Prescription and illicit drugs can both be purchased on the streets at varying costs, depending on the substance.
Commonly purchased drugs include opioids (such as heroin or fentanyl), stimulants (such as cocaine and methamphetamine), marijuana, hallucinogens, and benzodiazepines.
The Cost Of Illicit Opioids
The most commonly sold illicit opioid on the street is heroin, which may come in various forms. The price of heroin and other illicit opiates depends on the purity level of the drug.
Here are the average street prices of illicit opioids:
- black tar heroin: $10 per eighth of an ounce (oz), or 8-ball
- powder heroin: $10-20 per baggie
- opium: $34 per gram
The Cost Of Prescription Opioids
Most prescription opioids can be obtained with a prescription or by purchasing the drug on the streets.
Street price versus the uninsured prescription price differs. Some people may obtain prescription opioids for free or at a very low cost by using their health insurance.
Here are the average prices of prescription opioids on the street:
- buprenorphine: $2.93 per milligram (mg)
- codeine: $10 to $30 per 30 mg pill
- Dilaudid (hydromorphone): $5.57 per mg
- fentanyl patch: $50 per 50 micrograms per hour (mcg/h) patch
- fentanyl powder: $150-$200 per gram
- methadone: $1.26 per mg
- morphine: $0.52 per mg
- Opana: $35 to $50 per pill
- OxyContin (oxycodone): $1.05 per mg, $50 to $80 per pill
- oxymorphone: $2.04 per mg
- Suboxone (film): $15 to $40 per 12mg/3mg film
- tapentadol: $0.10 per mg
- tramadol: $0.14 per mg
- Vicodin (hydrocodone): $0.99 per mg
- Wellbutrin (bupropion): $2 to $2.50 per pill
The Cost Of Marijuana
The price of marijuana may vary if it’s been laced with other substances. Marijuana may be laced with psychoactive drugs, such as PCP or LSD, or opioids, such as heroin.
Lacing marijuana with other powerful drugs may result in an intense high, driving the price up. Pure marijuana is less costly as it has no additives.
Price of pure marijuana by weight:
- one gram: $10 to $20
- eighth of an ounce, or eighth (3.5 grams): $30 to $40
- one ounce: $250 to $300
- one pound: $2,000 to $3,000
The price of marijuana may also depend on where it’s being sold. If it’s sold in a place where marijuana is not legal, the price is much higher.
The Cost Of Stimulant Drugs
Stimulant drugs tend to be more expensive, depending on the dose level of the pill, or the amount of the substance.
The average prices of stimulant drugs on the streets are:
- Adderall: $3 to $8 per 20 mg pill, $15 to $20 per 30 mg pill
- cocaine: $93 to $120 per gram
- methamphetamine: $20-$40 per gram, $40-$60 for 3.5 grams (8-ball)</li.
- Ritalin: $5 per 10 mg pill
The Cost Of Hallucinogens
Hallucinogens are also a costly drug, as these are very potent, strong substances. However, many of these drugs are long-lasting, making them more cost-effective than others.
For example, a single “hit” or dose of LSD will last around 24 hours, making the money stretch much longer than other drugs.
Here are the average street prices of commonly used hallucinogens:
- ketamine: $20 to $25 per dosage unit
- LSD: $2 to $20 per dose
- PCP: $150 to $300 per ounce
The Cost Of Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines, or benzos, are prescription medications typically used to treat symptoms of anxiety.
These are depressant drugs that slow the body’s systems down. These are commonly mixed with opioids, another central nervous system depressant.
The average costs of commonly used benzodiazepines are:
- alprazolam (Xanax): $3 to $15 per 2 mg pill
- diazepam (Valium): $10 per 10 mg pill
- lorazepam (Ativan): $2 to $15 per 2 mg pill
- clonazepam (Klonopin): $4 per 2 mg pill
What Affects The Cost Of Drugs?
The price of legal and illicit drugs sold on the street depends on a few factors.
These can include:
- the type of drug
- geographic location
- the potency of the drug
- the amount being purchased
- supply and demand for that drug
- whether the drug has been cut with another substance (cutting agents are used to dilute a more potent, expensive drug with less expensive substances to stretch the supply)
The cost of each drug type will largely depend on the location. For example, a 30 mg Adderall pill costs just $3.50 in Tampa, Florida, but costs $20 in New Hampshire.
This all depends on the supply and demand in that location. Drugs in high demand and low supply cost much more than those that are readily available and less desirable among consumers.
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Article Sources- The Journal of Pain — Street prices of prescription opioids diverted to the illicit market: data from a national surveillance program
https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(13)00492-6/fulltext - National Library of Medicine — Crowdsourcing black market prices for prescription opioids
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23956042/ - Sacramento County Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — Methamphetamine Trends in the Probation Department
https://dhs.saccounty.net/BHS/Documents/SUPT/Methamphetamine/Coalition-2020/MA-ADS-2020-02-13-Methamphetamine-Trends-in-the-Sacramento-County-Probation-Department.pdf - Statista — The Street Price Of A Gram Of Cocaine
https://www.statista.com/chart/18527/cocaine-retail-steet-prices-in-selected-countries/ - Street Drugs — Ketamine
https://streetdrugs.org/ketamine/ - United States Drug Enforcement Administration — Drug Fact Sheet: Benzodiazepines
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Benzodiazepenes-2020_1.pdf - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) — Retail and wholesale prices and purity levels
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR2011/WDR_Final_Prices_crop.pdf - World Drug Report 2021 — Price and Purity
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2019/prelaunch/8.1._Prices_and_purities_of_drugs.pdf