The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

Worldwide there are generally two legalised drugs. The first is tobacco, Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco from the Americas to Europe in 1586. Incredibly it was perceived in its early years as being beneficial to your health.

It does not give you a high (which begs the question why bother?) From a health perspective the statistics on tobacco are truly terrifying. 8,200,000 people worldwide die from tobacco related diseases-TRD. Of these deaths 1,200,000 per year are caused by second hand smoke ie poor souls who don’t even smoke! That’s a bummer.

The life expectancy of a smoker is 10 years less than a non smoker, when you are 15 and life seems ever ending it’s utterly pointless pointing this out. Stats show us addiction is complete within one month of commencing smoking. Of people who smoke 67% will die of a TRD. Approximately 14% of worldwide deaths per year are caused by TRD.

You could go infinitum pointing out the frightening stats on tobacco such as the $300,000,000,000 it costs in heath care worldwide per year. So much for the devilish tobacco. The next legalised drug used throughout the world is alcohol. This one does give you a high. It ‘s a smaller killer compared to tobacco coming in at 3,000,000 deaths per year which is 5.9% of world wide deaths per year.

So much for the legalised drugs. We then have a host of non legal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, speed, ecstasy and marijuana amongst a plethora of others. Significantly many countries in the world are now legalising marijuana. Like alcohol it gives a high. In the USA approximately 70,000 people per year die of drug related issues of which the vast majority are overdoses. Amazingly 55% of these deaths are caused by prescription (LEGAL) drugs, the often mentioned opioid epidemic. Causes of deaths reported by marijuana abuse/overdose is zero. Health wise good stats for marijuana.

These are the FACTS of the legalised drugs tobacco and alcohol and the illegal drug marijuana. Now marijuana is fully legal in Canada and some US states there is a lot of research going on into the health benefits of marijuana. There is NO research going on for the health benefits of tobacco as there are none! It kills – end of story.

It strikes me Walter Raleigh brought the wrong leaf back from the Americas and if he brought back marijuana in 1586 and now countries were trying to legalise tobacco what would be the reaction? Yes, no chance you don’t get high and it kills you. Utterly illogical drug tobacco.

THE REALIST

Nassau,

June, 2019.