Illegal drug trade in the United States

Quick Facts offers a general understanding of these crimes, although the details may differ depending on the specific drug involved in the offense.

[3] In the United States, "narcotics" and "drugs" are legally considered different classes and/or types of substances.

[4] The "war on drugs" is a term commonly applied to a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention undertaken by the US government, with the assistance of participating countries, and the stated aim to define and reduce the illegal drug trade.

[6] The 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nationwide 25.4% of students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug by someone on school property.

[7] Despite over US$7 billion spent annually towards arresting[8] and prosecuting nearly 800,000 people across the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI Uniform Crime Reports), the federally funded Monitoring the Future Survey reports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana “easy to obtain.” That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975, never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of national surveys.

[11] Women are often involved in the illegal drug trade in the US, typically in marginal, low-level roles.

[17][18] This new law prevents people with small amounts of cocaine from facing jail time.

This increase is partly due to a growing number of individuals transitioning from prescription opioids to heroin in search of a cheaper and more accessible alternative.

[27] In the 1950s and 1960s, most heroin was produced in Turkey and transshipped in France via the French Connection crime ring, with much of it arriving in the US.