-Americans spend an average of 63 billion dollars per year on illicit drugs

-In 2007 the economic cost of drug abuse was 193 billion dollars

-$120 billion was lost in productivity

-$12 billion in healthcare treatment costs

-$61 billion in criminal justice costs

-In 2011, an estimated 22.5 million Americans aged 12 or older—or 8.7 percent of the population admitted to using drugs in the last month

-Marijuana use by adolescents declined from the late 1990s until the mid-to-late 2000s, but has been on the increase since then

-In 2012, 6.5 percent of 8th graders, 17.0 percent of 10th graders, and 22.9 percent of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month

-Many states have a non flexible penalty system with drugs, meaning any amount of an illicit drug draws the same penalty as the possession or sale of a much larger quantity

-States like Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Louisiana, of which some have              maximums up to 99 years

-The sale of marijuana in Oklahoma of any amount is at minimum 2 years and has a  maximum of life for any amount