The World Health Organization Do***ents Failure of U.S. Drug Policies
By Bruce Mirken, AlterNet
Posted on July 2, 2008, Printed on July 4, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/90295/
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?
Bruce Mirken is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project.
=A9 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
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