The United States is "9% stoned," say U.S. senators - the biggest drug consumer in the world

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who is doing his best to strike hard at this country's vicious drug cartels, has repeatedly said that his country's geographic proximity to the United States is "like living next door to the biggest drug addict in town." I've said much the same thing on this site (Mexico's Continuing Agony). Drugs move north through Mexico to feed the habit of Americans, while U.S. dollars and machine guns move south.

Now two U.S. Senators agree - even though they're unlikely bedfellows. California's liberal Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Iowa's conservative Charles Grassley have co-authored a bi-partisan report entitled Responding to Violence in Latin America. The document says that in 2010 the United States had 22.6 million drug consumers over the age of 12, representing 8.9% of the country's population.

A direct quote from the U.S. congressional report (translated from a Spanish version): "Despite efforts to increase treatment and prevention programs, the United States remains the largest user of illegal drugs in the world." The study added that due to the huge U.S. drug demand, not only Mexico but all of Central America "has been converted into an operations center" to supply narcotics headed north.

It looks like Felipe Calderon knows exactly what he's talking about. The United States bears moral complicity for Mexico's continuing nightmare by fueling a voracious demand for all kinds of drugs. Plenty of Americans want to get stoned, even if 50,000 Mexicans have to die while they're doing so.

Dec. 6, 2011 - Mérida summit to U.S.: get drug usage under control, stop the flow of weapons
Dec. 29, 2011 - Honduras "invaded by drug traffickers," shipping tons of cocaine to U.S. customers