money spent on illegal drugs in the world

before i start off this is a disclaimer to mods that wish to delete this thread or censor in some way

in no way is this thread advocacy for legalization, nor against ats policy in any way, if this thread is closed or deleted it is not due to policy but due to biased enforcement of ats policy, and abuse of power using ats policy as a scapegoat

this is simply a presentation of facts regarding the monetary issue involved in the worldwide drug industry


the only thing that could be said about this following thread is that it could be construed as advocacy for reform, not legalization, but simply change, on top of that, the link that is the basis for this discussion comes from another ats thread not even in this alternative substance board

on top of all of that, nothing in ats policy says we can not have threads that are advocates of reform, we cannot have legalization advocacy, the 2 are totally different things, and until ats policy changes to reflect that in writing, this thread does not break ats policy


now to get started


www.worldometers.info...

this link was provided on another thread, a very interesting piece

i wish to focus on one topic on this list, and that is why this is a separate thread


i want to focus on the drug statistics found here:

www.worldometers.info...


at the time of this posting, according to this site, we have spent worldwide in us dollars $41,786,000,000 (i have rounded to the nearest million as the number grows to quickly to capture accurately) and counting just to purchase or in some way acquire street drugs

thats over 41 billion dollars for those who arent good with numbers


that number does not include the amount of money we spend to fight this war against these substances, it is simply the amount of money spent on acquiring these drugs


due to the current policies in place, 100 percent of that money, goes towards illegal entities or individuals, or what we now refer to as "terrorists"


with a quick internet search i have found another counter


this is the counter for the amount of money we spend yearly combating the drug war in the USA only, not worldwide


www.drugsense.org...

at the time i am writing this thread, so far this year, the combined amount spent by both state and federal governments in the USA alone is $5,354,000,000 and counting in an effort to win the drug war
(this number is not what the world spends, just the USA alone)

it is only early february, there is much time left for these numbers to climb exponentially higher


both of those numbers added together, and in less then only 2 months we have spent almost 50 billion dollars


that is all i wish to say, there is more i would like to say, but i will take no chance on breaking ats policy

these are important numbers that deserve more attention so i present them to you here at ats in one easy to view place, i will allow ats members and mods to direct the rest of this discussion now that i have provided the numbers



knowing these numbers, what should we be discussing here, that does not violate the t and c?

Those are some interesting numbers. I wonder what percentage of that money leaves the country.

Regardless of what the percentage is, it is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars a year. That is wealth leaving America, and I don't like seeing that.

reply to post by Dramey


One thing you have to remember there is no tax for drugs. I can buy weed anywhere and I don't have to pay tax, nor the dealer. That is just weed I'm talking about, think about crack, 1.5 grams for 100 NZ dollars.

That is an expensive freaken drug, NZ can profit from this, why not? Are we worried about morality? What does morality have to do with this. It is merely a choice between bad and worse than bad. Why not choose a logical option? Why don't they pay taxes and we do? They benefit from us but we don't benefit from them.

It is one of the most illogical choices humans have made.

Originally posted by sporkmonster
Those are some interesting numbers. I wonder what percentage of that money leaves the country.

Regardless of what the percentage is, it is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars a year. That is wealth leaving America, and I don't like seeing that.

well according to the way law officials speak id say almost 100 percent of that leaves the country ultimately

i mean sure some of the low end dealers make a little cash here and there and spend it in our economy, but im sure most of that money goes right back overseas


the real money is bringing things like coc aine, heroin, meth, marijuana, lsd, ecstasy, and other synthesized drugs across the borders


they smuggle in drugs, smuggle out the money to pay for the drugs

we dont exactly make coke heroin or the majority of meth here in the usa, we probably dont even make the majority of the marijuana


all of that is made in foreign lands


all the transports are made by mafias (any of em), gangs, terrorists, etc

all of that money, is the "bad guys" profit and not a cent of it is taxed


all the money goes to fund the groups we are fighting wars against, not just drug wars, but real wars, immigration wars, THE WAR ON TERROR, etc


like you said billions a year, and i would not be shocked in the least bit to learn that it was closer to hundreds of billions a year


that equals trillions of dollars that have gone to illegal entities tax free since the beginning of this drug war, and it doesnt even figure in the amount we have spent to battle that issue in tax payer dollars (money that we know in the past the cia has used to bring even more drugs into the USA)


simply put, the war on drugs has kicked our ass, cost us trillions in dollars, millions in lives and slowed our advancement of technology and knowledge due to the fact we lost out on billions of dollars in taxes


what else could we have done with all that money?

build a moon base?
journey to mars?
universal worldwide health care and food programs?
better funded educational programs?
better care for the elderly?
explore our universe?

what does everyone think we could have used that money for? that would have been better then how it has been spent?

you know instead of going to buying fast cars, mansions, planes, and guns, etc for the worlds most evil individuals?

[edit on 8-2-2010 by Dramey]

Originally posted by oozyism
reply to post by Dramey

 

One thing you have to remember there is no tax for drugs. I can buy weed anywhere and I don't have to pay tax, nor the dealer. That is just weed I'm talking about, think about crack, 1.5 grams for 100 NZ dollars.

That is an expensive freaken drug, NZ can profit from this, why not? Are we worried about morality? What does morality have to do with this. It is merely a choice between bad and worse than bad. Why not choose a logical option? Why don't they pay taxes and we do? They benefit from us but we don't benefit from them.

It is one of the most illogical choices humans have made.

you ask a very good question

due to ats policy i have no idea what i am allowed to talk about here, one minute something is allowed, the next it is not, but to touch on what you said

why not profit from this?

it seems we have tried everything and the situation still exists, so why not try to make money off it and at least win somewhat in someway?

the old saying, if you cant beat em, join em,

why doesnt that apply here?


why shouldnt we change things?

why should it be against ats policy to talk about such a thing?

why should we continue screwing things up even worse then they could be?

a very good question you ask about the tax situation, i wonder if that is something we will be allowed to discuss