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USA! USA! USA! Gooooo USA! (we're the awesomest druggies in the world!)
http://scienceblogs.com/ twominds/ 2008/ 06/ usa_usa_u...
USA! USA! USA! Gooooo USA! (we're the awesomest druggies in the world!) Category: Sex, Drugs, & Rock and Roll According to a new survey the USA has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use in the world. Thank goodness the War for Drugs is working so well! Ohh... wait... that's the war ON drugs and it's supposed to protect us from ourselves and our nasty drug habits. Well anyway.. here's the details on the study: A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use.
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What I’ve noticed (almost weekly edition)
http://sarcozona.org/2008/07/16/what-ive-noticed-almost-week...The Scientific Activist reminds us of the damage that animal rights extremists do to people’s lives and valuable research. An NY Times article on a disappearing Albanian custom: women take an oath of virginity and are allowed to live as men. Why is there so much anti-American sentiment in the world? Police suck. Rove is a criminal, on vacation. Knowing about the economy is important if you’d like to be president, McCain. No, I’m not a big Heinlein fan. Rich people use drugs (poor, brown people go to jail for it). Why having the legal protection of marriage is important for queer couples.
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Americans Biggest Drug Addicts in World
http://dangilliland.blogspot.com/2008/07/americans-biggest-d...The United States is number 1 in at least something still. USA! USA! USA! Gooooo USA! (we're the awesomest druggies in the world!)"According to a new survey the USA has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use in the world. Thank goodness the War for Drugs is working so well! Ohh... wait... that's the war ON drugs and it's supposed to protect us from ourselves and our nasty drug habits. Well anyway.. here's the details on the study:" Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys
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The US's War On Drugs
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/07...It's working in a way: A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use. The authors found that 16.2% of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetime, a level much higher than any other country surveyed (the second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3% of people reported having used cocaine). Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4%), followed by New Zealand (41.9%). And the high drug use becomes the reason to keep at it. Perfect if you like endless war - and Washington clearly does. It's more powerful that way.
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The US's War On Drugs
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/07...It's working in a way: A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use. The authors found that 16.2% of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetime, a level much higher than any other country surveyed (the second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3% of people reported having used cocaine). Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4%), followed by New Zealand (41.9%). And the high drug use becomes the reason to keep at it. Perfect if you like endless war - and Washington clearly does. It's more powerful that way.
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Every day, the same, again
http://www.pantherhouse.com/newshelton/every-day-the-same-ag...Every day, the same, again Fifteen camels, two zebras and several llamas escaped from a circus. Police suspect that a giraffe kicked open a pen. Bear attacks teenaged girl during bike race in Alaska. A pupil wrote “fuck off” after being asked in an English exam to “describe the room you are sitting in”, got 2 marks out of 27 and would have got more if he had added some punctuation. Examiners gave him the marks because he spelt the obscenity correctly and managed to convey a meaning. Ninety-six suspects, including 75 San Diego State University students, have been arrested on drug-related charges as a result of the undercover operation. A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States hasthe highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use. Drug companies spent $168 million on lobbying in 2007, a 32 percent jump over 2006. Among the industry’s successes: getting two controversial laws extended and thwarting congressional efforts to restrict media ads for prescription drugs. More than half of firearm deaths are suicides. A tiny chameleon from Madagascar spends two-thirds of its life inside its egg, engages in brutal sex, then dies after four months. GfK Starch Communications developed an “engagement index” to help identify the best-performing print ads. The index combines the percentage of readers who noticed a given ad and the percentage that read at least half of it. American Airlines tests in-flight Web access. Technology partner, Aircell LLC, will charge $9.95 to $12.95 for Internet service, depending on flight length. Lehman Brothers fell to an eight-year low on speculation the fourth-biggest U.S. securities firm may be soldfor less than its market price. EBay ordered to pay damages in sale of fake goods. Why Nokia bought Symbian, then gave it away. The world’s nine largest science projects. Wavesynth 2.0. How to make a light bulb. $19 a month. \\¡¡/ Kids are thirsty. READ MORE >> everyday | 0 Comment July 1st, 2008
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W.H.O. Global Drug Survey Finds High Rates of Cocaine, Marijuana Use in U.S.
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/06/30/who-global-...In a newly published report on “Global Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use” from the World Health Organization’s series of Mental Health Surveys, Americans’ levels of cocaine and marijuana use were highest among the 17 countries on six different continents surveyed. Researchers found that 16.2% of U.S. survey respondents had at least tried cocaine in their lifetime; New Zealanders were next at 4.3%. Kiwis caught up with their American counterparts in cannabis use, however: in both countries, 42% of the population sample had tried marijuana. According to the report, global drug use “is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones.” For example, in the Netherlands, a country whose drug policies are quite liberal compared to those in the U.S., only 19.8% of people reported cannabis use and a mere 1.9% had tried cocaine. Researchers did find sex differences — males were more likely to have used drugs than females — but the gap appears to be closing. These results are nothing to sneeze at, considering the hefty sample size of 85,052 people. Still, the 16% rate of cocaine use sounds awfully high to me, although the latest (2006) results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health name a rate of 14.3% for lifetime use across all ages. All this makes me wonder: what might contribute to such high rates of drug use in the U.S., if drug policies are not necessarily a factor? Is it a question of “forbidden fruit”, perhaps, where overly stringent drug policies somehow make drugs more attractive? What do you think? For more information: The Of Two Minds blog has a good post up summarizing the main findings, as does eurekalert.org; read the entire study here.
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We may be "the most awesomest druggies"...but this paper doesn't show that.
http://scienceblogs.com/drugmonkey/2008/06/we_may_be_the_mos...We may be "the most awesomest druggies"...but this paper doesn't show that. Category: Drug Abuse Science • Public Health Greg and Steve (not Adam and Eve) both blogged a recent paper by Degenhardt and (20 other) colleagues in PLoS Medicine. Steve: According to a new survey the USA has highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use in the world. Thank goodness the War for Drugs is working so well! Ohh... wait... that's the war ON drugs and it's supposed to protect us from ourselves and our nasty drug habits. Greg asks: Does the observed age difference (younger cohorts with more drug use) reflect a reporting bias or a reality? It seems that over the last several decades the evidence that younger people are using more drugs is so often reported that all people must be using all drugs by now, but they aren't! Do studies that show declines in drug use get less press, or go unfinished? (Is there a reporting bias or a confirmation bias at work here?)
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