The War on Drugs and the Partnership for a Drug-Free world if successful would eliminate over three trillion dollars of economic activity a year. Obviously they mean an illegal drug free world but since they don’t say that let’s follow their thought experiment through to its conclusion.
psychoactives – alcohol 1 163 Billion
illegal drugs –494.25 billion
cannabis – 181.8
cocaine – 100
ecstasy – 17
heroin – 68
illegal prescription – 100
amphetamine – 28.25
other – 5.25
psychiatric medicines – 40 billion
tobacco - 614 bn
caffeine – 92.5 billion
coffee – 70 billion
tea – 7.5
other caffeine drinks – 15 billion
that's 2 trillion 409 billion 500 million dollars a year on psychoactives – this doesn’t include the non-psychoactive pharmaceuticals worth another 600 billion plus over the counter drugs at another 60 billion - that’s over $3 000 000 000 000. Imagine the war on drugs has been won, over three trillion dollars is saved and the world is free but oh no I think I’m getting a headache – we should have kept at least one ibuprophen.
It was estimated by the European Drug Monitoring Agency that there were 40 brand new psychoactive substances introduced in 2011. These are mostly formulas from obscure chemistry journals manufactured in China and India and marketed to European and North American customers. Some, like the synthetic cannabis K2 and stimulant mephedrone, though now illegal, are hugely popular. In my math all these drugs along with hallucinogens, solvents, natural psychoactives like kava or valerian are included in the 5.25 billion “other” category.
The sobering truth is each year human beings spend almost two and half trillion dollars (excluding non-psychoactive drugs) to alter their state through chemistry.
Proponents of the war on drugs and a drug free world have there work cut out for them 2 and a half trillion on getting high – former U.C.L.A. professor Dr. Roland Siegel believed that since all human cultures and many animal species self-intoxicate getting high represents a universal life drive like sleep, eat, drink and sex.
Prostitution and porn are only 100 billion each and mercifully, despite the musings of Rick Santorum the elimination of the sex drive is no longer pursued as an available goal – but it was, the church tried to eradicate sex for pleasure. The sex drive outlasted all the perverse old queens of the catholic church and the brain drive or drive to alter consciousness will outlast the dreamless serpents spearheading the gravy train called the drug war (500 billion dollar drug cash). The war on the sex drive was lost and the war on the brain drive will be too.
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