The prices of cocaine and methampetamine in the United States have increased significantly over the last 21 months as they decreased in quality, the US anti-drug agency said Thursday.
The price of a gram of cocaine in the US soared 89 percent -- from 96.61 dollars to 182.73 dollars -- from January 2007 to September 2008, said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a report.
As authorities clamp down on production and supply routes, drug dealers raise prices to match risk and dwindling supply.
Analyzing 24,000 drug busts across the country, the DEA said cocaine purity dropped during the same period from 67 percent to 46 percent.
To increase profitability suppliers cut potency by mixing it with a wide variety of other substances -- an often dangerous practice.
For methampetamine, the DEA analyzed some 58,000 samples and reported the price of an ounce rose 23 percent, from 184.09 dollars to 148.91 dollars -- as its purity fell during the same timeframe from 57 percent to 52 percent.
"For almost two years the illicit drug market has been showing signs of distress," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart.
"These price and purity trends are not just an immediate reaction from a single enforcement operation, but the result of continuous and persistent progress DEA is making in concert with our international and domestic partners," she said.
"Across the United States, Mexico, and Colombia and the transit zones in between, we are crippling the world's leading drug networks."
