General
Drug Facts And Statistics
From The Drug Project.
Deaths in the United States in a typical year are as follows:
- Tobacco kills about 400,000
- Alcohol kills about 80,000
- Workplace accidents kill 60,000
- Automobiles kill 40,000
- Cocaine kills about 2,500
- Heroin kills about 2,000
- Aspirin kills about 2,000
- Marijuana kills 0
There has never been a recorded death due to marijuana at any time in US history.
All illegal drugs combined kill under 20,000 per year, or a small percent of the number killed by alcohol and tobacco.
Tobacco kills more people each year than all of the people killed by all of the illegal drugs in the last one hundred years.
From The National Center On Addiction And Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
The Califano Report
Drug Prisoners
- 1,360,000 Drug Prisoners in America
- 1.7 million Americans are incarcerated in prisons or jails, more per capita than any other nation.
- Nearly 80% of all prisoners in America are for drug related offenses.
- Ten million people have been arrested for marijuana since 1965.
Anheuser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser, hair-test employees to be sure that they are not using any drugs less dangerous than the one they make.
America has only 5% of the world population but consumes 60% of ALL illegal drugs produced in the world.
There are 47 million school age kids in America, currently over 27 million of them try drugs and alcohol each year.
In December 1997 a long-awaited report by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations about marijuana came out, the first in 15 years.
A scandal erupted when the British science magazine New Scientist in its February 1998 issue exposed the suppression of a chapter in the document.
In the censored chapter the authors, three leading addiction researchers, compare the dangers of marijuana, as documented by science, against those of the legal drugs alcohol and nicotine and illegal opiates.
In dry, factual language they point out that where risks exist these are actually more serious for these two legal drugs.
They exposed the double standards that are being applied in the drug debate, and according to an insider quoted by New Scientist some WHO officials went nuts.
Two WHO bureaucrats opposed to the report were WHO-head Nakajima (retired in June 1998) and narcotics division head Dr. Yoshida.
The conclusion of the New Scientist on the whole issue of marijuana is that legalization is not a question of if but when.
From NDIC a component of the U.S. Department of Justice and a member of the Intelligence Community.
During a 24-hour period in December 1995, at least 60 heroin users in Newark, New Jersey, died after using heroin tainted with scopolamine. Scopolamine is available by prescription primarily for treating motion sickness.
From Nova Scotia Museum.
Ergot, a fungal disease of common grains, such as wheat, oats & barley, but especially rye, is a natural source of the hallucinogen, LSD. Extracts of this fungus are sometimes employed to control migraine headaches & hemorrhaging.
Uncontrolled consumption, however, can give rise to hallucinations, convulsions & sensations of excruciating pain or burning, known in medieval times as St. Anthony's fire, from the name of the saint customarily invoked to intercede on behalf of victims.
Books Buzzed:
The Straight Facts About
the Most Used and Abused Drugs
from Alcohol to Ecstasy
An account of various drugs and their effects on the body, brain, and emotions. Also includes info about the addictive potential of the drugs discussed.
Includes alcohol, caffeine, ecstasy, hallucinogens, herbal drugs, inhalants, marijuana, nicotine, opiates, sedatives, steroids, stimulants, etc.
Buzzed From Chocolate to Morphine:
Everything You Need to Know
About Mind-Altering Drugs
A well written book about the history of drugs and drug use with black and white illustrations throughout. About 3/4 of the book deals with the drugs themselves, the rest is a look at the relationship between people and drugs.
In a way that neither condemns nor condones drug use, the authors describe the likely effects of each drug and discuss precautions and alternatives, allowing readers to make informed and intelligent choices.
Covers a wide range of substances like stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, marijuana, solvents, PCP, ketamine, smart drugs, medical drugs, and more.
From Chocolate to Morphine Illegal Drugs:
A Complete Guide to Their
History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse
Very good book about the history, sociology, legal and medical aspects of illegal (and some legal) drugs. Looks at all the popular illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc. Also investigates legal drugs like caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. And covers more obscure drugs like betel nuts and kava kava.
At about 500 (easy to understand) pages, the book contains a lot of text that might overwhelm the casual reader looking for basic info. This is more for someone with a serious interest in the subject or someone doing research.
Illegal Drugs
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