Estimating drug policy expenditures: Direct costs of policing cannabis in Copenhagen 2000–2009

Abstract

Aim: To establish estimates for the direct costs of policing cannabis in Copenhagen. Methods: Policing is disaggregated into the two tactical components of retail-level policing and crackdowns. Costs for retail-level policing are estimated using a micro-costing and gross-costing approach. Crackdowns are estimated on the basis of data contained in memorandum. Findings: Retail-level policing is found to require between 0.1 and 2.2% in low-intensity years and 0.25 and 5.7% in high-intensity years. Crackdowns are found to cost upwards of 10% of available annual resources. These estimates illustrate the variations in policing cannabis from year-to-year, depending on enforcement intensity and choice of tactical components between retail-level and crackdowns. Conclusions: Estimating drug policy expenditures is an exploratory endeavour in Denmark. The scopes of the presented estimates are found to be congruent with international estimates to the extent that conditions are comparable.