Illegal Drugs Are Cheaper and More Pure Than Ever

A new paper in the British Medical Journal Open reports that illegal drugs have only gotten cheaper and more pure in the last 20 years. The fact that drug availability is on the rise despite a decades-long war on drugs, say the authors, proves that international drug control strategies simply aren't working.

Using data from government websites and reports, the United Nations Office of Drug Control, and peer-reviewed papers, researchers compared the price and purity of marijuana, cocaine, and opiates from 1990 through the late 2000s. As a secondary measure, they also collected data on drug seizures in supply countries (i.e., countries that produce drugs) and demand countries (like the United States, which consumes a lot of illegal drugs) from 1990 to 2010.