Office of National Drug Control Policy

Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs

Historical Trends
 

The Office of National Drug Control Policy is responsible for measuring changes in the price and purity of illicit drugs, to support assessing drug availability. Drug price and purity measurements are conducted by ONDCP’s Office of Research and Data Analysis with data from the forensic analyses of illicit drug seizures and purchases. Quarterly trends are reported in various levels of specimen amounts, because purity typically declines as the drug specimens move from the wholesale to the retail market. These analyses are published periodically. Below are listings of past publications of illicit drug price and purity trends.

  • Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs: 1981-2007, Results Report, IDA Paper P-4369, Office of National Drug Control Policy, July 2008. This report extends, improves, and augments previous estimates of trends in the price and purity of five major illicit drugs: powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, d-methamphetamine, and marijuana.
  • Technical Report for the Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs: 1981-2007, Technical Report, IDA Paper P-4370, Office of National Drug Control Policy, October 2008. This report documents the methodology to the estimation of trends in the price and purity of five major illicit drugs: powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, d-methamphetamine, and marijuana.
  • Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs: 1981 Through the Second Quarter of 2003, Office of National Drug Control Policy, November 2004. This report extends, improves, and augments previous estimates of trends in the price and purity of five major illicit drugs: powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, d-methamphetamine, and marijuana.
  • Technical Report for the Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs: 1981 Through the Second Quarter of 2003, Office of National Drug Control Policy, November 2004. The purpose of this technical report is to provide detailed documentation of all programming and statistical activities involved in the construction of the price and purity series presented in Price and Purity of Illicit Drugs: 1981 Through Second Quarter of 2003.
  • Price of Illicit Drugs: 1981 Through the Second Quarter of 2000, Office of National Drug Control Policy, October 2001. This report presents trends in the price per pure gram and the purity of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and the price of marijuana unadjusted for THC content.