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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."
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Friday August 19 2016, @12:51PM
I'd argue that the resistance to legal pot has more-so always been economic. There are a lot of players that would lose money with legal cannabis. These include the alcohol industry, the big drug companies, the textile industry, the paper industry... I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but the point is that cash is king in the US (and most of the Western world). Politicians ideological ideas change with the flow of cash lining their pockets..
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday August 19 2016, @01:55PM
All of those, but the big two you missed are the for-profit prison industry and the asset seizure (highway robbery) industry.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 19 2016, @03:13PM
In exactly one hour, there will be a story called "Justice Department Says It Will End Use of Private Prisons".
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/08/19/031257 [soylentnews.org] (link will work when the story goes live)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Saturday August 20 2016, @02:34AM
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @02:35PM
The demonizing was easy back then. Jut tell people it makes white girls have sex with negro men. Done.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday August 19 2016, @09:08PM
The textile industry was responsible for Reefer Madness [wikipedia.org] as well as the Marihuana Tax Act [wikipedia.org].
From the very beginning, weed was demonized because it took profits away from rich men that had powerful friends in government to help them get it back.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.