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Discover "The
Truth About Drugs " Booklets at
the website of the Foundation for a Drug-Free
World
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Watch The Public Service Announcements
on drugs at The Foundation for
a Drug-Free World website:
The Foundation for a Drug-Free
World is a secular, non-profit organization
based in Los Angeles, California. The
purpose of the Foundation is to empower
youth and adults with the facts about
drugs so they can make an informed decision
to say no, and help others make the same
decision.
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The Truth About Drugs
Drugs
destroy millions
of lives every
year. Popularized in the 1960s by music and
mass media, today they invade all aspects
of society.
The problem
has many faces — from the college student
partying for three days straight in an ecstasy-
or methamphetamine-fueled rave, to the school
child addicted to Ritalin (methylphenidate);
from the mother who cannot get through a
day without taking pills for depression,
to the CEO addicted to cocaine.
According to the United Nations Office
on Drugs and
Crime's 2005 World Drug Report, an estimated
200 million people, or 5 percent of the world's
population between the ages of 15 and 64,
consume illegal drugs. This is an increase
of 15 million drug users over the previous
year.
One hundred and sixty-two million people
abuse cannabis
(marijuana or hashish), making it the most
prevalent illicit substance, followed by
amphetamine-type stimulants (35 million),
opiates (16 million) and cocaine (13 million).
In the United States, results from the
2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
showed that 19.5 million Americans (or 8.2
percent of the population age 12 or older)
had used illicit drugs in the month prior
to the survey.
 Abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs costs
society an
estimated $276 billion annually. Substance
abusers incur 300 percent higher medical
costs than non abusers. They are one-third
less productive on the job and are 2.5 times
more likely to be absent from work eight
or more days a year.
The most disturbing aspect of this problem
is how drug
abuse damages our youth and the threat this
poses for the future of every country. Young
users suffer more illnesses, miss more days
of school and are more prone to engage in
criminal conduct.
In Europe, recent studies among 15-year-olds
suggest that
use of cannabis ranges from under 10 percent
to more than 30 percent, with the highest
rates reported by boys in the United Kingdom
(42.5 percent). Cocaine problems in Europe
are on the increase. In Spain and the United
Kingdom, usage levels rival those in the
United States. Cocaine use among young people
has risen in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.
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www.drugfreeworld.org