Scientific American, after exhaustive research, found that the studies usually cited to prove the dangers of drug use in the workplace were either shoddy or misinterpreted. Astonishingly, the magazine could identify only one study on workplace drug use that has passed through the standard peer review process for scientific evaluation. Their report reveals that adolescents who occasionally use drugs are healthier than both drug abusers and drug abstainers. Moreover, those who abuse drugs as teen-agers have distinct behavioral problems that were identifiable years before theri drug use began. Drug use is a symptom, not a cause.
Most people can walk away from high drug use if their lives become more normal.
The British journal New Scientist reports research that found the majority of those who become dependant on Cocaine return to moderate use or total abstinence without treatment. Finally, Florida State University conducted a study for the Florida legislature of 45,096 people arrested for drug possesion in 1987. Eighty-eight percent had never been arrested for property crimes like burglary. Relying on these and many other studies, the Washington-based Drug Policy Foundation, a beacon of reason in a sea of hysteria, offers the following framework. Stress causes drug use.