Americans are world's top drug users: study

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
Those who think the number is deflated, are you serious? Where in the world have I been? I've lived in New Mexico, Arizona, and Western Washington and I was being honest when I said I've never even seen coke before.

You gotta know the culture. These people meet up in certain places and have certain personality attributes that aren't apparent to the "straight and narrow" person but are readily apparent to a coke dealers/users and the stoners who steer clear of them. People just don't announce they are coke heads even to their closest friends unless they are damn sure they wouldn't rat them out to the cops or something. It's even considered rude to even look at someone doing a line. I've never tried it myself but I've learned what to look out for and I say a fair amount at least 20 percent, yeah 1 in 5 have tried it at least once. Ask some of your friends if they ever tried any at a party or something, I'd bet you'd get some surprising answers.

reply to post by runetang


" Colombia, and the surrounding states, smuggled via Mexican cartels. Right now the Mexican cartels are kicking the Mexican police arse .. pretty badly .. if you've been following the news, its kinda sad "


that is just fodder for the masses..

do you actually think, that all that is needed for clean up is more police?..

oh please....

big deal...everybody is a drug addict. Everyone is addicted to something whether its coke, coffee, cigs, or emotions. Some people are addicted to stealing energy, and some addicted to video games.
The fact is that we are human and we currently live in a demoralized culture in the US.
The pain of life is so real, some people need a diversion. I know I do, and I don't harm anyone in the process directly. I would grow my own stuff, but thats illegal..

whoever wants to interfere with harmless drug users must have some other goal involved, because any logical person knows that demonization and prohibition lead to higher usage and create a high demand....
your leaders are the real drug dealers...some of the smartest too

reply to post by toasted


Uh the cartel wars in Mexico are anything but fodder. My parents still live in Luna County, New Mexico and the cartels are attempting to bring their war over the border, disturbingly with some success. The entire police force for Palomas, Mexico recently fled across the border, driving right through the US Border Patrol check station and being chased to the courthouse by BP agents where they filed for (and were granted) asylum. My best friend's ex girlfriend was murdered brutally by a couple of the lower level cartel agents for failing to pay off a pot debt she had with them several years ago. They killed her by beating her to death with tire irons, hauled her out into the desert, dumped her body, and left her two children motherless. They've even found Mexican nationals chained to telephone poles out in the middle of the desert on this side of the border, dead from dehydration and heat stroke, that crossed the cartels. One poor bastard tried to set a fire with a lighter they didn't take from his pocket... they found him a week later burnt to a crisp and still chained to the pole.

The cartel wars are not fodder for the masses, they are all too real. If anything this has been a seriously under-reported situation facing our southern border. We don't need more police down there, we need the military there, in significant numbers and with heavy firepower.

Marijuana is not a drug....it's a gift from God!!!! When used in moderation it can be a great thing. It's certainly much safer than alcohol.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I had read a statistic a few years back saying something similar to 50% (or maybe it was 40%?) of all US single dollar bills contain traces of coc aine.

Needless to say, I always carry a check card on me now.

Something else I thought about re coc aine. Growing up in the 1950's, 60's, it was "common knowledge" that coc aine for decades had been a drug of choice among certain musicians. "High class" people didn't touch the stuff.

I don't remember widespread coc aine use until after 1980, regardless of class. This surge seems to jive with the wars in Central America, specifically the Contra (Reagan's "Freedom Fighters) resupply lines.

As it was explained then, how else do you best dispense arms down there (at a time when war there was supposed to be off-the-books as an American government enterprise) except by using the already established drug supply routes. The routes that formerly would bring plane loads of marijuana northward could be expanded to bring up coc aine in greater and greater quantities, while returning southward with guns and ammo for the Contras.

Kind of like regular shipping carrying loads both ways, only instead of tractors one way and machinery on return, these loads were arms south, drugs north.

Also, re coc aine usage. I don't remember the cry about addiction to it and how to solve the problem, until coc aine usage hit white middle class. It was one thing to accept a coked up musician who sang/played well, but if it suddenly became your white, suburban son/daughter/wife/husband or lawyer who was addicted, then it became a problem.

One more thing. The 1980's US economy was not in good shape, as various ways were introduced to bring down inflation. However, I believe that the economy would have been even worse for the average citizen, if it hadn't been for the huge infusion of drug money (cash!) into the system. Some of the financial laws on the books now stem from huge amounts of cash being payed for houses and luxury cars (I noticed lots of luxury car distributors popping up then, too!). The equivalent today would be for someone to walk in and plunk down $120,000 for a new car or $400,000 for a house.

Oh, re Mexican drug cartels. Yes, very bad and has affected US cities, some further away from the border. Many large marijuana crops in the forests are tended by Mexican nationals; not sure if they're financed by them. But, yes, murders of family members is not rare, whether done in Mexico or US.

