Policy Recommendation: How Goes the "War on Drugs"?

Think-tank researchers describe trends in illegal drug use and addiction and the federal policies designed to combat them, concluding that most anti-drug policies thus far have failed.

Key points from the study include:

• Illegal drugs are a $60-billion-per-year industry patronized by at least 16 million Americans, 7 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12.
• It has been estimated that 23 percent of those who try heroin, 17 percent of those who try cocaine, and 9 percent of those who try marijuana become clinically dependent on the drug (the rates for tobacco and alcohol are 32 percent and 15 percent, respectively).

This document is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP121/.