NCJ Number
202277
Date Published
2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes international drug prices using data from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) STRIDE database.
Abstract
Analysis of illicit drug prices is one of the most widely used methods of keeping track of the international market for drugs and the activity of the drug trade. However, review of the open literature concerning drug prices reveals the widespread reliance on summary or representative figures that have been published in official documents. In order to augment the information concerning drug prices, and thereby augment information about the international drug market, the author systematically examined international price data from 1981 through 2001 obtained from the DEA’s STRIDE database. The report is organized according to the five analyses of drug prices that the author made: (1) methamphetamine prices in Guam and Saipan from 1991 through 2001; (2) cocaine prices in the Virgin Islands from 1989 through 2001; (3) cocaine prices in Puerto Rico from 1981 through 2001; (4) heroin prices in Puerto Rico from 1981 through 2001; and (5) all other price observations. Overall, the results of this analysis were largely consistent with conventional reporting of drug prices in the open literature and official documents. Some of the general observations from the data include evidence of quantity discounts, as well as price markups, that were discovered along the drug distribution chain in source and transshipment countries. Tables, references