The toxicity can kill you

[Lafayette]

Drug usage by country (from here):

Drug Use by Country​

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) looking at the global burden of disease suggest that 10 countries have nearly half the global population of people with a substance use disorder. The following nations had the largest shares of people with a substance use disorder in 2019:3

• United States: 5.89%
• Greenland: 5.63%
• Mongolia: 5.24%
• United Kingdom: 5.22%
• New Zealand: 4.91%
• Kazakhstan: 4.66%
• Poland: 4.51%
• Russia: 4.44%
• Brazil: 4.33%
• Denmark: 4.26%

The above is one list where the "top country" percentage-wise can only be ashamed. But Uncle Sam is not the only country to be handling the drug-toxicity problem badly.

USA and Europe: Drug Use Compared​

Somewhat outdated this analysis, but worthwhile seeing the data:

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) & Monitoring the Future (MTF)
Publication Date: 27 September 2016

This month saw the release of the findings from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The publication shows the country-by-country results for the use of various legal and illegal drugs. Thirty-five European countries were included in the study which targeted 15- and 16 year-olds. Produced in the United States, information collected by the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study provides material for insightful comparisons. Notably, these include:

• The United States and countries in Europe have both witnessed a decrease in cigarette and alcohol consumption amongst teenagers. Marijuana use, however, has generally increased.
• On average, 18% of European students have used an illegal drug at least once, compared to 35% of students in the United States, second only to the Czech Republic (37%).
• The United States and France rank joint second for marijuana consumption (31%). This is almost double the average result for European countries (16%). The Czech Republic posted the highest score (37%) and Moldova reported the lowest (4%).
• Amphetamine usage is significantly higher in the United States (10%) compared to Europe (2% average).
• Alongside Georgia and Ireland, the United States ranked highest for ecstasy consumption (4%).
• Cocaine usage amongst American teenagers is around 3%. In Europe, on the other hand, it is around 2%.
• Both the United States sample and European sample recorded an average of 1% prevalence for heroin consumption.

I'll bet heroin consumption is no longer at an "average" of "1%" of the population in either the US or Europe.

In both places it has gone "big-time" ... !

 

[Lafayette]

Drug Policies Are Not Enough​

Based on the high prevalence of illicit drug use in the United States, it is clear that punitive drug policies are not enough to prevent or reduce drug use. Research suggests that regions with less punitive harm-reduction policies often have lower rates of drug and alcohol abuse than those who take a criminalized "war on drugs" approach.8

According to one report on global drug use, "The Netherlands, with a less criminally punitive approach to cannabis use than the United States, has experienced lower levels of use, particularly among younger adults," the report says. "Clearly, by itself, a punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use."9

 

[dmpi]

No surprise USA is on top of the list. Drug abuse along with homelessness cannot be solved by throwing money at the problem despite of the fact we have a whole industry counting on that.

 

[Lafayette]

Submitted by Ally on 27 September 2016

USA and Europe: Drug Use Compared​

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) & Monitoring the Future (MTF)
Publication Date
27 September 2016

This month saw the release of the findings from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The publication shows the country-by-country results for the use of various legal and illegal drugs. Thirty-five European countries were included in the study which targeted 15- and 16-year-olds. Produced in the United States, information collected by the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study provides material for insightful comparisons. Notably, these include:

• The United States and countries in Europe have both witnessed a decrease in cigarette and alcohol consumption amongst teenagers. Marijuana use, however, has generally increased.
• On average, 18% of European students have used an illegal drug at least once, compared to 35% of students in the United States, second only to the Czech Republic (37%).
• The United States and France rank joint second for marijuana consumption (31%). This is almost double the average result for European countries (16%). The Czech Republic posted the highest score (37%) and Moldova reported the lowest (4%).
• Amphetamine usage is significantly higher in the United States (10%) compared to Europe (2% average).
• Alongside Georgia and Ireland, the United States ranked highest for ecstasy consumption (4%).
• Cocaine usage amongst American teenagers is around 3%. In Europe, on the other hand, it is around 2%.
• Both the United States sample and European sample recorded an average of 1% prevalence for heroin consumption.

While the above results show that levels of controlled-drug usage are generally higher in the United States, smoking and alcohol consumption were reported to be higher in Europe.

• Together with Iceland, the United States ranked joint lowest for daily cigarette smoking (3%). The average result for European countries was 12%.
• Alcohol consumption amongst teenagers in the United States is less than half (22%) of the average result posted for European countries (48%).

 

[HIP56948]

I noticed that the percentages between most countries is not all that great.
United States 5.89% (Number one)
Denmark 4.46 (Number ten)
Plus, they classify Pot as a problem drug.

 

[Lafayette]

I noticed that the percentages between most countries is not all that great.
United States 5.89% (Number one)
Denmark 4.46 (Number ten)
Plus, they classify Pot as a problem drug.

