U.S. leads world in substance abuse, WHO finds

CptSternn · 07-02-2008, 12:34 AM

http://tinyurl.com/3sl2cx

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States leads the world in rates of experimenting with marijuana and cocaine despite strict drug laws, World Health Organization researchers said on Tuesday.

Countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

The survey of 54,000 people in 17 countries found that 16 percent of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetimes -- far higher than the next highest rate, found in New Zealand, where 4.3 percent of people reported having used cocaine.

More than 42 percent of Americans admitted to having tried cannabis, closely followed by 41 percent in New Zealand, Dr. Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and an international team of colleagues found.

Americans were also the most likely to have smoked, with 74 percent saying they used tobacco at some time in their lives, although current smoking rates are far lower at 21 percent.

The next-highest lifetime smoking rate was found in Lebanon at 67 percent, with 60 percent of Mexicans and the 61 percent of Ukrainians having ever smoked.

"Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones," Degenhardt's team wrote.

Alcohol was by far the most common substance used, the researchers found in their face-to-face interviews with people.

"Alcohol use by age 15 years was far more common in European countries than in the Middle East and Africa," they wrote.

By the age of 21, up to 99 percent of Europeans, 92 percent of Japanese, 94 percent of New Zealanders and 93 percent of people in the Americas had tasted alcohol.

"Estimates were lower in the Middle East and Africa (40 percent to 63 percent)" the researchers wrote.

"In the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and New Zealand, more than 60 percent of young people had started to drink by age 15 years," they added.

"These findings add to our understanding of substance abuse world-wide, and suggest that drug use is still a major problem in this country, pointing to the need for more effective prevention interventions," U.S. National Institutes of Health director Dr. Elias Zerhouni added in a statement.

The researchers said their findings shed light on drug, alcohol and smoking policy.

"The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries," they wrote.

"The United States, which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of use of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal drug policies, as well as (in many U.S. states), a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age than many comparable developed countries," they added.

"The Netherlands, with a less criminally punitive approach to cannabis use than the U.S., has experienced lower levels of use, particularly among younger adults."

The study is available at http://medicine.plosjournals.org/per...=get-document& doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050141.

CptSternn · 07-02-2008, 12:44 AM

So, there ye go. Again, studies show countries with legalised drug use or low criminal penalties still have lower drug use, lower amounts of addicts, and lower crime rates that countries that are more draconian in nature.

What I think is funny, and I do mean funny, is that three times in the past 10 years the FBI along with hundreds of police departments in America, plus the US military have had to lower their entrance qualifications to allow various types of drug use.

What does it say about a country whose own police force can't keep from breaking the laws? Hell, you have presidents now openly admitting to drug use. I mean, seriously, if the leader of the nation and the police protecting it can't keep from having a smoke, then who are they to go out and arrest people for engaging in the very same activities they themselves participated in?

The 'do as I say, not as I do' type of behaviour which has dominated Americas foreign policy for years appears to be alive and well at home.

Don't torture, don't worry about what we are doing in secret prisons on rendition flights. Don't hold people without access to lawyers or a fair trial, and don't look at our behaviour in Guantanamo. Don't invade other nations, and pay no mind to whats happening in Iraq.

Don't do drugs, because they are bad, of course, a large chunk of the law enforcement who will arrest you for using drugs and the politicians who wrote the legislation to make them even more illegal have themselves been high before.

Beneath the Shadows · 07-02-2008, 03:53 AM

Quote:

The United States leads the world in rates of experimenting with marijuana and cocaine despite strict drug laws, World Health Organization researchers said on Tuesday.

There's only one problem with this... American marijuana laws are not strict. Over 20% of the states have decriminalized marijuana, with the highest penalty for under an ounce being about $100. (For comparison, I had to pay about $150 for having an open can of energy drink on a subway platform in Los Angeles, which is in one of the decriminalized states.) Even in the remaining states where marijuana is not decriminalized on the state level, there are cities/towns/villages/etc that have lax marijuana laws.

I can't speak about cocaine. I've done it for a short while, but I never studies into it.

Lapin · 07-02-2008, 07:24 AM

It's one of the classic "You can't have it, so you want it all the more" type of things.

HumanePain · 07-02-2008, 07:36 AM

"The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries," I think is the main problem. Hollywood lifestyles glamorize it, broadcast by a media eager for ratings by sensationalizing it, and then young people say "I want to be arock star too!" and emulate them, and because they can afford it, provide the market demand that results in peddlers.

CptSternn · 07-03-2008, 01:01 AM

The Hollywood thing always makes me chuckle. I mean, America has these draconian laws in place, yet every TV show, movie, and song is about breaking them.

Wormboy · 07-04-2008, 02:48 AM

I think weed should be completely legal everywhere. Let everyone use it to see how pointless it is. Last time I smoked weed, all I did was sleep for about twelve hours.