Drugs - Legal Drugs: Smoke And Booze

Let us take a brief respite from coke and meth and heroin and look at the nation's consumption of legal drugs briefly. In 1998, consumption of all alcoholic beverages was 2.2 gallons per person aged 14 years or older. In that year, also, cigarette consumption was 2,300 cigarettes per capita (population 18 and older). In 2000, 47.5 million people in that age group smoked cigarettes (most far more than just 2,300). Cigarette smokers outnumbered the nation's 11/7 million marijuana smokers four to one. In 2000, 96 million people (still 18 and older) reported being regular drinkers, a number more than three times that of all drug users in the same year (31.2 million). The number of people addicted to alcohol, alcoholics, is difficult to ascertain, but various sources cite numbers ranging between 15 and 18 million; 26,500 people die of cirrhosis of the liver every year. What does this tell us?

At least at present, society applies different standards to some drugs — based on tradition and long-standing practice. In fact it feels strange to talk about beer, liquor, and cigarettes as if they were drugs. But we consume these things not because we need the nutrients that they provide.

Consensus on tobacco is now fraying. Most people disapprove of smoking, including cigarette smokers, but the latter find it difficult to quit. Public opinion on alcohol is at present quiescent, perhaps because the Prohibition era is not yet entirely forgotten. Yet cigarettes may well be causing more deaths than all other drugs combined, and alcohol plays much more of a role in criminal affairs than do illegal drugs. Just to keep matters in perspective, a quick look at legal drugs is at least warranted.

Estimates of annual deaths caused directly by three classes of drugs — tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs — show that alcohol deaths are around 110,000 (of which about 16,000 are traffic fatalities involving alcohol); tobacco kills around 365,000 people. And drugs kill around 16,000 people (1997, Office of National Drug Control Policy), about as many as alcohol kills on the highways. The legal drugs cause as much harm as do the illegals.

Arrest records maintained by the FBI provide a quick look at the roles drugs and alcohol play in the criminal justice system. In 2000, 2.8 million arrests took place related to alcohol — for driving under the influence, drunkenness, and violation of liquor laws. Not included are arrests for disorderly conduct, which match arrests for drunkenness. In 2000, 1.6 million people were booked for violating drug laws, the majority for possession, and half of those for possession of marijuana, 646,000 people. That number is roughly equivalent to those arrested for violating liquor laws, 683,000 in 2000.

Arrests for alcohol are trending down, somewhat paralleling the decline in hard-liquor consumption. But arrests for drugs are up. In percentage terms, shown by the small inset graphic, drug arrests were 6.1% of all arrests in 1984 but 11.3% of all arrests in 2000. Alcohol arrests are down as a percentage of all arrests from 29.7% in 1984 to 20.0% in 2000, but still nearly twice as high as drug arrests. A substance need not be illegal to generate a high arrest rate. In 2000, 40.9% of drug arrests were for the possession of marijuana and 52.7% of alcohol arrests were for driving under the influence. In fact, 81% of all drug arrests were for possession. It would appear, from this, that the danger to society from alcohol was greater than from drugs.

In these matters — where massive public disobedience supports the consumption of illegal substances — conclusions must be left to individuals. Would arrests related to alcohol be vastly higher if alcohol were prohibited again? Unfortunately, data don't exist to answer the question. Would arrests related to drugs be vastly lower if marijuana were legalized or simply tolerated ("benign neglect")? Undoubtedly. Is there a compromise? Should we smoke — but not inhale?

Sources: Chart: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption, December 2000; U.S. Department of Agriculture (tobacco figures). Arrest data: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, annual, Uniform Crime Reports, downloaded from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/enforce.htm.