Forget celebrities with drug problem – this may be more serious…
July 26th, 2007by rajendra
About the Author: To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box. Read more from this authorImagine a situation where as many as 25 million people in the US could go to jail for possession of illegal substance.
On average 10% of U.S. population of age 12 and above smokes pot. If these many people were affected by an infectious disease such a West Nile or Avian flu, it would be a national emergency. And yet we hardly pay attention to this huge but hidden (mental) disease of substance abuse that affects a vast portion of the population.
Smoking pot is a Federal offense and along with other substance abuse issues Feds take this very seriously. A person smoking pot for so called medical use could land in slammer even in states (
Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Maine, New Mexico and Vermont) that allow
medical use of marijuana.
The Supreme Court ruling of 2005 made clear that state laws such as California’s Compassionate Use Act provide no defense against legal action by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other Federal agencies.
Recent raids on the likes of Medical marijuana dispensaries have stirred up quite a storm among advocacy groups.
So how serious is this substance abuse problem?
It’s estimated that marijuana use among age 12 and over
ranges from as low as 5.6% in places such as Utah County, UT to as high as 19.7% in Washington County, RI.
According to the Office of Analytical Service (OAS), the analytical arm of relatively unknown Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHA) of US. Dept. of Health and Human services (HHS);
193 out of 347 substate treatment planning areas in the U.S have at least 1 out of 10 people over the age of 12 using marijuana.
Below is a split map of North-East and Western states. It was generated by FortiusOne Inc‘s data team based on the OAS‘s tables. Explore other parts of the lower 48 with pan and zoom.
North-East Marijuana use
The 193 substate (treatment planning) areas cover California, Colorado, Arizona, Michigan and
large areas of Florida (central Florida), Texas (Austin, Houston), Massachusetts, New York as well as smaller states such as Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. Only state of Utah and Western parts of Kanasas have less than 6% of its population using marijuana. The remaining 150 or so substate regions have between 6 to 9 percent of its 12 year and old population smoking pot.
Marijuana use west of Mississippi
So, does it matter if a certain celebrity stays in jail or not? Perhaps not. But it matters when John and Jane Does of the world are involved in substance abuse. It matters a lot more if they happen to be minors…
And now, it certainly matters, since the legalization of medical use of marijuana has become a political issue. So what’s your opinion?
Popularity: 13% [?]
July 27th, 2007 at 12:03 am
In short, you are basically saying, if I may paraphrase: “Lots of people use pot. That means
America has a serious substance abuse problem.”
You’ve got some pretty bad holes in your argument there;
1) Recreational use substance abuse. There’s a big difference between, say, having a few beers on the weekend with friends vs chugging a bottle of vodka every morning. No discussion of drug use is valid without acknowledging that drug ABUSE comes when the usage pattern is such that it severely interferes with one’s life and health.
2) Equating substance abuse to Avian Flu and other infectious diseases is disingenuous. One is a virus, the other is a mental health disorder. Different vectors.
3) Why the specific hysterical over cannabis? What about alcohol and tobacco while kill infinitely more people every year. Pot is relatively safe (from toxicology perspective) than almost every other drug including legal ones. What evidence do you have that these usage patterns you discuss have significant negative effects on health and/or life?
4) Cannabis actually has many valid medical uses.
5) You don’t address the contradiction that the enforcement of the drug laws cause more harm in many cases than the drugs themselves.
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Matt,
Thanks for your comment. Your point #1 is essentially saying there is no discussion of differences between a gourmet, a gourmand and a glutton. Perhaps a bad analogy just like the one you point out in #2.
No, don’t have data to discuss levels of consumption. The closest is the one (again) from Office of Applied Studies, Table 3, Table 1 and Table 2.
As for your point #3, could not agree more, how deadly alcohol and tobacco can be. But then some people might point to beneficial health effects of (moderate) alcohol consumption.
As for points #4 and #5, reasonable people might disagree on benefits of Cannabis and cost of and law enforcement action respectively.
- rajendra
July 27th, 2007 at 1:46 am
“But it matters when John and Jane Does of the world are involved in substance abuse. It matters a lot more if they happen to be minors…”
Did you have any capability to support this ridiculous assertion? Preventable morbidity — especially of minors — is apparently something I should care more strongly about.
Ooooh! After avoiding “risks,” I can try to escape death with an elaborate and boring mythos concerning an afterlife. Then I can really let fear steal my life.
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Perhaps the post appears judgmental. I was trying to point out that substance abuse can land a person in jail. Surely a bad outcome that some may think is unjust. The thrust of the post is more on the lines “Prevention is better than cure.” And just wanted to say that I am an agnostic regarding cause and effect of ‘here’ and ‘after’. – rajendra
July 13th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Now days drug is like a bane to the society majority of the young generation are addicted to this slow poison,
Drugs draw the society in the door of death.
_____________________
maks smith
Addiction Recovery Hawaii