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Bad News in the War on Drugs, LSD Use Down
(Ryan Grim, Slate, April 1, 2004)
MTF has documented the rise and decline of many drugs, but lead researcher Dr. Lloyd Johnston says the group has never seen such a dramatic drop in the use of an established illicit drug as they're seeing now with LSD. In both the 2000 and 2001 surveys, 6.6 percent of high-school seniors reported that they'd used LSD in the previous year. In 2002, the figure dropped to 3.5 percent. And in the most recent survey, from 2003, only 1.9 percent of high-school seniors claim to have dropped acid. . . . In major cities and college towns where LSD was once plentiful, it can't be had at all. . . . DAWN Project Director Dr. Judy Ball says what's unique about the LSD findings is that they show a consistent decline in every metropolitan area measured, not just common regional fluctuations. . . . Nobody collects national arrest data for LSD cases, but federal arrests for LSD trafficking and possession have tumbled in recent years. The Drug Enforcement Administration recorded 203 arrests in FY2000, 95 in FY2001, 41 in FY2002, and 19 in FY2003. In the first quarter of 2004, the feds have arrested only three people on LSD charges. In the LSD haven of San Francisco, the DEA recorded 20 arrests in 2000 versus zero in 2002, according to DEA Special Agent Richard Meyer of the agency's San Francisco office. . . . How permanent is the acid drought? The history of drug prohibition indicates that the government can upset supply and demand at the margins. It can drive one drug into scarcity only to see users substitute it with another. But it never eliminates the market for drugs altogether. As the drug war enters its second century, LSD appears to be in retreat. But never bet against a comeback.

[COMMENT: This is truly sad news. In times like these we need a significant increase in the number of LSD users, particularly among young people. It may be the only way they will be able to break the choke hold on consciousness that the conservitive religious right seems to have on this nation.]

posted by LoZo 2:57 PM