As of 7:58 a.m. Thursday when this story was filed, state and federal spending on the "War on Drugs" had totaled about $40.6 million so far this year. There's a Web site, www.drugsense.org where one can see the amount growing by $600 per second.

That would pay more than 871,300 elementary and secondary school teachers' salaries for an entire year.

Meantime the flow of illicit drugs continues to stream through United States borders. In Nogales, for example, preliminary figures compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicate that officers seized nearly 17 tons of marijuana, or 33,540 pounds in fiscal year 2006-07, which ended Sept. 30. That was 11,494 pounds more than the previous year. Had that weed reached the streets, it would have netted the sellers up to $20.1 million, according to Lt. Gerardo Castillo who heads the Santa Cruz County Metro Task Force.

Nogales CBP officers netted 3,335 pounds of cocaine in FY 2006-07, about 909 pounds less than the previous year.

The cache this year would have fetched about $24.2 million on the street, Castillo said.

Methamphetamine costs between $3,800 a pound and $6,000. Seizures this year totaled 521 pounds or up to $3.1 million worth. In FY 2005-06, officers at the Nogales port of entry confiscated 699 pounds of meth, according to the preliminary figures provided by CBP spokesman Brian Levin.

Heroin seizures also decreased.

This year, 67 pounds were discovered vs. last year's seizures of 157 pounds.

One pound of heroin, depending on purity will sell for between $25,000 and $32,000, Castillo said.

On the streets, the 67 pounds could have netted dealers up to $2.1 million.

Levin said that 3.2 million non-commercial vehicles were processed in FY 2006-07, down slightly from the year before.

Pedestrian crossings went up from 7.43 million last year to nearly 7.8 million in 2006-07.

Commercial truck crossings totaled 288,134 last year. In FY 2006-07, about 800 trucks per day were processed at the Mariposa Port of Entry for a total of 291,429.

In all, 16.93 million folks were processed through he port, including bus passengers, according to Levin's preliminary figures.

Last year, there were about 16.83 million that crossed into the United States, he said.