"Directly or indirectly, addiction to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol is thought to account for a third of all hospital admissions, a quarter of all deaths and a majority of serious crimes. In the U.S. alone the combined medical and social costs of drug abuse are believed to exceed $240 billion." (How we get addicted ...and how we might get cured, Time, May 5, 1997)

"Research on abuse and addiction has been woefully underfunded. The National Institutes of Health spend almost $5 billion in research: on cancer ($2 billion), AIDS ($1.4 billion), and cardiovascular diseases ($1.3 billion), but only about 10% of that amount on research on addiction and abuse of illegal and legal drugs—the largest single cause and aggravator of all three of these killers." (Clinical and Societal Implications of Drug Legalization, Kleber, Califano, and Demers, Copyright 1997)

"Marihuana use has been associated with many high-risk behaviors among young people. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adolescents who smoke marihuana are twice as likely to attempt suicide and carry a weapon as those who do not. Adolescent marihuana smokers are three times as likely to have sex and far more likely to do so without a condom, putting themselves at much greater risk of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases." (Clinical and Societal Implications of Drug Legalization, Kleber, Califano, and Demers, Copyright 1997)