A team of researchers in Australia and the US analysed data from 20 mental and substance disorders to model the prevalence, premature death, and non-fatal illness caused by these disorders in 187 countries.
Among the findings:
*High income countries have the highest burden of disease due to drug use
*Women and girls were more affected by mental disorders while men and boys were more affected by drug and alcohol abuse
The results show that the burden in the worst affected countries (largely high-income nations such as USA, UK, New Zealand and Australia) was 20 times greater than in the least affected countries.
Surely we need to read in to these findings a little deeper and understand why we have such a cultural drive to take recreational substances in this country.
We have incredibly confusing double standards, when Alcohol is promoted as a socially acceptable recreational substance and the government isn’t even willing to consider legalizing cannabis.
People are getting high on what ever they can get their hands on regardless of the legal status, surely we should be giving them the safest, most natural option available and given to us by mother earth.
Legalizing cannabis and campaigning against it’s abuse, in much the same way we do alcohol, “no more beersies for you” is surely the most socially forward and cost effective option available.
Colorado USA, so far, is a shining example of this, perhaps there are a few bugs in the system to work out, but it’s a start towards smarter policy.
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Preview, Druglawed: The upcoming documentary that exposes how New Zealand Green got rolled up in the U.S. Drug War