WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2008
U.S. Drug Use Shows Little Change In 2007
Cocaine, Methamphetamine Use Among Young Adults Drops Significantly; Overall Use Steady, Report Says
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(CBS)
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Interactive Substance Abuse In America Get the facts on a national problem. Find out where to get help, learn how drugs affect the body and compare state drunk-driving laws.
About one in five young adults last year acknowledged illicit drug use within the previous month, a rate similar to previous years. But cocaine use declined by one-quarter and methamphetamine use by one-third.
Drug use increased among the 50-59 age group as more baby boomers joined that category. Their past month drug use rose from 4.3 percent in 2006 to 5 percent in 2007.
"The baby boomers have much higher rates of self-destructive behavior than any parallel age group we have data from," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Walter, 55, is a boomer himself.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, being released Thursday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is based on interviews with about 67,500 people.
Overall, about 20 million people 12 or older reported using illicit drugs within the past month. Marijuana was the most popular by far, with 14.4 million acknowledging use of marijuana in the past month.
Among adolescents, age 12 to 17, drug use dipped from 9.8 percent in 2006 to 9.5 percent last year, continuing a five-year trend. Their use of alcohol and cigarettes also fell during the same period.
"The earlier you use drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, the more likely you are to have a lifelong problem," Walters said.
Much of the progress in curbing drug use occurred between 2002 and 2005. Critics of the nation's drug policies warned not to read too much into the latest numbers.
"Use of marijuana and other drugs naturally fluctuates and if you look at long-term trends, current rates are smack in the middle of the range they've been in for decades," said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the decriminalization of marijuana. "There is simply no evidence that current policies ... have made any difference."
A World Health Organization survey of 17 countries this year showed that people in the U.S. were more likely than people elsewhere to have tried illicit drugs. The U.S. tied New Zealand for the highest rate of marijuana use and far outpaced other countries on cocaine use, the survey found.
The U.S. report measured drug use over the past month, while the WHO's looked at drug use over a lifetime.
The WHO survey concluded: "The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries. The U.S., which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal drug policies as well as a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age than many comparable developed countries."
More than half the people who tried drugs for the first time in 2007 used marijuana, according to the U.S. survey. The rate of new marijuana users came to about 6,000 people a day.
The overall rate of illicit drug use dropped from 8.3 percent of those 12 and older to 8.0 percent in 2007.
Walters also acknowledged concern about nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers among young adults. He urged parents to have more awareness of where they keep their prescriptions and to throw them away when the drugs are no longer needed.
The survey, which also examined mental health, indicated that 24.3 million people 18 or older experienced "serious psychological distress over the past year." It stressed the link between mental health and substance abuse, noting that adults experiencing depression within the past year were more than twice as like to have tried illicit drugs during that time than other adults.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 23 CommentsPosted by honestabe8 at 12:21 PM : Sep 04, 2008
ROFLAMFAO,, ah yes, The six pack beauty queen!
The US
The US
The US
The US
Why, No one should be punished.
If you do not hurt anybody with your choices, how is that breaking the law?
I think our fore fathers would flip out over a simple thing like parking tickets!
Our Government is Big Brother, they OWN us.
One has to wonder if Marijuana was legal like beer and whiskey, if it would still be a problem?
Letting the dark side control illegal drugs has only made the problem worse. They have the money and the bullets to make sure it gets through.
Look at Mexico right now. Thousands of men, woman and children are being killed in the name of the drug war. If it was legal, these people would still be alive.
It is also interesting that even though the potency has gone up, as stated by Walters, no one has died from smoking grass. Thousands of our kids die every year by drinking to much or by alcohol posioning, as the government likes to call it.
Which is worse?
THis country has never been drug free. We have always had alcohol around, which I beleive is considered a drug, weather it was wine, rum, or Grog, we have always had it.
I think it was in the 1800''s (late) that the alcohol industry realised that cannibus just might hinder future sales that the push was on to illegalise it.
A shame really. Pot has never killed, harmed the user, or made the user run over somebody in a car either, like alcohol has. And you can''t convince anybody of that either. If you legalised pot, you''d see a 50 to 60% reduction in crime. Of course Law Enforcement would seeth at that notion, it would cut into their profits too much.
So what we need to do is forget the Alcohol v. Cannabis routine, and truly pull down the pants of those behind these archaic, moralistic laws. Little trivial facts can be used, such as: Who sponsors and pays for such TV advertising as "Partnership For A Drug Free America?" Follow the money-trail. It''s the liquor industry. Not the government, and not some benevolent foundation like the Salvation Army. This is one way to show the average citizen how they are paying to be duped.
Posted by honestabe8 at 05:28 AM : Sep 04, 2008
I agree, and lets not forget Big Pharma too. With the billions flowing into their coffers, that would certainly be missed, if pot was made legal.
With all the uppers and downers that get prescribed out on a regular basis. If people needed a mind altering drug, you could just turn to pot instead of all these other lethal garbage being turned out by Big Pharma.
What a mess this country is in, due to all the greed of money.
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