Consider the following statistic:
- "In 2003, a total of 28,723 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (Tables 21 and 22). The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother’s drug use." Source: Hoyert, Donna L., PhD, Heron, Melonie P., PhD, Murphy, Sherry L., BS, Kung, Hsiang-Ching, PhD; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Final Data for 2003," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 54, No. 13 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, April 19, 2006), p. 10.
Almost 29,000 Americans dead because of drugs. Sounds awful, doesn’t it.
Now consider the following statistics:
- "The leading causes of death in 2000 were tobacco (435,000 deaths; 18.1% of total US deaths), poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000 deaths; 16.6%), and alcohol consumption (85,000 deaths; 3.5%).” Source: Source: Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of the American Medical Association, March 10, 2004, Vol. 291, No. 10, pp. 1238, 1241.
So we spend about $40 billion per year (In 2000, the National Drug Control budget exceeded $18 billion and the states spent upwards of $20 billion more) combating illegal drug use, which accounts for about 29,000 American deaths a year, but tolerate 435,000 deaths a year from tobacco and 85,000 deaths a year from alcohol, both of which are not only legal, but even partly subsidized by the government.
Is there perhaps something irrational going on here? Have we perhaps got our priorities a little wrong?
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