SCIENCE versus MYTHOLOGY
The conflict between science and politics dates back to long before Galileo. Human hubris makes it difficult to accept that we can be as ignorant of other commonplace realities as most people were in Galileo's day.
* For a variety of reasons, drug policy is dominated by a mixture of wishful thinking and irrational fears based on false assumptions. [1] Misinformation from politicians is one key element.
* Illegal drugs are not more dangerous than alcohol. [2]
* Marijuana is unique in its safety relative to alcohol and other illegal drugs.
*Drug use is NOT abuse and seldom leads to addiction. [3]
See: Marijuana, Marijuana Compared To Alcohol and Children
This should be a key factor in formulating policy.
* Illegal drug use is very common and addiction rare; about 75% of the young will have tried an illegal drug by age 22. [4] About 1% will become addicted exclusively to illegal drugs. [5]
* Drug abuse by minorities is small relative to total drug abuse; whites do the "crime" and minorities do the time. [6] This is a vital point for those who resist comparisons of US policy results with those in other countries with the coded observation that "we are more diverse." If there were no racial minorities in the US the per capita drug problem would be no different - except that whites would never tolerate the scope of the law enforcement practices we have unleashed on minority communities.
See: Race
* Foreign countries and their products are not the problem. Indeed, stopping supply is impossible, yet the public believes this wasted effort should be a central part of policy. [7]
* Ending prohibition - legalizing drugs - is unlikely to increase the harm done by drug abuse and is likely to decrease it. [See Legalize?] This question may be irrelevant in view of the unintended peripheral damage caused by prohibition. [See: Prohibition Makes Drugs More Dangerous ] [Also see: Damage ]
See: Moral Dilemma
* To focus on the dangers of various drugs rather than the attitudes of the various groups of people who use them is a major analytical fallacy. Most people have no need of government protection from drugs and the others have proved that, to them, the government's threats are irrelevant.
See: Use Is Not Abuse and Deter and Factors
BASIC FACTS
For explanatory charts see
For more information on sources and abbreviations see GLOSSARY