http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hovUpnhllEsX9vClXt86VxCmwo1A
Americans are world's top drug users: study
1 day ago
WA****NGTON (AFP) =97 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 re****t 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.
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