Yes, frankly, I was surprised by that similarity. I thought that usage in Europe might be less than stateside.

Not so - they are about the same percentage ....

 

[Lafayette]

And it is not impressive in the least to understand that we-the-sheeple are "all in the same shat".

If a country has a decent economy, people go for the drugs. Stoopid is a stoopid does ....

 

[sub1028]

I noticed that the percentages between most countries is not all that great.
United States 5.89% (Number one)
Denmark 4.46 (Number ten)
Plus, they classify Pot as a problem drug.

Drugs were all decriminalized in these countries, and they have had some good results.

Countries That Have Decriminalized Drugs

Drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and heroin have been decriminalized in numerous countries. To date, these include somewhere between 25 and 30 countries.

www.worldatlas.com

 

[Lafayette]

For purposes of comparison, one should not compare the US to any one nation in Europe. The "countries" of Europe are about the same as American "states". In fact, the total population of the European Union is larger than that of the US. As well, the European "states" are very much like the US "states". With two political systems, one "internally" and the other for the European Union. Thus, they have their own governance at the state level and another at the European level.

And it's that way because, when Europeans decided they needed a "Central Government", the US was the obvious role-model - both "state" and "nationally". Ambassador Mark Gitenstien arrived in Brussels in January 2022 to assume his position as the United States Ambassador to the European Union.

The President of the European Commission (since 1 December 2019), Ursula von der Leyen, is roughly the equivalent to the US president.
What are the three governing bodies of the EU? These institutions bellow collectively provide the EU with policy direction and play different roles in the law-making process:

• the European Parliament (Brussels/Strasbourg/Luxembourg)
• the European Council (Brussels)
• the Council of the European Union (Brussels/Luxembourg)

 

[Lafayette]

GUN HOMICIDES - US VERSUS EUROPEAN UNION

Drugs were all decriminalized in these countries, and they have had some good results.

Countries That Have Decriminalized Drugs

Drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and heroin have been decriminalized in numerous countries. To date, these include somewhere between 25 and 30 countries.

www.worldatlas.com

In the EU, drugs yes and arms (guns) are decriminalized. So the amount "in service illegally" is minimized. Which is most-certainly not the case in the US. In Europe, firearms employed for hunting are also decriminalized - if reported to the state-government.

As argued here: Gun homicides 22 times more frequent in U.S. than European Union

Warren Fiske, PolitiFact.com | Austin American-Statesman

Cliff Hayes: “When you compare us to the European Union, we're something like 23 times more likely” to have homicides and handgun killings.

PolitiFact's ruling: Mostly True

Here's why: The day after six people died in a mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart, Virginia Del. Cliff Hayes Jr., D-Chesapeake, said the nation must discuss why it has so many "homicides and handgun killings."

"When you compare us here in this country to the European Union, we’re something like 23 times more likely for these incidents to occur here," he said during a Nov. 23 interview on CNN.

We fact-checked Hayes’ statistic and found it’s essentially correct. He was referring to a May 2022 report published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The IHME compared the 2019 murder rates from firearms — not just handguns, as Hayes said — between countries across the globe. Among the findings is that the firearm homicide rate in the U.S. was 22 times larger than in the European Union as a whole. (The institute does not calculate worldwide homicides from handguns, and we were unable to find such figures).

 

[Lafayette]

GUN DEATHS COMPARED WORLDWIDE

Quote: Gun homicides 22 times more frequent in U.S. than European Union

The U.S. stands out as the only high-income country with a dramatically high firearm homicide rate. The number of deaths through physical violence by firearms is 100 times higher in the U.S. than in the U.K.

Homicide rate from firearms in 2019 in number of deaths per 100,000 people.

"When you compare us here in this country to the European Union, we’re something like 23 times more likely for these incidents to occur here," he said during a Nov. 23 interview on CNN.

We fact-checked Hayes’ statistic and found it’s essentially correct. He was referring to a May 2022 report published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The IHME compared the 2019 murder rates from firearms — not just handguns, as Hayes said — between countries across the globe. Among the findings is that the firearm homicide rate in the U.S. was 22 times larger than in the European Union as a whole. (The institute does not calculate worldwide homicides from handguns, and we were unable to find such figures).

The U.S. firearm homicide rate in 2019 was 4.11 people per 100,000, compared to 0.19 in the 27-nation European Union. Bulgaria had the EU’s highest firearms homicide rate 0.56 per 100,000 – more than seven times lower than the U.S.

And this past weekend the above sad-fact repeated itself once again in California. From the LA Times (here). The individual evolved was a 72-year old migrant from southeast Asia.

As if to say, "Had enough of the tough-life in southeast-Asia. Go to America! Buy a gun! Kill people! What great fun ... !"

PS: France (before the US) ran southeast Asia post-WW2. It was a good "hideaway" for any Frenchman who wanted to work-hard and start a "rubber-farm" where they could earn some Very-Good-Money and bring it all back to France!