Time Magazine lead with the story, generated in part from a U.N. report on global drug use in 2010. Cannabis, according to that report, boasts somewhere between 119 million and 224 million and is the most widely produced and trafficked drug that any other illicit drug. The report also claims:
“About 230 million people, or 5 per cent of the world’s adult population, are estimated to have used an illicit drug at least once in 2010. Problem drug users number about 27 million, which is 0.6 per cent of the world adult
population. Throughout the world, illicit drug use appears to be generally stable, though it continues to be rising in several developing countries. Heroin, cocaine and other drugs kill around 0.2 million people each year, shattering families and bringing misery to thousands of other people. Illicit drugs undermine economic and social development and contribute to crime, instability, insecurity and the spread of HIV.”
While the increase in popularity of weed hardly shocks me, some other facts in the report were eye-opening. Namely, that Afghanistan’s most lucrative cash crop is cannabis, which replaces heroin. The next most widely-used class of drugs globally are ATS, or amphetamine-type substances. (I would have thought cocaine.) And most people tend to stop using drugs as adults and “relatively few people who have used an illicit substance once progress to frequent or regular (i.e. monthly) use.” The only exception is tranquilizers.
Read the entire report here.
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Not even close. Religion is the most popular (and deadly) drug in the world.
There are worse drugs out there than marijuana. Although it’s arguable, some so called legal drugs are worse. Addictive pain killers and alcohol. Illegal drugs like heroin, speed, crack, pills are far more harmful than pot.
It’s a known fact that the DuPont Chemical Co. started a war with a cheap source of natural fiber in competition for their nylon rope product. They sponsored a movie called Reefer Madness to convince the American public that marijuana drove people insane.
During Jimmy Carter’s Presidency a Presidential Commission was set up to determine the truth about marijuana’s harmful effects. Carter announced in a joint session of Congress that the Commission had found that punishment outweighed the crime and that Americans should be allowed to posses
less than one once for personal use. Today 52% of our prison population are incarcerated for marijuana possession. What a waste of resources.
I for one am not in favor of Corporate rule in our country. The fact is most Americans favor total legalization of marijuana and it’s just a matter of time before it is legal. When it does become legal you’ll see fewer people using harder drugs.