Thread:Comments:Report finds teen substance abuse is top public health problem in US/Implications for the War on Drugs/reply

The study is concerned with the public health implications, not with legality or illegality. Alcohol is implicated in something like 40% of serious or fatal automobile accident, for example. Also China, the US and other countries are trying to reduce the use of tobacco because of the tremulous strain tobacco-related disease put on the health care system in countries. The heavy use of marijuana (whether legal or illegal) has been shown to retard social and intellectual development when used by pre-teen and teen-ages. Caffeine has not been shown to have noticeable public health effects, although an individual person may experience harmful side effects, such as tachycardia.

Agreed that advertising of drugs and alcohol etc. glamorize and encourage the use of these substances. The study notes that effect and that it is harmful. The study emphasizes the society in general, and many parents and school personnel, normalize the use of drugs, and thereby encourage their use.

Remember, the U.S. tried to outlaw the use of alcohol in the Prohibition and it didn't work. The solution is education as well as proper role-modeling by adults. If adults are using (as the study says 42% of children live in homes where one or more adults are abusing substances), then children will grow up thinking substance abuse is normal.