Which one of these drugs should we make illegal and go out of our way to prosecute users for using? Actually that’s a trick question, the correct answer in my opinion is none of them. Click image for more at Vox.
The really weird thing is that this is nothing new. We’ve known this for decades, yet the man keeps denying the facts.
Crimson Clupeidaesays
There’s a bit of a difference there, though.
“Attributable” (for the first two) vs. overdose (for the rest). Those numbers are comparing apples and stock prices. How many DUI accidents and deaths were ‘attributable’ to drugs? Lots. One I know personally where a driver was high (just from pot, mind you) enough to run over and kill a friend of mine on a motorcycle (it was prosecuted as a DUI, so I don’t know if the statistics will change to show the specific drug in these cases). So zero is the wrong answer.
However, your larger point is taken, tobacco and alcohol have a much larger impact. Now, once marijuana becomes legalized on a larger scale (and I support that), things may change, and it may also become a larger issue as being a contributing factor to DUIs and similar incidents.
Marcus Ranum says
In fairness, they should add LSD, shrooms, meth, and ecstacy deaths on there as well. Just because, other than meth, it’s near zero.
LykeX says
The really weird thing is that this is nothing new. We’ve known this for decades, yet the man keeps denying the facts.
Crimson Clupeidae says
There’s a bit of a difference there, though.
“Attributable” (for the first two) vs. overdose (for the rest). Those numbers are comparing apples and stock prices. How many DUI accidents and deaths were ‘attributable’ to drugs? Lots. One I know personally where a driver was high (just from pot, mind you) enough to run over and kill a friend of mine on a motorcycle (it was prosecuted as a DUI, so I don’t know if the statistics will change to show the specific drug in these cases). So zero is the wrong answer.
However, your larger point is taken, tobacco and alcohol have a much larger impact. Now, once marijuana becomes legalized on a larger scale (and I support that), things may change, and it may also become a larger issue as being a contributing factor to DUIs and similar incidents.