When it comes to guns.......
Or, more than likely.
Using a focus group study they thought they could use "guns" as a political wedge issue to gain support.
How many killings start with drugs first?
How has our attitude toward drugs supported its continue usage and, if we are all concerned about the impact of guns on our society, allowed this monster to stay in the shadows?
It's simple, ain't it. You can't, so you can't use it as campaign fodder.
Yet, look at those friggin numbers folks.
Lets use real numbers then, and maybe shift our focus and attention to a BIGGER killer, and by doing such it might even lend a fix in bringing down the gun numbers too.....???
April 2014
Consequences of Illicit
Drug Use in America
Drug Deaths
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40,393 people died of drug-induced
causes in 2010, the latest year for which data are available. The number of drug-induced deaths
has grown from 19,128 in 1999, or from 6.8 deaths per 100,000 population to 12.9 in 2010.
(These include causes directly involving drugs, such as accidental poisoning or overdoses, but do
not include accidents, homicides, AIDS, and other causes indirectly related to drugs.)
There is a drug-induced death in the U.S. every 13 minutes.2
Compared to other causes of preventable deaths, drug-induced causes exceeded the 31,328 deaths
from injuries due to firearms and the 25,692 alcohol-induced deaths recorded in 2010. In the
same year, 38,364 deaths were classified as suicides and 16,259 deaths as homicides.
Drugged Driving
From a national roadside survey in 2007, one in eight (12.4%) of weekend nighttime drivers
tested positive for at least one illicit drug.
Based on a self-report survey in 2012, approximately 10.2 million Americans aged 16 or older
reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year.
In 2012, more than one in three drivers (38%) killed in motor vehicle crashes who were tested for
drugs and the results known, tested positive for at least one medication or illicit drug.
Among high school seniors in 2013, one in 9 (11.7%) reported that in the two weeks prior to their
interview, they had driven a vehicle after smoking marijuana.
Children
Annual averages for 2002 to 2007 indicate that over 8.3 million youth under 18 years of age, or
almost one in eight youth (11.9%), lived with at least one parent who was dependent on alcohol
or an illicit drug in the past year.
Of these, About 2.1 million youth lived with a parent who was
dependent on or abused illicit drugs, and almost 7.3 million lived with a parent who was
dependent on or abused alcohol.
School Performance
Among youth in school who reported an average grade of “D” or worse, one in four were current
marijuana users, whereas fewer than one in ten (9.1%) of those who reported an average grade
better than “D” were current marijuana users
College students who use prescription stimulant medications non-medically typically have lower
grade point averages, are more likely to be heavy drinkers and users of other illicit drugs, and are
more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for dependence on alcohol and marijuana, skip class more
frequently, and spend less time studying.
Economic Costs
The economic cost of drug abuse in the US was estimated at $193 billion in 2007, the last
available estimate. This value represents both the use of resources to address health and crime
consequences as well as the loss of potential productivity from disability, premature death, and
withdrawal from the legitimate workforce.
Addiction and Treatment
In 2012, 23.1 million persons aged 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use
problem (8.9 percent of persons in that age group). Of these, 8.0 million persons (or 3.1 percent)
needed treatment for illicit drug problems, with or without alcohol.
Of the 23.5 million persons needing substance use treatment, 2.5 million received treatment at a
specialty facility in the past year, and of the 8.0 million needing drug treatment, 1.5 million
received specialty treatment.
Over the past 10 years, there have been approximately one million drug treatment admissions
recorded annually. Treatment admissions with opioids as the primary drug are the largest
component. Treatment for heroin has been approximately 25% of drug treatment admissions
annually over the past 10 years. Treatment admissions for non-heroin opioids such as prescription
painkillers, has risen from under 5% in 2002 to over 15% by 2011.15
Acute Health Effects
In 2011, an estimated 2.5 million visits to emergency departments in US hospitals were
associated with drug misuse or abuse, including over 1.3 million (1,252,500) visits involving an
illicit drug. Nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals was involved in over 1.4 million ED visits.
Cocaine was involved in 505,224 visits, marijuana was involved in 455,668 visits, heroin was
involved in 258,482 visits, and stimulants (including amphetamines and methamphetamine) were
involved in 159,840 visits.
Criminal Justice Involvement
According to a 2013 study of arrestees in 5 major metropolitan areas across the country, drug use
among the arrestee population is much higher than in the general U.S. population. The
percentage of booked arrestees testing positive for at least one illicit drug ranged from 63 percent
to 83 percent. The most common substances present during tests, in descending order, are
marijuana, cocaine, opiates (primarily metabolites of heroin or morphine), and methamphetamine.
Many arrestees tested positive for more than one illegal drug at the time of arrest.
Similar
results were found in earlier studies conducted in additional locations across the country.
According to a 2004 survey of inmates in correctional facilities, 32 percent of state inmates and
26 percent of federal prisoners reported that they used drugs at the time of the offense.
Environmental Impact and Dangers
There are significant environmental impacts from clandestine methamphetamine drug labs,
including chemical toxicity, risk of fire and explosion, lingering effects of toxic waste, and
potential injuries. The number of domestic meth lab incidents, which includes dumpsites, active
labs, and chemical/glassware set-ups, dropped dramatically in response to the Combat Meth
Epidemic Act, (CMEA) of 2005, from nearly 24,000 in 2005 to nearly 7,000 in 2007. However,
traffickers are devising methods to avoid the CMEA restrictions and domestic meth lab incidents
are rising again, reaching 912,700 in 2012.
Coca and poppy cultivation in the Andean jungle is significantly damaging the environment in the
region. The primary threats to the environment are deforestation caused by clearing the fields for
cultivation, soil erosion, and chemical pollution from insecticides and fertilizers. Additionally,
the lab process of converting coca and poppy into cocaine and heroin has adverse effects on the
environment.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations have been operating on public lands in the U.S. to
cultivate marijuana, with serious consequences for the environment and public safety. Propane
tanks and other trash from illicit marijuana growers litter the remote areas of park lands from
California to Tennessee. Growers often use a cocktail of pesticides and fertilizers many times
stronger than what is used on residential lawns to cultivate their crop. These chemicals leach out
quickly, killing native insects and other organisms directly. Fertilizer runoff contaminates local
waterways and aids in the growth of algae and weeds. The aquatic vegetation in turn impedes
water flows that are critical to maintaining biodiversity in wetlands and other sensitive
environments.
Did you read it?
Can you even begin to wrap an understanding around the cost and implications of this problem on ALL segments of our society, can you?
OR.....
Do guns seem more a threat to our survival, still 
BTW, this data came from our own White House:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ondcp/Fact_Sheets/consequences...
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