Tax Payers Are Spending $1 Billion Per Year On Pot Inmates

From the U.S. Department of Justice

Bureau of Justice Statistics

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006

ETHAMPHETAMINE USE INCREASING AMONG STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONERS

WASHINGTON -- Prior methamphetamine use among state and federal prisoners has increased since 1997, according to a new report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The use of methamphetamines in the month before an offense rose from 7 percent of state prisoners in 1997 to 11 percent in 2004. Methamphetamine use at the time of an offense rose from 4 percent to 6 percent during that period. Federal inmates reported similar increases in methamphetamine use.

Prisoner reports about drug use were collected as part of the BJS "Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities." This survey has been conducted periodically since the 1970s, and in 2004 involved confidential personal interviews with a nationally representative sample of approximately 14,500 state and 3,700 federal prisoners.

Women (17 percent of state inmates, 15 percent of federal inmates) were more likely than men (10 percent of both) to have used methamphetamines in the month before their offense. At least 20 percent of white inmates in state and federal prison used methamphetamine in the month before their offense, compared to 1 percent of black inmates. Among Hispanics, 12 percent of state and 5 percent of federal inmates reported methamphetamine use.

 

 

Drug seizures

Many Federal agencies are involved in the removal of illicit drugs from the market. The Federal-Wide Drug Seizure System (FDSS) contains information about drug seizures made within the jurisdiction of the United States by the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs Service (USCS), and U.S. Border Patrol as well as maritime seizures made by the U.S. Coast Guard.

• the Federal government seized 16,270 illegal drug laboratories between fiscal years 1975 and 2003
• in fiscal year 2003, of the 420 labs seized, 409 (97%) manufactured methamphetamines
• in 2003 the DEA program for eradicating domestic marijuana resulted in the destruction of 3.4 million plants in 34,362 plots, 8,480 arrests, 4,176 weapons seized, and assets seized valued at $25.1 million.
  Source: Data provided by U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration as reported in the BJS, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003, NCJ 208756, July 2005. 

 

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