Lit_Match

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin
06-03-08|NORML


US Drug Enforcement Administration ‘Celebrates’ 35 Years Of Failure

Washington, DC: The United State’s top federal anti-drug agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), turned 35-years-old this week, according to US Department of Justice press release.

“The Drug Enforcement Administration was created 35 years ago on [July 1] by President Richard Nixon, who through an Executive Order established a single unified command to combat ‘an all-out global war on the drug menace,’” the DOJ release states. “At its outset, the DEA had 1,470 Special Agents, a budget of less than $75 million, and a presence in 31 countries. Today, the DEA has 5,235 Special Agents, a budget of more than $2.4 billion and 87 foreign offices in 63 countries.”

Commenting on the agency’s anniversary, NORML podcast host Russ Belville noted that illicit drug use, production, potency, availability, and drug-related overdose deaths have all increased sharply over the past three decades.

“Bigger budgets, more drugs. More arrests, more deaths. More seizures, more potency. More agents, more users. For their thirty-fifth anniversary, perhaps they should change their name to the Drug Encouragement Administration,” he said.

Belville has posted a critical review of the federal agency online at: The DEA turns 35 this week! | NORML's Daily Audio Stash

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.

DL: US Drug Enforcement Administration ‘Celebrates’ 35 Years Of Failure - NORML


Marijuana, Cocaine Have Contrasting Effects On Driving Performance, Study Says

Victoria, British Columbia: Cannabis and cocaine have contrasting effects upon psychomotor performance, according to survey data published in the current issue of the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

Investigators at British Columbia’s Center for Addiction Research surveyed the attitudes and driving behaviors of adults in drug treatment that had a history of driving under the influence of cannabis, cocaine, or alcohol. Authors reported that pot’s acute effects were more likely to make respondents drive more cautiously or refuse driving altogether.

“When comparing negative physical effects and reckless style of driving with frequency of driving under the influence of cannabis or cocaine, increased negative physical effects from cannabis were inversely related to frequency of driving under the influence of cannabis,” investigators concluded. “In terms of driving behavior, cautious or normal driving was commonly reported for cannabis, whereas reckless or reduced driving ability was frequently reported for cocaine.”

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org

Full text of the study, “Driving behavior under the influence of cannabis or cocaine,” appears in Traffic Injury Prevention.

Additional information on marijuana use and on-road accident risk appears in the NORML report "Cannabis and Driving: A Scientific and Rational Review," available online at: Cannabis and Driving: A Scientific and Rational Review - NORML

DL: Marijuana, Cocaine Have Contrasting Effects On Driving Performance, Study Says - NORML


US Leads The World In Illicit Drug Use


“A punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use,” WHO study says

Washington, DC: Illicit drug use is more prevalent in the United States than anywhere else in the world, according to statistics published this week in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine.

Investigators at the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed survey data from 54,000 citizens in 17 countries in the Americas (United States, Colombia, and Mexico), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine), the Middle East and Africa (Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa), Asia (Japan, and separate surveys in Beijing and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China), and Oceania (New Zealand). Researchers reported that the United States has atypically high rates of illegal drug use despite the enforcement of punitive, criminal drug policies.

“The US had among the highest levels of both legal and illegal drug use among all countries surveyed,” investigators concluded.

Specifically, the study found that more than 42 percent of Americans had experimented with pot – a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world and is more than twice the rate of cannabis use in the Netherlands, where the sale and use of marijuana is legal.

Authors also reported that more than 16 percent of Americans had used cocaine – a percentage that was nearly four times higher than that of any other nation. Several nations surveyed – including France, Italy, and the Netherlands – reported that fewer than 2 percent of the country’s population had ever used the drug.

“The US, 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 [the enactment of] punitive illegal drug policies,” authors concluded. “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.”

Commenting on the study NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “Since 1980, the number of US drug offenders behind bars has risen by and astronomical 1100 percent. Yet despite politicians’ fixation on punishing drug offenders with longer and more severe prison sentences, Americans’ thirst for illicit substances still remains greater than anywhere else on the globe, and is more than twice as high as that of most Western European nations – including those nations that have decriminalized or legalized the possession and use of cannabis.”

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org

Full text of the study, “Toward a global view of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and cocaine use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys,” appears online at: PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal

DL: US Leads The World In Illicit Drug Use - NORML

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