Prohibition Statistics
• Prison Population (BBC 2006)
-United States: 2,193,798 (overall population 313,900,000)
-China: 1,548,498 (overall population 1,344,130,000)
-Russia: 874,161
-Brazil: 371,482
• Alcohol Prohibition (MSNBC)
A) Arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct up 41%
B) Homicides, Assaults, and batteries up 13%
C) Number of Federal convicts up 561%
D) Federal Prison Population up 366%
E) Total spending on penal institutions up 1,000%
Host "We have the same exact kind of enormous jumps in incarceration, crime, and prison expenditure under this current pot prohibition."
• Each year the United States spends 350 billion dollars on the war on drugs.
• On any given day in the United States 1 in 9 African American males between the ages of 20 and 34 is incarcerated.
• Mexico declares war on drug cartels in December of 2006 (BBC)
A) 2006: 270 drug related deaths
B) 2009: 16,337 drug related deaths
• Judge Jim Gray (Reason TV)
– Stated In 1990 we were only "half" as successful in prosecuting homicides as we were in 1980 due to the Reagan administration ratcheting up the drug war. This due to prosecutorial resources being devoted to drug related offenses.
– In Holland marijuana use is legal for everyone 16 and older. Coffee shops include marijuana. The minister of health recently held a press conference in which he stated that marijuana use within his country was half that of the United States both for adults and teenagers. He claimed that they had succeeded in making pot boring.
• Drug offenders in prisons and jails have increased 1,100% since 1980. Nearly 6 in 10 persons in prison for a drug offense have no history of violence or high-level drug selling activity (November Coalition)
• According to the UN, drug prohibition has seen increases in the use of opiates, cocaine and marijuana to the effect of
-Opiates 34%
-Cocaine 27%
-Marijuana 8.5% (Worldwide presumably/ CNN)
• According to DEA: (Google Tech Talks)
– 4 million drug users in 1965 (2% of overall population)
-112 million drug users in 2003 (46% of overall population)
• Wholesale cocaine costs 60% less / Heroin costs 70% less (Google Tech Talks)
• Heroin overdose rate: (Google Tech Talks)
– 1979 = 28 deaths per 100,000 users
– 2003 = 141 deaths per 100,000 users
• Approximately $30,000 per year per inmate
• 39 Million drug arrests under drug prohibition
• 1914 = 1.3% addicted to drugs/ 2002 = 1.3% addicted to drugs (Google Tech Talks)
• % of crimes resolved by arrest or other means (Google Tech Talks)
– 1965: Murders 91%
– 2006: Murders 60.7%, Forcible rape 40.9%, Robbery 25.2%, Aggravated Assault 54.0%, Burglary 12.6%, Larceny-theft 17.4%, Motor vehicle theft 12.6%
• Decriminalized Drugs
1. Netherlands 1976
2. Portugal 2001
3. Mexico 2009
4. Argentina 2009
• Marijuana use by tenth graders in Netherlands: 28% / Marijuana use by tenth graders in the United States 41% (Google Tech Talks)
• Marijuana use: U.S. lifetime prevalence = 37% / Netherlands = 17% (Google Tech Talks)
• Heroin Use: U.S. lifetime prevalence = 1.4% / Netherlands = 0.4% (Google Tech Talks)
• After decriminalization, Portugal drug use by ages 13-15 decreased by 25%/ 16-19 decreased by 22%
– Heroin overdose deaths decreased by 52%
– HIV infections reported by drug users decreased by 71% (Google Tech Talks)
• Netherlands homicide rate per 100,00 population: 1.5/ U.S. homicide rate per 100,00 population 5.6 (Google Tech Talks)
• United States imprisons more of its' own population than any country in the history of the world. (TV Show "QI")
Cited video titles are listed as follows:
1. End the Failed War on Drugs — Cenk on MSNBC
2. Did You Know — War on Drugs Edition
3. Portugal Legalizes Drugs. Crime Usage Falls.
4. Mexico's War on Drugs: War on Drugs Edition
5. United States of Prison
6. CNN: Time to End the War on Drugs?
7. Drug War Failure in Mexico
8. What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs?
9. The War on Drugs has Failed
10. Stephen Fry on American Prison Facts
11. Jim Gray on The Six Groups Who Benefit From Drug Prohibition
Drug Prohibition Statistic Playlist:
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law for nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase in crime in this country is closely connected with this."
-Albert Einstein
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very [most basic] principles upon which our government was founded."
– Abraham Lincoln