Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday August 19 2016, @08:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the where-*DO*-addicts-come-from? dept.

Medical Daily reports

Utilizing data from four decades of U.S. government drug use surveys, an extensive and easy-to-use collection of charts has just been created.

[...] The Brian C. Bennett Drug Charts provide a more accurate and illuminating picture of the use and abuse of drugs in America. The visual data components break down people's habits consuming alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, crack cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants, LSD, marijuana, MDMA, methamphetamines, nonmedical prescription pills, nonmedical prescription pain relievers, oxycontin, PCP, sedatives, stimulants, and tranquilizers.

"The Bennett charts graphically illustrate the natural course of the use of psychoactive drugs", William Martin, director of the Baker Institute's Drug Policy Program, and Katharine Neill, the Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at the Baker Institute, wrote in an issue brief called Drugs by the Numbers: The Brian C. Bennett Drug Charts.

"Most people who ever use such drugs stop using them shortly after initiation or a period of (usually brief) experimentation. As the introduction to the collection explains, this pattern is closely correlated with age, with illicit drug use (and other risky behaviors) reaching a peak between 18 and 20, declining sharply by age 26 and then dropping gradually over the rest of the lifespan", the researchers explained.

"This calls into question policies that levy harsh penalties and apply indelible criminal records to people for what may be experimental or incidental use likely to stop on its own in the normal course of maturation without treatment, 12-step programs or relapse. More rational and compassionate responses exist and deserve close attention."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Chromium_One on Friday August 19 2016, @09:28AM

    by Chromium_One (4574) on Friday August 19 2016, @09:28AM (#390011)

    Good reason not to let the camp counselors (or attendees) be your suppliers, maaaan!

    --
    When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @09:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @09:33AM (#390012)

    No, man, it's a weed, and it was growing wild at the camp. I was the dumb kid who was sucking nectar out of flowers. I hallucinated for days and I didn't even know why at the time.

    • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday August 19 2016, @01:47PM

      by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday August 19 2016, @01:47PM (#390054) Journal

      You amuse me! Next you'll be warning us about peppers because you bought some ghost peppers at the supermarket once not knowing what they were.

      Don't let this person near nutmeg! That's another one that will cause an altered state of mind for days!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @05:56PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @05:56PM (#390189)

        Ok smartass, you should try being the bored young kid sucking perfectly innocuous nectar, who hours later develops dilated pupils, extreme photosensitivity, tunnel vision, and a persistent murmuring of voices that just aren't there. And then you go back for more nectar because you don't know you have temporary amnesia and can't understand the nectar is causing your symptoms. The adults warned you about obvious things like poison ivy, but they never mentioned datura, you wouldn't know to ask for help if they had, and you're not acting strangely enough for anyone to notice something is wrong with you. Meanwhile you have no idea the nectar is poisonous or how close you are to overdose.

        • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday August 19 2016, @08:51PM

          by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday August 19 2016, @08:51PM (#390273) Journal

          Well, ok. If you're not trolling, I shouldn't be so harsh. How did you make it to safety? What was your condition when it wore off? Have you submitted an experience report to Erowid?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @10:14PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @10:14PM (#390319)

            I was sucking the flowers for one weekend, in a daze and hallucinating the whole time, but I was functional enough. The direct effects wore off after a couple of days, although I had flashbacks for a few months. For years I thought I had social anxiety from going to camp, until I happened to find datura on Wikipedia. I recognized it immediately and knew then that I had been on a drug at the time, and I realized how lucky I was only to drink the nectar and not eat any other parts of the plant. Never looked at Erowid before today but I know from my own experience as a child, this warning from the site is surely true: "Small children should not use Datura."

    • (Score: 2) by Chromium_One on Friday August 19 2016, @02:48PM

      by Chromium_One (4574) on Friday August 19 2016, @02:48PM (#390092)

      Didn't I cover that case? You weren't an attendee?!

      --
      When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.