Re:Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug
by aminorex on Thursday March 10, 2016 @10:01PM
(#11264382)
Ketamine "addicts"? You crack me up.
Re:Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug
by drug3737 on Wednesday March 09, 2016 @03:00PM
(#11255376)
China's drugs usage death rate is very low compared to Western countries.
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drug-use/b...
Re:Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug
by rwmj on Wednesday March 09, 2016 @03:05PM
(#11255407)
By the same website, China deaths by alcohol use are also much lower than the West. Is the punishment for alcohol use much more severe in China than it is in the West? Erm, no - in fact none of those countries use the criminal justice system to punish alcohol users. Could it therefore be other factors like societal attitudes as I said in the comment above.
You should also remember that by far the most widely used illegal drug is cannabis (93% in the UK), and it's almost impossible to die from cannabis. About the only way I can think of is if a block of it drops on you from a smuggler's aircraft. So just looking at deaths from drug use isn't so interesting. There are other ways that drugs are both productive and enjoyable, and can be damaging.
In addition, there was a recent study showing that harsh penalties and rates of drug use are not correlated. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/30/punitive-drug... If you think that particular countries have unusually low rates of use, then you may be just wrong because of misreporting, or it could be to do with other societal factors (eg. children having to live at home longer with parents because of social norms or housing issues).