Survey Finds U.S. Leads World in Substance Abuse

Huge shocker:

The U.S. leads the world in marijuana and cocaine experimentation, as well as in lifetime tobacco use, according to a survey released this week by the World Health Organization.

link: FOXNews.com - Survey Finds U.S. Leads World in Substance Abuse - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,375002,00.html)

is this really a shock? the pressures of today's world are far greater then they have ever been. and drugs are more readily available, and at cheaper prices

The U.S. had the highest percentage of respondents admitting to lifetime tobacco use at 74 percent, followed by Lebanon at 67 percent, and Mexico and the Ukraine at 60 percent, according to the study.

So they want us to believe that 74 percent (LIFETIME SMOKERS) of Americans smoke thats total BS. What did they do go to the lowest places to find people in the US who would more than likley smoke and do drugs. These types of poles like the health surveys they do where we rank low I think are skewed to make the US look bad.

full survey results: PLoS Medicine - Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys (http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050141&ct=1#toclink5)

74% seems a bit high... surveys have terrible margins of error, since a lot of disinterested people don't bother responding. it's not a really good way to gather accurate data. at least not if those are the results they're getting...

A bit off try more like 21% of Americans smoke they are not even close. It seems they just like to knock the US in these types of poles or survey's.ACS :: US Smoking Rates Continue to Drop (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_2_1x_US_Smoking_Rates_Continue_to_Drop.asp)

A bit off try more like 21% of Americans smoke they are not even close. It seems they just like to knock the US in these types of poles or survey's.ACS :: US Smoking Rates Continue to Drop (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_2_1x_US_Smoking_Rates_Continue_to_Drop.asp)

what makes this info any more correct or accurate than the other?

what makes this info any more correct or accurate than the other?

Well, for one thing, a common sense sniff test. Take a look around, do 3 out of 4 people in the United States smoke? The other thing is that is the American Cancer Society quoting those numbers, you can't get much more reputable.

The number is a lot closer to 20%. Been published all over the place.

The other question is what the heck does "lifetime use" mean. I'm thinking it means something like "have you ever tried tobacco at any point during your lifetime?" That's the only way I can see a number of 74%.

It certainly doesn't mean that 74% of people currently smoke, because that's just way way wrong.

If the number was 74% of American's smoke, there's no way cities like Philadelphia would ever be able to pass a smoking ban in all public buildings within city limits, as they did last year.

Dispute of the tobacco numbers notwithstanding, the point of the article remains, when comparing apples to apples (as this article is doing with "lifetime" rates), the US grades out as the biggest substance abusers.