Jimbo
New Member
July 3, 2008 - Washington, DC, USA
"A punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use," WHO study says
Washington, DC: Illicit drug use is more prevalent in the United States than anywhere else in the world, according to statistics published this week in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine.
Investigators at the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed survey data from 54,000 citizens in 17 countries in the Americas (United States, Colombia, and Mexico), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine), the Middle East and Africa (Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa), Asia (Japan, and separate surveys in Beijing and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China), and Oceania (New Zealand). Researchers reported that the United States has atypically high rates of illegal drug use despite the enforcement of punitive, criminal drug policies.
"The US had among the highest levels of both legal and illegal drug use among all countries surveyed," investigators concluded.
Specifically, the study found that more than 42 percent of Americans had experimented with pot — a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world and is more than twice the rate of cannabis use in the Netherlands, where the sale and use of marijuana is legal.
Authors also reported that more than 16 percent of Americans had used co*aine — a percentage that was nearly four times higher than that of any other nation. Several nations surveyed — including France, Italy, and the Netherlands — reported that fewer than 2 percent of the country's population had ever used the drug.
"The US, which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of use of alc*hol, co*aine, and cannabis, despite [the enactment of] punitive illegal drug policies," authors concluded. "The Netherlands, with a less criminally punitive approach to cannabis use than the US, has experienced lower levels of use, particularly among younger adults. Clearly, by itself, a punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use."
Commenting on the study NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: "Since 1980, the number of US drug offenders behind bars has risen by and astronomical 1100 percent. Yet despite politicians' fixation on punishing drug offenders with longer and more severe prison sentences, Americans' thirst for illicit substances still remains greater than anywhere else on the globe, and is more than twice as high as that of most Western European nations — including those nations that have decriminalized or legalized the possession and use of cannabis."
NORML
"A punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use," WHO study says
Washington, DC: Illicit drug use is more prevalent in the United States than anywhere else in the world, according to statistics published this week in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine.
Investigators at the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed survey data from 54,000 citizens in 17 countries in the Americas (United States, Colombia, and Mexico), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine), the Middle East and Africa (Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa), Asia (Japan, and separate surveys in Beijing and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China), and Oceania (New Zealand). Researchers reported that the United States has atypically high rates of illegal drug use despite the enforcement of punitive, criminal drug policies.
"The US had among the highest levels of both legal and illegal drug use among all countries surveyed," investigators concluded.
Specifically, the study found that more than 42 percent of Americans had experimented with pot — a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world and is more than twice the rate of cannabis use in the Netherlands, where the sale and use of marijuana is legal.
Authors also reported that more than 16 percent of Americans had used co*aine — a percentage that was nearly four times higher than that of any other nation. Several nations surveyed — including France, Italy, and the Netherlands — reported that fewer than 2 percent of the country's population had ever used the drug.
"The US, which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of use of alc*hol, co*aine, and cannabis, despite [the enactment of] punitive illegal drug policies," authors concluded. "The Netherlands, with a less criminally punitive approach to cannabis use than the US, has experienced lower levels of use, particularly among younger adults. Clearly, by itself, a punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use."
Commenting on the study NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: "Since 1980, the number of US drug offenders behind bars has risen by and astronomical 1100 percent. Yet despite politicians' fixation on punishing drug offenders with longer and more severe prison sentences, Americans' thirst for illicit substances still remains greater than anywhere else on the globe, and is more than twice as high as that of most Western European nations — including those nations that have decriminalized or legalized the possession and use of cannabis."
NORML
