Americans Are World's Top Drug Users: Study

[Beerman]

Article -Never would have thought New Zealand would be number 2!

 

Americans are the world's top consumers of cannabis and cocaine despite punitive US drug laws, according to an international study published in the online scientific magazine PLoS Medicine. The study, released Monday, revealed that 16.2 percent of Americans had tried cocaine at least once, and 42.4 percent had used marijuana.

 

In second-place New Zealand, just 4.3 percent of study participants had used cocaine, and 41.9 percent marijuana.

 

The research was conducted at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, based on World Health Organization data from 54,068 people in 17 countries.

 

Rates of participation differed from country to country, and researchers noted uncertainty over how honestly people report their own drug use.

 

"Nevertheless, the findings present comprehensive data on the patterns of drug use from national samples representing all regions of the world," a PLoS statement said.

 

A vast majority of survey participants from the United States, Europe, Japan and New Zealand had consumed alcohol, compared to smaller percentages from the Middle East, Africa and China.

 

The data also revealed socioeconomic patterns in drug use. Single young adult men with high income had the greatest tendency to regularly use drugs.

 

Drug use "does not appear to be simply related to drug policy," the researchers wrote, "since countries with more stringent policies toward illegal drug use did not have lower levels of such drug use than countries with more liberal policies."

 

In the Netherlands, where drug policy is more liberal than the United States, 1.9 percent of survey participants said they had used cocaine and 19.8 percent marijuana.

 

Twelve US 12 states including California permit medical use of marijuana, but possession and use remains prohibited under federal law.

 

And despite the US government's massive anti-drug efforts, the United States remains the world's top drug market, one amply supplied by South American cartels.

 

The US Drug Enforcement Agency has observed ever larger quantities of illegal drugs pouring into the country.

 

"We are seizing greater quantities of illegal drugs than ever before," said a DEA statement last week.

 

In 2007, agents seized 41 metric tons of cocaine in just two raids, and denied drug traffickers record-breaking revenue of 3.5 billion dollars for the year, it said.

 

 

[Big_Dave]

They can't beat us with guns so now they beat us with drugs. This could be the "fall of the roman empire".

[gi7omy]

More suicide really than an external attack - look no further than your own security services

 

For example:

 

"The CIA - over the objections of the Drug Enforcement Administration, a branch of the Justice Department - approved the shipment of at least one ton of nearly pure cocaine to Miami International Airport as a way of gathering information about the Colombian drug cartels. But the cocaine ended up on the street because of "poor judgment and management on the part of several CIA officers," the intelligence agency said"

 

Very interesting Wiki on all of that - including Colombia, Afghanistan, etc

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_drug_trafficking

[lynn98109]

They need to put more resources into the very high demand for help beating addiction.

 

Until that changes, I don't see much else changing

 

Lynn

[cdanteek]

They need to put more resources into the very high demand for help beating addiction.

 

Until that changes, I don't see much else changing

 

Lynn

 

Do you remember this, or is it a age thing....

 

War on Drugs

 

1971, June 17: Nixon declares war on drugs. He characterized the abuse of illicit substances as "public enemy number one in the United States". Under Nixon, the U.S. Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This legislation is the foundation on which the modern drug war exists. Responsibility for enforcement of this new law was given to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and then in 1973 to the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration. During the Nixon era, for the only time in the history of the war on drugs, the majority of funding goes towards treatment, rather than law enforcement.

 

cd

[Ijar]

Am not surprised...supposedly super..super west

Superior at everything.....

[grandpabruce]

 

Do you remember this, or is it a age thing....

 

War on Drugs

 

1971, June 17: Nixon declares war on drugs. He characterized the abuse of illicit substances as "public enemy number one in the United States". Under Nixon, the U.S. Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This legislation is the foundation on which the modern drug war exists. Responsibility for enforcement of this new law was given to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and then in 1973 to the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration. During the Nixon era, for the only time in the history of the war on drugs, the majority of funding goes towards treatment, rather than law enforcement.

 

cd

 

I remember. Had to treat those hippies. They all couldn't be arrested.

 

When they found out they couldn't treat all of them, they sent at least one to the UK. He posts in these forums. LOL!

[malatekid]

I remember. Had to treat those hippies. They all couldn't be arrested.

 

When they found out they couldn't treat all of them, they sent at least one to the UK. He posts in these forums. LOL!

ROFLMAO!! You're so funny! This is the effect of the coming long weekend?

[gi7omy]

That the weekend we are supposed to celebrate getting rid of you lot of tax-dodgers?