One would be to try to cut the demand for drugs, rather than the supply. The latter has never worked, as the stable or falling street price of drugs makes clear. In 1999 a gram of cocaine cost $142 on the street; in 2006 the price had fallen to only $94 per gram (Maru 2009). Trend analysis of cocaine prices depends often on base years selected and avoidance of interpreting single data spikes. For instance, DEA reports that cocaine prices increased in 2007-08 from $100 to $200 per gram on the street, which may have been due to the Mexican crackdown on drug gangs and consequent interruption of supply (The Economist 2009f, 43). Nevertheless, longer-term price trends are downward, and the argument for alternatives to incarceration is empirically strong. A Rand Corporation study found that $1 of drug treatment lowers consumption as much as $7 worth of law enforcement does. Treatment can lower the volume of drugs consumed;the less consumption,the fewer drug-related crimes.