National Drug Intelligence Center Reports: National Drug Threat Assessment and The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society

The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) prepared a National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) that provides federal policymakers and senior officials with a comprehensive appraisal of the danger that trafficking and use of illicit drugs pose to the security of our nation. The illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs present a challenging, dynamic threat to the United States. Overall demand is rising, largely supplied by illicit drugs smuggled to U.S. markets by major transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). Changing conditions continue to alter patterns in drug production, trafficking, and abuse. Traffickers are responding to government counterdrug efforts by modifying their interrelationships, altering drug production levels, and adjusting their trafficking routes and methods. Major Mexican-based TCOs continue to solidify their dominance over the wholesale illicit drug trade as they control the movement of most of the foreign-produced drug supply across the U.S. Southwest Border.

To expand the scope of its NDTA, and to provide the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and other federal officials with a broad and deep understanding of the full burden that illicit drug use places on our country, NDIC has prepared this assessment— The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society. The assessment is conducted within a Cost of Illness (COI) framework that has guided work of this kind for several decades. As such, it monetizes the consequences of illicit drug use, thereby allowing its impact to be gauged relative to other social problems. In 2007, the cost of illicit drug use totaled more than $193 billion. Direct and indirect costs attributable to illicit drug use are estimated in three principal areas: crime, health, and productivity.

National Drug Threat Assessment - Impact of Drugs on Society * Impact on Productivity * Impact on Crime and Criminal Justice Systems * Impact on Health and Healthcare Systems * The Demand for Illicit Drugs * Transnational Criminal Organizations * Overview * Mexican Trafficking Organizations * Colombian Trafficking Organizations * Ethnic Asian Trafficking Organizations * Dominican Trafficking Organizations * Cuban Trafficking Organizations * West African Trafficking Organizations * Drug Trafficking by Criminal Gangs * Drug Smuggling into the United States * Overview * Southwest Border * Trains * Tunnels * Ultralights * Northern Border * By Sea * By Air * Drug-Related Crime and Violence in the Southwest Border Region * Drug Movement Within the United States * Cocaine * Heroin * Marijuana * MDMA * Methamphetamine * Drug Availability in the United States * Cocaine * Heroin * Marijuana * MDMA * Methamphetamine * Other Synthetics * Controlled Prescription Drugs * Illicit Finance

The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society - 2011 - Comparison of Drug Costs to Other Societal Costs * Policy Implications * References * Overview * Prevalence and Incidence-Based Approaches * Current Scope of Research * Summary of Findings * Organization of the Report * Chapter 1. The Impact of Illicit Drug Use on Crime * Attribution of Causality * Criminal Justice System * Crime Victims * Other * Chapter 2. The Impact of Illicit Drug Use on Health * Specialty Treatment * Hospitals and Emergency Departments * Homicide * Insurance Administration * Other * Chapter 3. The Impact of Illicit Drug Use on Productivity * Labor Participation * Specialty Treatment * Hospitalization * Incarceration * Premature Mortality