Thread Tools

TheRockIsGod · 07-01-2008, 02:51 PM

Suprise suprise! With all the people we have locked up for drug "crimes", we still lead the pack in drug use. You mean to tell me that people will do whatever they want no matter what the law says? Imagine that!

Quote:

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

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."
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/per...l.pmed.0050141

That pretty much blows the "Making it legal will cause more people to abuse it" argument out of the water.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, more evidence that legalization is a good idea. Discuss....

**M.K.** · 07-01-2008, 03:54 PM

Thats because America has the craziest people to deal with, we got all the crackheads who are now becoming smarter about their buys from their dealers.

**RaZorJR** · 07-01-2008, 04:02 PM

I could've told you this.

Nothing new.

**GP_Punk** · 07-01-2008, 04:06 PM

Am i the only one who can't see any evidence of abuse in those numbers...?

Every single question on there was "have you ever tried so-and-so". How do you go from having smoked something once 25 years ago to substance abuse?

When it comes to alcohol it's even worse. It says so much % of people under 15 drink. Having been a 15-year-old less than 10 years ago and having a sister close to that age i know first hand that "drinking" at 15 means (for the majority of people) 3-4 drinks tops at a club 1-2 times a week max. Again, where is the abuse?

I'm not saying the conclusions are wrong, in fact i too think that making something illegal at that level only drives people to try it, but if this is the main body of their research and they haven't failed to mention (several) other questions then their deduction methods are a joke...

-Blaskohiro Tenryu- · 07-01-2008, 04:21 PM

It's pretty obvious that American is the leading country of dope heads...

**Certs** · 07-01-2008, 04:45 PM

At least we're not the fattest anymore.

Thanks Aussies

**Sticksy** · 07-01-2008, 05:21 PM

No problem Certs, we thought that you had enough wrong with your country so we just fattened up all the Tasmanian's

**Sephiroth** · 07-01-2008, 05:27 PM

High-five for America!

stinger-splash · 07-01-2008, 05:29 PM

I often cross the border with The Netherlands to buy my drugs. It's really a paradise over there. Too bad we always have to sneak it in. I mean we can have weed in our house, but we can't take it over the border. That's asking for trouble.

**dele3344** · 07-01-2008, 05:50 PM

USA USA USA USA!!