A study by international scientists was published recently and it’s finding show that the use of drugs is a feature of more affluent countries like the United States. The findings are horrifying because “by the age of 21, up to 99% of Europeans, 92% of Japanese, 94% of New Zealanders and 93% of people in the Americas had tasted alcohol.” And many of these countries also had a high percentage of people smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana and even using cocaine. In the United States alone around 16% said they had used cocaine before. This is quite a bit higher than even the second highest reporting country where 4.3% of people said they had used cocaine. In addition, 42% of Americans said they had tried cannabis. Americans were more likely to smoke cigarettes with 74% saying they had tried smoking at least once in their lives. America needs more effective prevention interventions. The question is, how can we improve what we are already doing?
