.

Some drug-war cost estimates
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 * Drug War Clock | DrugSense: "The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, ... State and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars." See sources there.


 * Are We Addicted To Drug War Money? Common Sense for Drug Policy. Additional costs of the drug war. "The $5.9 billion drug testing industry should be replaced with impairment testing. Discovering marijuana use a week ago is as irrelevant as finding beer drinking a week ago."

Cost of criminal justice system
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State prisons averaged $31,286 per inmate in 2010. It ranged from $14,603 in Kentucky to $60,076 in New York.

Federal prisons averaged $30,619.85 per inmate in 2014.

"Spending on law-enforcement by states and local governments hit  $212 billion in 2011 , including  judicial, police and corrections costs , according to the most recent estimates provided to the U.S. Census Bureau." - From Wall Street Journal article: As Arrest Records Rise, Americans Find Consequences Can Last a Lifetime. Aug. 18, 2014.

In 2007, around $74 billion was spent on corrections alone according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Justice Expenditures and Employment, FY 1982-2007 - Statistical Tables. See table 2 of the PDF. "Total justice expenditures, by justice function, FY 1982–2007 (real dollars)". See also to the right. $228 billion total in 2007. $50 billion for judicial and legal costs. $104 billion for police. $74 billion for corrections alone.

More charts and info from Wikipedia: Incarceration in the United States. And: United States incarceration rate. And: War on Drugs.

New York City pays $167,731 per year per prisoner

 * NYC's yearly cost per inmate ($167,731) almost as expensive as 4-year Ivy League tuition. . By Associated Press. 30 Sept 2013.

Charts
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 * War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure - CNN.com. By Richard Branson, Special to CNN, December 7, 2012.

Click the infographics to enlarge them.


 * Another chart below.
 * Source of data: US War On Drugs Has Met None Of Its Goals: AP Impact. By Martha Mendoza. Posted 13 July 2010. Huffington Post.

USA. Direct expenditure by criminal justice function
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Drug war costs versus education costs
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Jimmie Carter: Call Off the Global Drug War. June 16, 2011. New York Times. Article quote (emphasis added):
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 * Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out that, in 1980, 10 percent of his state’s budget went to higher education and 3 percent to prisons; in 2010, almost 11 percent went to prisons and only 7.5 percent to higher education. Maybe the increased tax burden on wealthy citizens necessary to pay for the war on drugs will help to bring about a reform of America’s drug policies.
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Obamacare, drug rehab, public health, single payer
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Categories
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