In the United States, between the years of 1983 1993, the number of incarcerated drug offenders increased form 57,000 to 353,000. In 1996, one in every four prisoners was either awaiting trial or serving time for drug-related offences. Within this, the number of black people arrested for drug offences increased from 24% to 39%. In 1996, Blacks and Hispanics combined constituted nearly 90% of all prisoners sentenced to state prisons for drug offences (Mauer 1996:11). Black people are only 12% of the entire United States population. Some of these disparities can be explained by the racism that exists in laws for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. It takes five grams of crack to get five years in federal prison versus 500 grams of powder cocaine. Ninety-four percent of 3,430 crack defendants in federal courts in 1994 were black (Mauer 1996:11). It is clear that incarceration with relation to illicit drugs in the United States is based on racism. It is less clear in Canada due to the lack of statistics relating drug offences and race. We do know, however, that in Canada aboriginal people are incarcerated at a disproportionate rate. Although aboriginal people make up approximately 3% of the Canadian population, they make up 17% of the Canadian prison population; it is not known how much or if any of this is drug related.

EFFECTS OF PROHIBITIONIST DRUG LAWS WITH REGARD TO THE COST OF CRIME AND INCARCERATION

Currently, the government and the general public do not know the extent of the social, economic and health cost associated with Canada's illicit drug problem or drug it’s policy of prohibition (Senate Committee 2002). The cost of prosecuting drug offences in 2000 2001 was $57 million with approximately $5 million, or roughly 10% of the total budget, relating to prosecuting cannabis possession offences (Senate Committee 2002). Correctional Services of Canada spends an estimated $169 million annually to address illicit drugs through incarceration, substance abuse programs, treatment programs and security measures (Auditor General 2001). Meanwhile expenditures on substance abuse programs are unreasonably low, given the number of inmates who have substance abuse dependence problem (Senate Committee 2002). Canada is second in the world, after the United States, in terms of incarceration of drug users (Beauchesne 2000:19).

Federally, eleven departments and agencies spend approximately $500 million annually to address illicit drug use in Canada (Auditor General 2001:2). ² Canada's Drug Strategy calls for a balanced approach to reducing both the demand and supply of illicit drugs through activities such as enforcement, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction. However, almost all of the federal government's resources have focused on enforcement (i.e., supply reduction) (Auditor General 2001). The Auditor General estimates that the total economic cost of all drugs to Canadians exceeds $5 billion a year. In this estimation they include "costs to health care systems, lost productivity, drug enforcement costs and property crime committed by drug addicts" (Auditor General 2001:2). The principal costs of illegal drugs are externalities, that is, the loss of productivity is estimated at $823 million, health care is estimated at $88 million, and the losses in the workplace is estimated at $5.5 million, “for a total of about 67% of all costs related to illegal drugs” (Senate Committee 2002:28). ³

² The main departments include Health Canada, the Department of Justice, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Solicitor General Canada, the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency, Correctional Service Canada, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
³ This data is from a study published by Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in 1996 based on 1992 data.