Street Drug Prices Hit 20 Year Low

12/6/2004
Citing a report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Washington Office on Latin America questioned the effectiveness of the U.S. war on drugs. The report finds that the street prices for cocaine and heroin are at their lowest levels in 20 years, Knight Ridder reported Nov. 30.

According to the unreleased report, the street price of 2 grams of cocaine cost about $106 in the first half of 2003, down 14 percent from the previous year. Heroin, which sold for $329 a gram in 1981, sold for $60 a gram in the first half of 2003.

An ONDCP official, speaking anonymously, confirmed the figures, but said the figures in the report were old. But the Washington Office on Latin America criticized the ONDCP for not officially releasing price and purity numbers since 2000 because the data were "inconvenient."

"It strays too far from the message of imminent drug-war success, particularly around Plan Colombia," said John Walsh, a senior associate with the Washington Office on Latin America organization.

Source: Join Together, Boston University, http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C575329%2C00.html, 2004

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