U.S. leads world in cocaine and marijuana use

(Who are these 16% of Americans who have tried cocaine?) By and large it’s the baby boom generation, we reached a peak level use in about 1980 but there’s still residual effects from that. We’re talking about those who have used cocaine one or more times so most of the individuals have used it once or a bit more and then it’s left their lives. (What are the broad patterns you’re seeing worldwide?) The contours follow religion. In countries with large Muslim populations, we see lower consumption of alcohol. In the US only 5-6% have not tried alcohol. In Europe there’s large amounts of tobacco smoking and the US have comparable levels. Japan and China have lower levels of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana. (What were the big surprises in this survey for you?) The most striking finding is the experience across the Netherlands with marijuana compared to the US and New Zealand. In the US and NZ, about 40% of the population has tried marijuana, whereas in the Netherlands it’s about 20%, even though it can be bought and consumed easily there. (Are Americans just more honest about this? What countries were people reluctant to fess up?) The US does have a tradition of trusting surveyors, as compared to China, for example. So that might skew the info. This is not the case for Western European countries.