Random Facts
| A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on cannabis and its possible role as a gateway drug found that "While covariates differed between equations, early regular use of tobacco and alcohol emerged as the 2 factors most consistently associated with later illicit drug use and abuse/dependence. While early regular alcohol use did not emerge as a significant independent predictor of alcohol dependence, this finding should be treated with considerable caution, as our study did not provide an optimal strategy for assessing the effects of early alcohol use." Source:
Lynskey, Michael T., PhD, et al., "Escalation of Drug Use in Early-Onset Cannabis Users vs Co-twin Controls," Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 289 No. 4, January 22/29, 2003, p. 430.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/289/4/427.pdf | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Institute of Medicine's 1999 report on medical marijuana examined the question of whether marijuana could diminish patients' immune system - an important question when considering marijuana use by AIDS and cancer patients. The report concluded that, "the short-term immunosuppressive effects are not well established but, if they exist, are not likely great enough to preclude a legitimate medical use." Source:
Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), p. 5.
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309071550&page=5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed on Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2000.
Source:
US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Criminal Case Processing, 2000, With Trends 1982-2000 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, November 2001), p. 12, Table 6. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "The shift toward less restrictive access to care is predicated not only on the aforementioned treatment gap but also on strong scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of opioid replacement therapy. There appears to be a specific neurologic basis for the compulsive use of heroin. Chronic heroin abusers end up with an endogenous opioid deficiency because of down-regulation of opioid production. This creates an overwhelming craving, which necessitates effective treatments that shift the addicted patient’s interests from obsessive preoccupation with the timing and dose of an illicit substance to more ordinary topics and less dangerous behaviors.38" Source:
Mori J. Krantz, MD; Philip S. Mehler, MD, "Treating Opioid Dependence: Growing Implications for Primary Care," Archives of Internal Medicine, (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, February 2004), Vol. 164, p. 278.
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/164/3/277.pdf
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| "Of the estimated 333,244 male adults and adolescents living with AIDS, 60% had been exposed through male-to-male sexual contact, 19% had been exposed through injection drug use, 12% had been exposed through high-risk heterosexual contact, and 8% had been exposed through both male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use. Of the estimated 99,671 female adults and adolescents living with AIDS, 66% had been exposed through high-risk heterosexual contact, and 32% had been exposed through injection drug use."
(The CDC defines high-risk heterosexual contact as "heterosexual contact with a person known to have, or to be at high risk for, HIV infection" (p. 6).) Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2007. Vol. 19. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2009: p. 9].
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2007report/pdf/2007SurveillanceReport.pdf | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The average "dealer" holds a low-wage job and sells part-time to obtain drugs for his or her own use. "Earnings for drug selling were positively correlated (though weakly) with legitimate earnings. Drug selling seemed to be a complement to, rather than a substitute for, legitimate employment." Source:
Reuter, P., MacCoun, R., & Murphy, P., Money from Crime: A Study of the Economics of Drug Dealing in Washington DC (Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, 1990), pp. 49-50.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/2005/R3894.pdf | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Just over one-half of chronic pain sufferers say their pain is pretty much under control. But, this can be attributed primarily to those with moderate pain. The majority of those with the most severe pain do not have it under control and among those who do, it took almost half of them over a year to reach that point. In contrast, 7 of every 10 with moderate pain say they have it under control and it took the majority less than a year to reach that point. Pain can become more severe even when it is under control. Among those with very severe pain, 4 of every 10 said their pain was moderate or severe before getting their pain under control." Source:
Roper Starch Worldwide, Inc., "Chronic Pain In America: Roadblocks To Relief," research conducted for the American Pain Society, the American Academy of Pain Medicine and Janssen Pharmaceutica, Jan. 1999.
http://www.ampainsoc.org/links/roadblocks/conclude_road.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Federal research shows that the ONDCP's anti-drug media campaign is ineffective. According to NIDA's 1998 Household Survey, "exposure to prevention messages outside school, such as through the media, was fairly widespread but appeared to be unrelated to illicit drug use or being drunk". NIDA goes on to report, "Nearly 80% of youths who used illicit drugs and more than three-fourths of youths who were drunk on 51 or more days in the past year reported being exposed to prevention messages outside school." Source:
Office of Applied Studies, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Rockville, MD: SAMHSA, US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), p. 174.
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NHSDA/98MF.pdf | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "The estimated number of deaths of adults and adolescents decreased among MSM and IDUs and remained stable among persons exposed through high-risk heterosexual contact." Source:
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2006 (2008), Vol. 18, p. 7. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In spite of the established medical value of marijuana, doctors are presently permitted to prescribe cocaine and morphine - but not marijuana. Source:
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970, 21 U.S.C. §§ 812 et seq. http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/csa/812.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||