Drug War Cost Widget, v2.0.11.
The minor version number (the last two digits) represents the budget year upon which this text is based. The first part of the version number represents the actual software version. Version 2.0 matches the same version number in our other widgets that function similarly.
Calculations used in this widget are based on two sources that reveal that between federal and state governments, the cost to US taxpayers, to support the continuing failure of the War on Drugs is $1,716.77 each and every second of 2011.
This number varies slightly from other cost numbers that you may find, cited by various sources, because it is our policy at ActionAmerica.org to only use the most conservative numbers that we can positively stand behind. When two equally authoritative sources disagree by a small number, as often happens, we will always use the number that helps our position least. It's not that we want to help the government look any less incompetent. We just don't want to leave any room for big-government types to accuse us of injecting our bias into the numbers. Besides, since even the most conservative numbers are so overwhelming, it only serves to prove our point even more.
This widget will automatically reset every January. However, that will not update the new budget numbers that climb higher every year. For that, the widget will update itself from the internet, as soon as the new budget data is released and we can update the Drug War budget numbers on ActionAmerica.org.
The federal part of the Drug War budget number comes directly from the Whitehouse Office of National Drug Control Policy, including the National Drug Control Strategy Budgets (2003-2006), (adjusted after 2003, for budget structure changes implemented in 2004) and subsequent budgets, the latest of which is the 2011 budget, which indicates that the federal government will spend at least $23.44 billion on the Drug War in 2011.
It's important to note a contradiction in the FY 2003 and FY 2004 budgets. The FY 2003 federal drug control budget called for $19.2 billion for drug control spending. The FY 2004 federal drug control budget called for only $11.7 billion, yet called it an increase of $440.3 million over the President's FY 2003 request of only $11.2 billion (not the original $19.2 billion). As it turns out, the White House decided in 2003, to restructure the drug control budget, so as to make the Drug War appear less costly.So, just by just "saying" that they requested less money for the Drug War than they really did, the previous year, they magically make $8 billion disappear into other areas of the budget. Can you say, "spin"?
Since the budget items that were moved off of the drug control budget were costs that were definately related to the War on Drugs, we had to come up with a reasonable means to get those numbers back into the total. So you may understand the validity of our numbers, here is what we have done.
We started with the accurate $19.2 billion, requested in the FY 2003 budget and calculated the difference between that number and the number that the 2004 drug control budget "claimed" was requested in 2003 ($19.18B - $11.24B = 7.94B). We then took the 2004 requested amount and added that $7.94B back in. But, to be even more conservative, when the government later stated that they used $19 million less than expected, in 2003, we subtracted that number from the earlier calculated difference and recalculated the 2004 total. I know that was not necessary, but being that conservative with the number, makes arguing against our number even more difficult.
From that point forward, we simply added the stated annual projected increase to the previous year's actual drug budget - not the previous year's projected budget. That's the most honest number that we can come up with for the federal part of the drug war expenditures.
For 2011, the federal portion of the Drug War budget will amount to $23.44 billion.
The state portion comes from a report titled, "Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets", authored by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, in 2001, which in its press release and on page 3, shows that states spent $30.7 billion in 1998 on "the burden of substance abuse on the justice system -- for incarceration, probation and parole, juvenile justice and criminal and family court costs of substance involved offenders" In other words, that $30.7 billion represents only the "justice-related" (Drug War) expenses in state drug budgets.
Simply due to inflation, that number has probably gone up since 1998. But because we want to stick with only solid numbers and stay conservative in any assumptions, we use only that static $30.7 billion number for our calculations in this widget. Should more recent information become available, it will be included in a future release of this widget.
So, add that $30.7 billion that the states will spend, to the federal amount of $23.44 billion and it means that the War on Drugs will cost American taxpayers $1,716.77 each and every second of 2011..
For more information on the failed War on Drugs and what can be done to improve matters, read our article The War on Drugs - Solution or Problem. While you are there, check out our other widgets, too.
