Record number of US adults using marijuana, psychedelics
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According to a Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, approximately 4% of older persons and 8% of younger adults reported using psychedelics, such as LSD and MDMA in the previous year.
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A photo shows the marijuana plant (AFP)
Americans in their twenties and thirties are smoking marijuana and using psychedelics at historic rates.
The Monitoring the Future (MTF) study has been tracking American drug usage, among other things, since the mid-1970s, and according to recent numbers cited in the New Scientist, over a quarter of people aged 35-50, and almost half of individuals aged 19-30, have used marijuana in the previous 12 months.
Approximately 4% of older persons and 8% of younger adults reported using psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA in the previous year.
According to a recent KFF poll, addiction is impacting the family ties, mental health, and economics of the majority of individuals in the United States.
The results paint a stark image of how escalating substance abuse is affecting Americans, even those who are not addicts themselves.
Over 27% of those with family members with alcohol and drug addictions say their mental health has been substantially impacted.
Psychedelic usage has increased considerably during the last decade, when less than 1% of each group took psychedelics. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, adult marijuana consumption more than doubled during the same time period.
According to a new poll by KFF, most #US adults have a drug addict family member, which affects family relationships, mental health, and finances.#drugs pic.twitter.com/Rs1xhjha7s
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 27, 2023
According to Charles Fain Lehman from UnHerd, this increase can be attributed to policy changes that made these drugs less regulated and more readily available.
Recreational marijuana is widely legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. While this was disputed for many reasons, data show that the establishment of legal marketplaces leads to an increase in consumption.
A recent systematic review found that "an increased availability of legal cannabis was linked to increased current cannabis use and health-related outcomes (vomiting, psychosis, or cannabis-involved pregnancies), regardless of the indicator employed to measure availability (proximity or density) among both adults and adolescents."
Psychedelics have also been decriminalized and legalized for medical use in both Oregon and Colorado with the District of Columbia decriminalizing possession of psychoactive plants like ibogaine, peyote, and “shrooms”.
Lehman believes the progressive Left is aiming to expand even further. According to him, legalization is driven by an increase in demand for mind-altering chemicals. This is mirrored in the increased use of legal amphetamines and other medications, as well as the return of nicotine use in the form of vaping. According to the MTF poll, the one substance that young adults are taking less of is alcohol.
All of this demonstrates a growing complacency regarding drug usage on the side of both consumers and authorities. America has heard this song before: the last time it experimented with marijuana and psychedelics in the 1960s, it was characterized by the same casual attitude toward drug usage.
Lehman concludes by indicating that this attitude mirrored a lack of knowledge about the dangers of the drugs that Americans were using at the time, ranging from marijuana to cocaine to amphetamine.
Today, he notes, it symbolizes apathy toward people who will be affected by drug use.
Perhaps 20% of new marijuana users will get hooked, and some will suffer psychosis. The new psychedelics have the same mental health dangers, as well as the possibility of life-long flashbacks, he continues.
These damages, as well as the resulting dysfunction, are the price society pays for being slack on the problem of drugs.
