October 25, 2011
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The Occupy Wall Street movement may do wonders in fighting outlandish bouts of capitalism on the upper echelons of society, but it got me thinking about egregious waste on our own ground, right here within the 99%. Let’s consider, for a moment, the question of substance use and abuse.
Alcohol
Our U.S. consumer culture spends $224 billion per year on excessive drinking, excess meaning over one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men (a figure that breaks down to an annual $746/year per taxpayer), according to the CDC. That figure does not include medical costs for various illnesses and disease incurred by excessive drinking.
Marijuana
Marijuana growers consume 1% of the electricity in the U.S., equating to an annual $5 billion in added electricity costs. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study:
“A single Cannabis cigarette represents 2 pounds of CO2 emissions, an amount equal to running a 100-watt light bulb for 17 hours with average U.S. electricity.”
To be fair, this is due in large part to lack of regulation for marijuana grow facilities.
Smoking
The costs to treat smoking-related health problems are an annual $96 billion in the U.S., and in 2006, Americans spent an estimated $90 billion on tobacco products.
Other Illicit Drugs
The U.S. spent $63.2 billion on illegal drugs, including $37 billion on cocaine, $12 billion on heroin, in 1999.
And these billions upon billions are just the economic effects. What about those figures that are more slippery, that shy away from monetary data collection? Lives lost to drunk drivers? The childhood years stolen from kids growing up around substance abuse? Those suffering psychological damage from friends and family who use drugs? In keeping with the Occupy Wall Street spirit, it might be time to peek over our own high walls and “protest for an American Revolution.”
About the Author: I’m an Interactive TV Producer in New York City; a writer and former chemist. I've seen people do anything to Feel Normal. Follow on Twitter @cassierodenberg.
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I don’t understand the statement “this is due in large part to lack of regulation for marijuana grow facilities”. The high production cost of cannabis is due to not being able to grow this fast growing weed outdoors.
Link to thisWell, why stop with this stuff? How about bad fats intake? Refined sugar intake? How we should force people to exercise by walking 45 minutes a day?
All of this falls under social and individual responsibility. And it is a tough nut to crack. For instance, why do we accept alcohol use and not marijuani use? Alcohol is, argurably, more addictive and dangerous to both the individual and society.
Society seems to almost arbitrarily draw lines in the sand as to what is and is not acceptable. Looking back through history, these lines shift about quite alot. The biggest difference between the past and the present is that we now will help those who have addiction problems (while in the past they were usually left to die or just outright killed). And only because we now somewhat accept that it isn’t always the persons fault.
In fact, the most notable thing I gained from this is that we almost spend more on the war on drugs than we do on illegal drugs (last I read, which was 10 years back, it was 120 billion a year). Maybe its time to stop the violence war and just use that money to help those with addiction and to help solve inner-city social problems. Because fighting the war with guns and vehicles doesn’t solve the main issue, which is very much a human condition problem. That, or actually kill the drug lords, I don’t get how we can justify Iraq and yet not justify taking the fight to the drug lords? Irrationality is the king when it comes to drugs, which drugs are ‘acceptable’ and the war on drugs.
Link to this