National

Review

Did You Know?

Tobacco use causes over 475,000 deaths.

Alcohol use causes over 135,000 deaths.

Prescription drugs (properly administered) kill between 119,000 and
199,000 people .

Twenty-eight percent of all hospitalized patients
(8.8 million hospitalizations per year)
experience an adverse drug reaction.

Aspirin alone kills hundreds.
Over-the-counter drugs can have deadly side effects.

Illegal drug use causes about 17,000 deaths.

Cannabis (marijuana) use kills no one.

Above information courtesy of National Institute on Drug Abuse.

A Review of Our National Drug Policy Reveals:

• There are an extremely high number of deaths caused annually by legal drug use: 400,000 from tobacco use, 125,000 from use of alcohol. Over-the-counter drugs pose significant risk to health. Fifty percent of emergency room admissions and 70% of all drug-related deaths involve prescription drugs.

• The focus on illegal drugs gives a false impression that legal drugs are safe and diverts funding away from drug consumer safety education, and treatment for use of all drugs.

• Slick drug advertisements bombard us with little mention of possible negative effects.

• The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate; the majority are imprisoned for drug crimes.

• Social services are overwhelmed, too often because productive heads of household are in jail for nonviolent drug crimes.

• Violent crime increases due to prohibition.

• Law enforcement suffers alienation, corruption and loss of cooperation in investigating crime, just as with alcohol prohibition.

• Civil forfeiture of homes and property affects whole families, especially children.

• Children are taken from homes because of the presence of small amounts of drugs.

• Urine testing violates privacy rights.

• Jobs and licenses are denied based upon urine tests that do not prove use or intoxication on the job.

• People are denied access to drugs that will save or improve the quality of their life.

• The use of hemp for fuel, fiber and food is prohibited.

MAMA's Conclusion

The harm done to families and children due to the current national drug policy far exceeds the potential harm from drug use, misuse and abuse.

Our drug policy alienates those who need help the most, and punishes innocent families, especially children.

Harm reduction, with respect for human dignity, is the most sound approach.

WE NEED . .

We must talk to our policy makers and ask them to spend our tax money more wisely, to address these issues and to establish drug policy based on harm reduction.

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