Illegal Drugs
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Illegal drugs are a fact of life in the U. S. and most
other countries. Most illegal drugs can be easily attained
just by "asking around." Though possession and/or
distribution of illegal drugs can carry stiff penalties in
some locales, in most states, simple possession carries lesser
penalties than distributing illegal drugs.
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Marijuana and hashish are the most often used illegal drugs
in the United States, as 14.6 million people per month, 12-years-old
and older use this illegal substance. Many argue that marijuana
should be legalized beyond the bounds of 'medical marijuana'
but until this is the case, marijuana will be reported and
analyzed as an illegal drug.
Illegal Drug Chart
Next to marijuana and hashish, the most often abused drugs
are non-medical uses of prescription drugs at 6.3 million
per month, cocaine at 2.2 million per month, hallucinogens
at 1 million, inhalants at .5 million and heroin at 119,000
per month. This information comes from the "2003 National
Survey on Drug Use and Health" and does not include information
on amphetamines, methamphetamines, ecstasy or some other well-known
classes of illegal drugs.
Federal drug control spending has almost doubled from 1996
($6.2 billion) to 2003 ($11.4 billion) yet the number of drug
cases in the courts remains at a stable, yet unacceptable
rate. Some states have all but given up the War on Drugs and
in a flight of fatalism have decided the somewhat questionable
method of taxing the drug dealers.
The Kansas Department of Revenue states, "In order to
protect against any possible violation of the self-incrimination
constitutional protection, a dealer is not required to give
his/her name or address when purchasing stamps and the Business
Tax Bureau is prohibited from sharing any information relating
to the purchase of drug tax stamps with law enforcement or
anyone else. The stamps must be affixed to the drugs when
they are seized to prevent tax liability. Payment of the drug
tax (the purchase and affixation of stamps) is due immediately
upon acquisition or possession by the dealer. The stamps are
valid for 3 months from the date of issuance. If drugs are
seized without stamps or the stamps which are affixed have
expired, the possessor is liable for payment for the tax as
well as a penalty of 100% of the assessment."
But, there is still hope in other states. Recently, a number
of "drug courts" have appeared within the criminal
justice system to deal directly with those accused of illegal
drug possession or nonviolent crimes committed by drug users.
The idea of the drug courts is to substitute mandatory treatment
for incarceration. In addition, use of illegal drugs by employees
is down as percentages of positive tests for illegal drugs
has dropped from 13.6-percent in 1988 to 4.5-percent in 2003.
Of course these statistics could also mean than illegal drug
users are getting more technologically advanced by using more
sophisticated means of cheating and beating the drug tests.
All in all, though, illegal drug use has stabilized statistically.
Some say that it has stabilized at a much higher-than-acceptable
rate. Prevention, identification and treatment seem to be
replacing incarceration as the main ways to deal with the
national illegal drug problem.
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