October 10, 2011 5:17PM # Interesting Quotes from the National Drug Threat Assessment Report By [Juan Carlos Hidalgo](https://www.cato.org/people/juan-carlos-hidalgo) --- SHARE Do you need further proof that the war on drug is a failure? Then just read the 2011 *National Drug Threat Assessment* report recently published by the Justice Department. Here are some interesting quotes: - The abuse of several major illicit drugs, including heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, appears to be increasing, especially among the young. \[pag. 1\] - The overall availability of illicit drugs in the United States is increasing. Heroin, marijuana, MDMA \[ecstasy\], and methamphetamine are readily available, and their availability appears to be increasing in some markets. \[pag. 24\] - An estimated 8.7 percent of Americans aged 12 or older—or 21.8 million individuals—were current illicit drug users in 2009, a statistically significant increase from 8.0 percent in 2008. \[pag. 1\] - Major Mexican-based TCOs \[trasnational criminal organizations\] and their associates are solidifying their dominance of the U.S. wholesale drug trade and will maintain their reign for the foreseeable future. \[pag. 7\] - Mexican-based TCOs were operating in more than a thousand U.S. cities during 2009 and 2010 \[last year’s report put the figure at 270 cities\]. \[pag. 8\] You can read the full report [here](http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs44/44849/44849p.pdf). ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).