The minor version number (the last two digits) represents the budget year upon which this text is based. The first part of the version number represents the actual software version. Version 2.0 matches the same version number in our other widgets that function similarly.
Calculations used in this widget are based on two sources that reveal that between federal and state governments, the cost to US taxpayers, to support the continuing failure of the War on Drugs is $1,716.77 each and every second of 2011.
This number varies slightly from other cost numbers that you may find, cited by various sources, because it is our policy at ActionAmerica.org to only use the most conservative numbers that we can positively stand behind. When two equally authoritative sources disagree by a small number, as often happens, we will always use the number that helps our position least. It's not that we want to help the government look any less incompetent. We just don't want to leave any room for big-government types to accuse us of injecting our bias into the numbers. Besides, since even the most conservative numbers are so overwhelming, it only serves to prove our point even more.
This widget will automatically reset every January. However, that will not update the new budget numbers that climb higher every year. For that, the widget will update itself from the internet, as soon as the new budget data is released and we can update the Drug War budget numbers on ActionAmerica.org.
The federal part of the Drug War budget number comes directly from the Whitehouse Office of National Drug Control Policy, including the National Drug Control Strategy Budgets (2003-2006), (adjusted after 2003, for budget structure changes implemented in 2004) and subsequent budgets, the latest of which is the 2011 budget, which indicates that the federal government will spend at least $23.44 billion on the Drug War in 2011.
It's important to note a contradiction in the FY 2003 and FY 2004 budgets. The FY 2003 federal drug control budget called for $19.2 billion for drug control spending. The FY 2004 federal drug control budget called for only $11.7 billion, yet called it an increase of $440.3 million over the President's FY 2003 request of only $11.2 billion (not the original $19.2 billion). As it turns out, the White House decided in 2003, to restructure the drug control budget, so as to make the Drug War appear less costly.So, just by just "saying" that they requested less money for the Drug War than they really did, the previous year, they magically make $8 billion disappear into other areas of the budget. Can you say, "spin"?
Since the budget items that were moved off of the drug control budget were costs that were definately related to the War on Drugs, we had to come up with a reasonable means to get those numbers back into the total. So you may understand the validity of our numbers, here is what we have done.
We started with the accurate $19.2 billion, requested in the FY 2003 budget and calculated the difference between that number and the number that the 2004 drug control budget "claimed" was requested in 2003 ($19.18B - $11.24B = 7.94B). We then took the 2004 requested amount and added that $7.94B back in. But, to be even more conservative, when the government later stated that they used $19 million less than expected, in 2003, we subtracted that number from the earlier calculated difference and recalculated the 2004 total. I know that was not necessary, but being that conservative with the number, makes arguing against our number even more difficult.
From that point forward, we simply added the stated annual projected increase to the previous year's actual drug budget - not the previous year's projected budget. That's the most honest number that we can come up with for the federal part of the drug war expenditures.
For 2011, the federal portion of the Drug War budget will amount to $23.44 billion.
The state portion comes from a report titled, "Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets", authored by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, in 2001, which in its press release and on page 3, shows that states spent $30.7 billion in 1998 on "the burden of substance abuse on the justice system -- for incarceration, probation and parole, juvenile justice and criminal and family court costs of substance involved offenders" In other words, that $30.7 billion represents only the "justice-related" (Drug War) expenses in state drug budgets.
Simply due to inflation, that number has probably gone up since 1998. But because we want to stick with only solid numbers and stay conservative in any assumptions, we use only that static $30.7 billion number for our calculations in this widget. Should more recent information become available, it will be included in a future release of this widget.
So, add that $30.7 billion that the states will spend, to the federal amount of $23.44 billion and it means that the War on Drugs will cost American taxpayers $1,716.77 each and every second of 2011..
For more information on the failed War on Drugs and what can be done to improve matters, read our article The War on Drugs - Solution or Problem. While you are there, check out our other widgets, too.
