Interesting Facts

According to a new study conducted at Loughborough University, drivers who are dehydrated can be as dangerous as those who are drunk or on drugs. (The study showed that drivers who drank only 25 ml of water an hour made more than twice the number of mistakes as drivers who had drunk enough water. Professor Maughan, who published the findings, said, “We all deplore drink driving, but we don't usually think about the effects of other things that affect our driving skills, and one of those is not drinking and dehydration. There is no question that driving while incapable through drink or drugs increases the risk of accidents, but our findings highlight an unrecognised danger and suggest that drivers should be encouraged to make sure they are properly hydrated.” I can see it now:- Policeman: "Sir, you are 3 times over the legal limit." Driver: "At least I'm not dehydrated, officer.")

Illegal tobacco is one of the most commonly smuggled products to the UK. (Criminals are often managing to beat UK border controls by sending illegal goods by post. More than a million such parcels are sent to British homes every year. Alongside cigarettes, criminals are sending guns, and drugs! It's all costing the taxman an estimated £3billion, a year, but I bet they pay with Bitcoins. Don't these criminals read the Royal Mail's terms and conditions ?)

According to the Office for National Statistics sex workers and drug dealers add £9.7 bn to the GDP of the UK. (This amount is the same contribution as farming, and only slightly less than book and newspaper publishers. It will be categorised under "Miscellaneous Goods and Services", which also includes life insurance, personal care products and post office charges. It's nice to see everyone doing their bit.)

Today it costs around £1 billion to bring a new drug to market. (The pharmaceutical industry has to jump through so many hoops to follow regulations, test and ensure the safety of drugs, and when you think about the thalidomide scandal, rightly so.  However, it does mean that drug development is very expensive and extremely slow. Now in the UK there is a "Right to Try" campaign, pushing to give the terminally ill the right to try untested drugs. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45928 )

Researchers compiled a World Death Table from the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study, and  found that rising levels of drink and drug abuse are turning Britain into one of the sickest countries in the Western world. (According to research, which compares premature death rates in 19 wealthy nations, only Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark and the US have worse premature death rates. The really worrying thing for me is that there is a "World Death Table". )

The only legal cannabis farm is in an understandably, undisclosed location somewhere in the South of England. (GW Pharmaceuticals is preparing to enlarge its clandestine marijuana plantation, because it wants to ramp up production of Sativex, its recently licensed cannabis-based drug for multiple sclerosis, which has potential in the treatment of pain in cancer patients too. Or you could just bake some nice "special" brownies.")

According to the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, in 2010 The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars on the War on Drugs. (That is a cost of about $500 per second, but that's just the federal government, state and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars. America is still the single largest marketplace for illegal drugs. One estimate is that around thirteen million Americans still occasionally buy illegal drugs, whist an estimated 5 and 6 million have more serious drug habits. The government estimates that users spend approximately $60 billion dollars a year.) You can follow an up-to-date calculator online.  http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock

Police in Rome, Italy, have seized €3m (£2.3m)  of marijuana in a drugs raid in the city. (Now 340kg (750lb) of marijuana is in itself interesting, but what makes this story unique is the plants were being grown  in an old underground Metro tunnel that was built beneath Rome during the fascist era of Benito Mussolini. The tunnel, which is 1 km (0.6 miles) long was officially being used as a mushroom farm.) Source

It is estimated there are 35 "outlaw" motorcycle groups in Australia. (Together they have  3,500 "patched members" (official members). Since the 1980s there have been about 100 biker killings across the country and 1,000 shootings.   Because of the escalating violence, it is  illegal to wear certain biker "patches" or insignia in Kings Cross, Sydney. The reason for the escalating violence?  Drugs.  So, if you supply, grow, trade in, take or make money from narcotics, you are part of the problem,)

Honduras has the world's highest murder rate. (The National Commission for Human Rights has calculated that there is a violent death every 74 minutes in this small nation of about eight million people, and in 2011 they recorded the highest murder rate in the world, with 86 people killed for every 100,000 inhabitants. In  Mexico the rate is 18, in the UK it is just over 1. What fuels the violence in Honduras, and in Mexico? Illegal drugs. So, if you take / deal / transport or make money from this stuff, you are part of the problem.)

According to scientists at the University of Cambridge, abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts. (Experts have always been unsure whether drugs changed the wiring of the brain or if drug addicts' brains were wired differently in the first place and this study has shown the same differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters. So you really can blame it on  your parents.) Source

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden. (In fact, he was forced to do it, allegedly for the fibre. In 1762, Virginia awarded bounties for hempculture and manufacture, and imposed penalties upon those who did not produce it. But there is some suggestion that he had other properties in mind, as he wrote in his diary:- May 12-13 1765: "Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." August 7, 1765: "--began to seperate (sic) the Male from the Female Hemp at Do--rather too late." George Andrews argued, in _The Book of Grass: An Anthology of Indian Hemp_ (1967), that Washington's August 7 diary entry "clearly indicates that he was cultivating the plant for medicinal purposes as well for its fiber." How times have changed.) Source

According to the British Medical Journal the following drugs were named as the greatest medical advances of the century:- Aspirin was chosen as the greatest medical advance of the century by cardiologists, chemotherapy by oncologists, antidepressants by psychiatrists, and penicillin by doctors in general practice. (You see.  The result of any survey depends on whom you ask.)

Prescription drugs that is. According to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, in 2010 U.S. Spending on medicines grew 2.3 percent to $307.4 billion. (The most popular drug was Vicodin, an opioid prescribed to treat chronic pain, with a massive 131.2 million prescriptions!  I'm sure all those prescriptions were completely genuine of course.)

In the UK, it is now illegal to sell and possess the class B drugs mephedrone and other related substances, previously known as legal highs. (It is now a class B drug in the UK, and so there will be a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, an unlimited fine for possession and 14 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine for supply. Slang names for the drug include meph, MC, MCAT, m-cat, 4-MMC, meow meow, bubbles, bounce, charge, drone and white magic. Of course people who don't care what they put in their bodies as long as they feel better about themselves for a few minutes will still buy it, it will just cost them more.)

According to scientists at the University of Iowa, salt can make you feel happier, but it also creates cravings comparable to drug addiction. (So that packet of salted crisps is a double edged sword, it will make you feel better, but you might start hanging round street corners for your next fix of the white stuff. Actually the addictive qualities could go some way to explaining the popularity of Marmite.)

More cannabis is grown in Scotland than vegetables. (Every year up to £100m of cannabis is grown in Scotland. Of the 111 cannabis farms discovered 100% were in domestic properties and 94% of those were in the buy-to-let market. Personally I prefer carrots.)

According to the UN's annual drug report global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or declining. (This is maybe one of the best results of the recession. Less spare cash = less misery and suffering around the world to fuel an evil demand.)

Anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza, don't attack the virus. (They attack an enzyme that allows the virus to spread within the body. The enzyme, Neuraminidase is the "N" used in identifying a flu strain.)

Spain is Europe’s largest consumer of cocaine and hashish. (A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is laced with large amounts of drugs - most prominently cocaine. In both cities the studies were carried out close to universities and concentrations were higher at the weekend.)