The World Health Organization Do***ents Failure of U.S. Drug Policies
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
By Bruce Mirken | The United States has some of the world’s most
punitive drug policies and has led the cheering section for tough “war
on drugs” policies worldwide, but a new international study suggests
that those policies have been a cra****ng failure. A World Health
Organization survey of 17 countries, conducted by some of the world’s
leading substance abuse researchers, found that we have the highest rates
of marijuana and cocaine use.
The numbers are startling. In the United States, 42.4 percent admitted
having used marijuana. The only other nation that came close was New
Zealand, another bastion of get-tough policies, at 41.9 percent. No one
else was even close. The results for cocaine use were similar, with the
United States leading the world by a large margin.
This study is im****tant because it’s the first time a respected
international group has surveyed drug use around the world, using the same
questions and procedure everywhere. While many countries have their own
drug use surveys, the questions and methodology vary, and comparisons
between countries are difficult. This new study eliminates that problem.
Some of the most striking numbers are from the Netherlands, where adults
are permitted to possess a small of marijuana and purchase it from
regulated businesses. Some U.S. officials have claimed that these Dutch
policies have created some sort of decadent cesspool of drug abuse, but
the new study demolishes such assertions: In the Netherlands, only 19.8
percent have used marijuana, less than half the U.S. figure.
Even more striking is what the researchers found when they asked young
adults when they had started using marijuana. Again, the United States led
the world, with 20.2 percent trying marijuana by age 15. No other country
was even close, and in the Netherlands, just 7 percent used marijuana by
15 — roughly one-third of the U.S. figure.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy tried to dismiss
the study, Bloomberg News re****ted:
Trying to find a link between drug use and drug enforcement doesn’t
make sense, said Tom Riley, spokesman for the U.S. Office of National
Drug Control Policy in Wa****ngton. “The U.S. has high crime rates
but we spend a lot on law enforcement and prison,” Riley said
yesterday in a telephone interview. “Should we spend less? We’re
just a different kind of country. We have higher drug use rates, a
higher crime rate, many things that go with a highly free and mobile
society.”
Funny, ONDCP takes precisely the opposite line whenever a state considers
liberalizing its marijuana laws. In a March press release, deputy Drug
Czar Scott Burns railed against a New Hamp****re proposal to decriminalize
marijuana, saying such a move “sends the wrong message to New
Hamp****re’s youth, students, parents, public health officials and the
law enforcement community,” and would lead to “more drugs, drug users
and drug dealers on their streets and communities.”
Back in 2002, denouncing a proposed marijuana law reform in Nevada, ONDCP
distributed a list of talking points to prosecutors specifically slamming
the “extremely dubious” Dutch system of regulated sales, saying,
“Increased availability of marijuana leads to increased use of marijuana
and other drugs.”
In fact, ONCDP’s latest excuse for the failure of U.S. drug policies —
that enforcement and penalties don’t really have much effect on rates of
use — is probably just about right. But it also dynamites any
justification for our current marijuana laws. The WHO researchers put it
this way:
“The U.S., 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. … 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.”
For this we arrest 830,000 Americans a year on marijuana charges?
See More:Drugs USA News
http://rinf.com/alt-news/culture/the-world-health-organization-do***ents-failure-of-us-drug-policies/4050/
--
Dr John Watson
Baker Street
|
