Mexico City; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Managua, Nicaragua; and San Jose, Costa Rica. Our review involved: --Visiting State and local enforcement agencies in --Examining Federal and State drug legislation and documentation relating to dangerous drug activities. --Interviewing Embassy, DEA, State, and local officials responsible for administering enforcement programs. --Reviewing numerous reports and studies which dealt with various aspects of the dangerous drug problem. (See app. III.) CHAPTER 2 DANGEROUS DRUGS--A MENACE EQUIVALENT TO HEROIN Dangerous drug abuse prevades all levels of society in the United States, and many authorities believe it to be as severe a problem as heroin abuse. Essentially, this belief is based on: - - Wider use of dangerous drugs by children and adults. --Greater physical harm from dangerous drugs. Many of the drugs are extremely addictive and cause more deaths than heroin. --Physiological effects similar to those of heroin. - - Criminat association. Dangerous drugs are associated with aggravated assaults more often than heroin, and in some cities they are the drugs most used by criminals. Nevertheless, dangerous drugs generally have not received the notoriety that heroin has. The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse noted this in its March 1973 report "Drug Use in America: Problem in Perspective" (see app. III) and called ban rates # drug problem." NUMBER OF USERS AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE Millions of people abuse dangerous drugs; only marihuana is abused to a greater extent. The following chart--which was prepared by the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse on the results of a 1973 nationwide survey--shows the breakdown of nonmedical drug use. The Commission estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million of the users were addicted to barbiturates. By comparison, BNDD estimated that about 500,000 were addicted to heroin. Dangerous drugs seem to affect a broader spectrum of society than does heroin. Children, for instance, if they are vulnerable to drug abuse of any sort, usually begin with the so-called soft drugs--amphetamines or barbiturates--and normally at a younger age than they would begin to use heroin. For example, in 1971 a California research team (see app. III) studied drug use in the fourth through ninth grades. It found that the most common age for children to begin using drugs was 12 or 13, about the age for entering junior high school. The study report noted that the drugs most commonly used by the youths were marihuana, barbiturates, and amphetamines; heroin was generally not used until after high school. Although only 9 percent of the total sample tried drugs (fourth through ninth grades), 29 percent of those entering high school had tried drugs. About two-thirds of the students who tried drugs continued to use them. As another example of the wide acceptance and use of dangerous drugs, a worldwide study by the U.S. Army in 1971 of 880,000 of its personnel found that 20,224 used drugs. Of these, almost 70 percent used dangerous drugs while 30 percent used narcotics. Other studies (see app. III) likewise concluded that susceptibility of children to dangerous drugs was growing and that the drugs most commonly used in schools were marihuana, barbiturates, and amphetamines. PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND RELATIONSHIPS Physically, dangerous drugs are more deadly than heroin; several are as addictive as heroin and withdrawal may cause death. Withdrawal from heroin addiction will not. As with heroin, barbiturate addiction can be passed from mother to newborn baby; one recorded death from barbiturate addiction was a 30-day-old infant. Although heroin overdose or related diseases, such as hepatitis, have been longtime killers, barbiturates account for the highest percentage of drug-related deaths in many States. Barbiturates are the leading suicide vehicle in the United States and their use for this purpose spans an age group ranging from 11 to 70 years. A BNDD study of barbiturate incidents in 32 States from January 1971 through April 1972, which we projected nationwide, indicates that there were 173 suicides or accidental deaths and 339 overdose injury cases monthly. Barbiturates are often used with heroin. When heroin is not available, many heroin users often turn to barbiturates. BNDD, in an October 1972 report supporting tighter regulatory controls for barbiturates, pointed out, in part, that: Barbiturate abuse in conjunction with heroin abuse due to the lack of availability and the needs of The same report stated that many heroin addicts participating in methadone maintenance programs also use barbiturates. Methadone blocks the feelings and sensations heroin produces and addicts thus seek satisfaction with barbiturates. In most cases this will not jeopardize their participation in the methadone program. Because heroin addicts turn to barbiturates for relief rather than to rehabilitation, the ready availability of barbiturates negates much of the enforcement and rehabilitation efforts directed at heroin. RELATIONSHIP TO CRIME In a 1971 study of arrests in six major U.S. cities (see app. III), BNDD found that, of the 1,889 arrestees, 50 percent were using drugs at the time of arrest. In Chicago, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, barbiturates were the principal drug abused. The following chart shows that many arrestees were using dangerous drugs and, for one category of arrest (aggravated assault), dangerous drug users outnumbered narcotics users. |