Why Is Drug Use So Rampant In The US?

by hamilcarr 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  White Dove

  If the gov. tells us not to do something, what is our reaction?

  Mine is to ask why it is banned. If it's not a good reason and I can hide my violation of it, providing I like doing it so much, then I might do it.

  Do you think that illegal activity comes to people's attention more than legal activity?

  It's legal in Holland so no one cares and the activity does not get reported.

  It's illegal here so everyone cares so the activity is reported and inflated by the media.

  Drug busts get reported and used in research, but maybe legal use doesn't get used in research.

  I would think that it's much harder to gather such info in Holland compared to the USA where we have FBI crime stats taken from reported criminal activity.

  What types of measurements did researchers use? It makes a huge difference.
• 

  WTWizard

  The more regulations there are against innovation, the more bored people are going to become of the resulting stagnation.

  The more stagnation and boredom from crap jobs and from not being allowed to learn, the more the need for kicks.

  The more need for kicks, the more drugs will be used.
• 

  hamilcarr

  I would think that it's much harder to gather such info in Holland compared to the USA where we have FBI crime stats taken from reported criminal activity.

  What types of measurements did researchers use? It makes a huge difference.

  I don't think there was anything flawed or biassed about their methodology:

  Data on drug use were available from 54,069 survey participants in 17 countries. The 17 countries were determined by the availability of collaborators and on funding for the survey. Trained lay interviewers carried out face-to-face interviews (except in France where the interviews were done over the telephone) using a standardized, structured diagnostic interview for psychiatric conditions. Participants were asked if they had ever used (a) alcohol, (b) tobacco (cigarettes, cigars or pipes), (c) cannabis (marijuana, hashish), or (d) cocaine. If they had used any of these drugs, they were asked about the age they started using each type of drug. The age of first tobacco smoking was not assessed in New Zealand, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, or Spain. The interviewers also recorded the participants' sex, age, years of education, marital status, employment, and household income.

  Consistent use of a standardized interview translation protocol, training procedures, and field quality control monitoring were used to minimize between-country variation in data quality [30].
• 

  BurnTheShips

  The poorest 20% of people in the US have about half the income of the poorest people in the Netherlands.

  Unlike people they have no real healthcare, no system of welfare to keep the wolf from the door. Go to an American city and count the number of homeless people and compare to a Dutch city (lots to approaching none).

  Really inrainbows, have you ever been to a US city? Have you ever lived in the States? Europeans that I have known and worked with here always describe the experience of living in the US as very different to the generally conceived notions they had back home.

  As for the lack of help for the poor, there are many programs here. I am currently renovating five homes that I am going to place in the federal subsidized housing program. The government pays 100 percent of the rent. Not only is it a good business for me, but it helps poor people have a decent place to live.

  The majority vote for this system as they are convinced by the lies of the elite that they will one day benefit from the freedom that allows an ultra rich elite, even though they are worse of than their fathers and more likely to end up poor than end up rich.

  I grew up in an immigrant family that started out very poor. I lived in the inner city for my entire childhood. I went to the bad schools. I saw the high crime rates. I saw the drug use. I saw students knifed before me more than once. Guess what? I moved out.

  I also believed the biggest "con" in the world. It is called the American Dream. I may not be ultra rich, but I have prospered a great deal by believing this "con".

  BTS
• 

  hamilcarr

  Europeans that I have known and worked with here always describe the experience of living in the US as very different to the generally conceived notions they had back home.

  When I went off to study in the US, I was hoping to experience a real world power (I lived in Europe). I was naive.
• 

  Quirky1

  Drugs??

  Where??
• 

  BurnTheShips

  When I went off to study in the US, I was hoping to experience a real world power (I lived in Europe). I was naive.

  Just what is a real world power like anyway? Are the people different somehow? Do they sing in the streets? Is being in a real world power like Paradise, or Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory? Maybe it is like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

  Apparently you were very naive indeed.

  BTS
• 

  avishai

  http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKN0127105120080701
• 

  hamilcarr

  Apparently you were very naive indeed.

  We all used to be JWs, in quest of real truth.
• 

  hamilcarr

  It seems Americans have some problems talking about these issues. Drug use seems to be one of the many taboos in the US.