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.
