$.5 billion (77% of  $774 million) spent in New York City on foster care as a result of drug and alcohol abusing parents.

01/29/97 CASA, as reported in The Hunt for a Drug Free America

$1 billion spent annually worldwide to purchase butterflies.

12/24/97  Associated Press, Karen Mills, The Columbian

$2.3 billion estimated annual cost of treating gunshot victims in 1994

08/04/99 Journal of the American Medical Association, as reported in The Columbian 08/04/99

$3.0 billion per year on food stamp fraud

Feb. 1995  Roger C. Viadero, Inspector General, Dept. of Agriculture - Chicago Tribune

$4.3 billion per year on public libraries

$9 billion per year on cellular phones

6/08/94 The Oregonian, editorial, quoting David McCullough, Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer

$4.7 billion per year spent on outside consultants by  U. S. government agencies

9/6/93 CSPAN

$10.0 billion per year expense to society due to medical expenses associated with bone fractures in people over 50 due to osteoporosis, a completely preventable condition.

6/22/94  Jane E. Brody, New York Times New Service

$10+  billion - annual sales of Prozac

03/05/01 Forbes "Drug Warrior"

$13.6 billion  1998 budget for the National Institutes of Health.

11/22/97 The Lancet

$14 billion annual cost of Asthma to U.S. economy

10/01/2000  Internal Medicine News

$14.4 billion collected  by the Government from deadbeat parents to cover delinquent child support payments.

01/01/99  Associated Press, Douglas Kiker

$15.0 billion (nearly) spent by Americans annually on Flowers

04/2001 National Geographic, Flower Trade

$17.0 billion paid to California Lawyers in 1994

Jan. 1995, Investor's Business Daily

$17.8 billion for War on Drugs in 1999

Office of National Drug Control Policy

$22.5 - $27 billion generated by prostitution in Thailand from 1993 to 1995

8/20/98  Associated Press, Philip Waller, The Columbian

$23 billion a year in lost work due to depression

11/27/00  American Psychological Association, as quoted in Forbes Magazine, page 88

$31 billion estimated cost to U. S. society from urinary incontinence, making it one of the most costly diseases.

11/15/97  Internal Medicine News

$32.0 billion spent annually by the nation's 3 million cheerleaders on cosmetics, fashion, equipment

01/95 American Cheerleader Magazine as reported in The Oregonian

$33 billion spent annually on weight loss programs

10/17/97 Center for Science in the Public Interest, AP, John D. McClain, The Columbian

$34.0 billion per year taxpayers in welfare assistance to families begun by unmarried teens.

6/22/94  David S. Broder, The Washington Post

$34 billion per year spent by Americans on lawns

03/22/99  Forbes

$36.0 billion annual cost of nation’s prisons.

08/02/99 General Barry McCaffrey, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in interview with Terrance Smith.

$52.0 billion Americans spent on red meat ins 2000

04/01/2001, The Columbian, as reported by Darlene Superville, AP Press Writer

$54.0 billion in gambling losses, 1998

08/01/99 Christiansen and Cummings, as reported in The Columbian

$70 billion lost tax revenues attributed to illegal offshore schemes

03/05/01 Forbes - IRS affidavit filed in federal court, October 2000

$100 billion yearly cost related to diabetes, half of which is in direct medical expenditures.

01/01/96, p. 5,  Internal Medicine News,

$140 billion donated yearly by Americans to Charitable organizations

02/22/99 Forbes

$200+ billion in lost taxes to U.S. Treasury from shady tax shelters and tax evasion

03/05/01 Forbes "Are you a chump?"

$300 billion annual medical cost and lost productivity of drug and alcohol abuse on U.S. economy

03/05/01 Forbes - from U. S. Government sources, "Drug Warrior

$349.3 billion spent annually on legal gambling

08/1994 Games & Wagering Magazine

$400 billion annual revenue generated from illicit drugs.

06/1998 United Nations World Drug Report