How much money is spent enforcing the illegal global drug trade?

The exact amount of money spent globally on enforcing the illegal drug trade is difficult to determine, as this varies greatly from country to country and is often not reported in a consistent manner. However, estimates of global spending on drug law enforcement range from several billion to tens of billions of dollars per year.

In the United States, for example, the federal government alone spends over $15 billion annually on drug law enforcement efforts, including interdiction, investigation, and incarceration. Other countries also allocate significant resources to drug law enforcement, with some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean spending up to 20% of their total government budgets on drug law enforcement.

It is important to note that while spending on drug law enforcement has increased in many countries in recent decades, the illegal drug trade continues to be a major global problem, with significant consequences for public health and safety. Therefore, the effectiveness of drug law enforcement efforts and the allocation of resources to these efforts are ongoing areas of debate and discussion.