Israeli’s Don’t Take it up the Nose Much…

According to a new poll, Israeli’s are sweet on weed but think crack is whack. Or something like that. Here’s the story from Haaretz about the use of drugs in Israel relative to 17 other countries. Short story: Israeli’s are 11/17 for coke use but 6th for ganja consumption. Muffti isn’t surprised – hummus tastes so much better when you are baked…

The percentage of Israelis who smoke marijuana is higher than the rate in developing countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico and Colombia, but lower than in the developed countries of Europe, according to research conducted by the World Health Organization.

The study, published Tuesday in the open-access online medical journal PLoS Medicine, found that 58 percent of Israelis drink alcohol, 48 percent have smoke tobacco, and 11.5 percent have smoked marijuana. Only one percent of Israelis have used cocaine.

Of the 17 countries surveyed, Israelis ranked sixth in marijuana consumption, 14th in alcohol consumption, 15th in tobacco and 11th in cocaine.

The 17 countries surveyed by the global health body were: Belgium, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, Ukraine and the U.S. Around 85,000 people were surveyed, including 4,859 Israelis.

Americans were found to be the highest drug and alcohol consumers of all the surveyed nations. 42 percent of Americans were reported to have smoked marijuana, and 16 percent had used cocaine. Similar statistics were found in New Zealand. The percentage of consumers in the poverty-stricken nations of Africa was found to be the lowest in the world.

One of the report’s conclusions was that states with more rigid law-enforcement didn’t necessarily have lower rates of drug, alcohol or cigarette use.

The strongest example was once again the U.S. According to the research, 74 percent of Americans have smoked cigarettes at least once in their lifetime.

Israelis begin smoking at a later age than most other countries, with only nine percent of 15-year-olds having tried cigarettes – ahead of only Nigeria (seven percent).

In contrast, at least 44 percent of 15-year-old Americans have already tried smoking. Some experts have questioned these findings, saying the research is disconnected from the decrease in tobacco use in the U.S. They cite the fact that although 74 percent of Americans have tried cigarettes, only around 30 percent are actual habitual smokers.

The study also found also that the rate of drug and alcohol use has risen in every country. The rate of use is higher among lower age groups. Higher wage-earners were also found to be bigger drug and alcohol consumers than lower wage-earners.