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


Drugs are not legal in Canada. The Government just doesn't waste the time and money it takes to throw somebody in jail for smoking a joint as our friends to the south.

Originally posted by Shadowflux
I'll be honest here and counter those who've said they've never seen drugs before. I've seen far far too many, I've known far too many people who've become junkies and still are to this day. All, every one, of my brother's friends is a junkie. I've seen people use almost every drug but meth, I've seen them leave the bag and needles laying around and I see them nodding off, drooling on themselves all the time. I've had people very very close to me die because of their addictions. People who're close to me and are too messed up to realize they have a syringe in their front pocket while they're telling me they're not messed up.

I think there's a serious sickness in American life these days, there is something missing that our grandparents had. There's nothing left to life these days, wake up, go to work, come home and repeat till the weekend when you can go shopping or find some other way to spend your hard earned money. I think people are looking for some meaning, some point to life, they want to feel alive and not feel like another corporate worker drone. There's no more mystery in life, everything is old hat and played out.

People are simply self medicating because they can't deal with the soul crushing dullness of everyday American life.

Great post!!

I agree 100% with your line of reasoning.


On a different note:


I would be a liar if I tried to say that I am innocent in this report, I've done just about every controlled substance (with the exception of a few really naughty ones) available here in the states at least once. I don't regret any of it, and I attribute it mostly to being curious and a bit wild in my earlier more youthful days.

People should understand that there are such things as responsible, tax paying, functional adults in our society who use recreational drugs and are often times more successful than those who don't. Like anything in life, it is all about moderation and knowing that there is a time and place for everything. You simply have to know your own limits.

You can over do anything, wheather it be eating, sleeping, smoking cigarettes or playing golf. Some of the people I have shared these experiences with are some of the most brilliant and well respected people I have ever known. The truth is, more people have tried these types of things than anyone will ever realize, based solely on the sheer fact that a great majority will simply not admit to it.

If anything should be banned or cracked down on severely it should be alcohol consumption. It causes more accidents, more violent crime and is responsible for more broken homes and ruined lives than all of the other "hardcore" substances combined. The stuff ruins your organs and your overall health and is really the equivalent to pooring poison down your throat and ingesting it.

Why do you think it makes you feel so terrible the next day? It is your body telling you that it doesn't belong there. Anyone ever had a cannibus induced hang over? I think not. People only fear that which they do not understand.

Hope this post deosn't offend anyone, not my intention, just my honest assessment.

Hey we love to party here in America. The only real suprise to me is that New Zealand was number 2, I would of thought Great Britian because they seem to share the same influence of drugs in their popular culture But hey go kiwis, maybe thats why Flight of The Concords is so funny

i dont think this is any suprise at all... however i also dont think that we should take statistics like these truthfully because who knows how many other countries submitted accurate numbers of the drug users in their population. Also i might add my two sense as to why we have a "war on drugs" in the US... well its quite simple its a fake war... the government doesn't really want to "solve" our "drug problem" it wouldn't be in the best interest of our economy.. with drugs being illegal the government doesnt report the income and money generated through the drug market... in short the american drug market fuels much of our economy by staying illegal... why else would the cia have brought heroin and who knows what other drugs in over the years./.. its all a scheme to boost the economy... basically if the drug trade suddenly stopped in America our economy would suffer

America is very open about drug use. I have spoken with many others in various countries and they have huge drug problems also. Many countries you can buy addictive perscription drugs at markets very easily. I dont think other countries keep very good stats on drug abuse. I will agree that Americans probably use the most though.

Originally posted by sardion2000
You gotta know the culture. These people meet up in certain places and have certain personality attributes that aren't apparent to the "straight and narrow" person but are readily apparent to a coke dealers/users and the stoners who steer clear of them.

Would love to know what makes you think what you just posted.

Originally posted by sardion2000
People just don't announce they are coke heads even to their closest friends unless they are damn sure they wouldn't rat them out to the cops or something.

I can imagine a coppers reaction when you phone them up to tell them you have just seen your mate doing a line.

Originally posted by sardion2000
It's even considered rude to even look at someone doing a line.

Is it?

Originally posted by sardion2000
I've never tried it myself

You seem to know quite a bit about it all though?

More on-topic, it doesn't really surprise me the US are the world's top drug users.

Originally posted by BlackOps791
People should understand that there are such things as responsible, tax paying, functional adults in our society who use recreational drugs and are often times more successful than those who don't. Like anything in life, it is all about moderation and knowing that there is a time and place for everything. You simply have to know your own limits.

Well said, would have given you ten stars if I could...

[edit on 3-7-2008 by cleggy88]

[edit on 3-7-2008 by cleggy88]