Some interesting facts on the subject of drugs in America.
Percentage of parents who think that drugs are a major problem in America's schools - 82%
Percent who believe it is a major problem in their child's school - 6%
Percentage of parents who used marijuana as youths - 60%
Percentage who believe that their children have used marijuana - 21%
Percent of American teens who have used marijuana - 54%
Percent of parents who claim to have had a conversation with their kids about drugs - 94%
Percent of kids who remember such a conversation - 44%
Number of federal prison inmates who are "drug offenders" - 55, 624
Percent of these who are non-violent first time offenders - 50%
Cost to the taxpayer to clothe, house, feed and guard these 27, 812 inmates every day - $1.75 million.
Cost per year - $640 million.
Percentage of all federal prisoners incarcerated for drug charges - 59%
Percentage incarcerated for violent crimes - 2.5%
Number of Americans arrested in 1997 for drug offense - 1.5 million.
Percent arrested for simple possession - 79%
Total number of Americans arrested in 1997 for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault - 717,720
Number of Americans arrested for marijuana offenses - 695,200
Percent who were arrested for simple possession of marijuana- 87%
Number of people in all federal and state prisons for drug offenses in 1980 - 23,900
Number of people in all federal and state prisons for drug charges in 1996 - 292,794
Total cost to American taxpayers for the War on Drugs in the 1998 federal budget - $16 BILLION.
Cost in 1987 - $4.7 Billion.
Average sentence for first time drug offenders - 82.4 months.
Average sentence for sexual abuse - 66.9months.
Average sentence for manslaughter - 26.8 months.
Want to know how you can easily and quickly spot drug use by your children, at least according to the insane but revealing pamphlet titled "How Parents Can Help Children Live Marijuana Free"; written and produced by a very uninformed conservative criminologist in Utah named Gerald Smith, and with a preface by that pinnacle of rational thought Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, - Utah) Get ready, folks, cause it's a stunner..." (a drug user) avoids the family while at home... shows interest in Rastafari religion... might display extreme rebelliousness like James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause"... may have an excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, environmental issues, etc..." |
