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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."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @01:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @01:52PM (#390057)

    Business as usual.

    It has always been amazing to me that the children of the 60's, who are now the old farts running the place,
    and who should have the experience to know that Alcohol and tobacco are much more addictive than Marijuana,
    did not legalize it.

    To a varying degree, there are two types of folks. Those who have the genes to become an addict and those who don't.
    Those who don't have the gene can and do function just fine with 'self medication'.
    Those who do have the gene have to choose between being functional productive members of society or being a drug/alcohol addict.

    Prohibition proved that folks are going to get high regardless of what the govt says.
    The only outcome that can come from a war on drugs is that everybody has to perpetually live in a war zone.

    The gene thing is not black and white.
    The govt has the opportunity shift the balance a bit in grey areas, by encouraging the softer drugs and discouraging the harder ones.
    By encouraging Alcohol and prescription drugs and discouraging MJ, the war on drugs is actually making things worse.

    Again, business as usual.

    PS, It appears this study completely ignores the gene thing?
    I wonder if the folks compiling the study understand the problem.