Facts and figures on drugs and drug trafficking:
• 44 percent — North America's share of worldwide drug purchases.
• 33 percent — Europe's share of worldwide drug purchases.
• 76 percent — share of total drug profits generated in industrialized countries.
• 1 percent — share of profits earned by producers of cocaine and heroin in developing nations.
• $13 billion — estimated value of global illicit drug market in 2003 at production level.
• $94 billion — estimated value at the wholesale level.
• $322 billion — estimated value at retail level.
• $70.5 billion — estimated value of cocaine alone at retail level.
• $17 billion — value of exports worldwide of wine in 2003.
• $6 billion — value of exports worldwide of coffee.
• $65.2 million — 1972 Drug Enforcement Administration budget.
• 2,775 — 1972 number of DEA employees.
• $2.1 billion — 2005 DEA budget.
• 10,894 — 2005 number of DEA employees.
• 125,921 — number of emergency room visits in U.S. in second half of 2003 in which cocaine was a factor.
• Billions of dollars of laundered money flow through OECD banks and their financial pipelines making "unnoticed" stops at friendly fiscal paradise islands around the world.
• Sulfuric acid, gasoline or kerosene, ether, ammonia, acetone — substances used to convert coca leaves into cocaine. Many of these substances are produced in, and commercialized by, industrialized countries' companies.
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Sources: U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime; Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN); DEA; The Associated Press (Mon Nov 7,12:13 PM ET)
1 comment:
those are some stunning statistics. i wish drug users were able to put all that in perspective... who may have gotten hurt in order for them to get their stash? tragic. who is profiting from it? disgusting.
but. i am sensitive about this wording: [developed countries] "consuming and enjoying the profits of illegal drugs." there is tragedy and injustice at every level of the trade. there's a reason that the street value for drugs is so high: it's incredibly dangerous to be the final retailer. i read recently that 76% of murders in washington dc (my former home!) are drug-related.
i always like reading your views on the global war on drugs.
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