Drug Death Rates | Sophie's Soapbox

Drug Death Rates

I believe that most of us will agree that drug addiction is a serious problem. There are those that think that building walls will solve the import of illegal drugs. I do not agree. My experience tells me that when we have a problem, we need to paddle upstream to examine the root cause. In our case it’s that we have created, by far, the largest market in the world for illegal drugs. Regardless of what precautions we take or defenses we construct our system of Free Market Capitalism will create alternative methods to satisfy the insatiable demand. All countries have this same issue to some extent. How do we stack up compared to other countries?

Country Drug related deaths per 100,000 population

1	UKRAINE	10.96	62	LEBANON	1.59	123	SRI LANKA	0.81
2	UNITED STATES	10.81	63	AZERBAIJAN	1.57	124	URUGUAY	0.79
3	RUSSIA	10.73	64	ARGENTINA	1.55	125	ALBANIA	0.77
4	BELARUS	8.23	65	KUWAIT	1.55	126	COSTA RICA	0.76
5	ESTONIA	7.19	66	CZECH REPUBLIC	1.53	127	PAKISTAN	0.75
6	NORWAY	6.40	67	SUDAN	1.48	128	PHILIPPINES	0.75
7	LITHUANIA	6.14	68	MALTA	1.45	129	CENTRAL AFRICA	0.74
8	FINLAND	5.49	69	KIRIBATI	1.45	130	MAURITIUS	0.73
9	NIGERIA	5.29	70	ECUADOR	1.42	131	QATAR	0.73
10	KAZAKHSTAN	4.66	71	NEW ZEALAND	1.41	132	NICARAGUA	0.70
11	AUSTRALIA	4.55	72	SENEGAL	1.38	133	BELIZE	0.70
12	KYRGYZSTAN	4.06	73	GEORGIA	1.37	134	PANAMA	0.69
13	COTE D IVOIRE	3.98	74	ARAB EMIRATES	1.36	135	NEPAL	0.68
14	IRELAND	3.88	75	SPAIN	1.30	136	ISRAEL	0.67
15	MOLDOVA	3.87	76	MALAYSIA	1.26	137	VENEZUELA	0.66
16	CAMEROON	3.77	77	YEMEN	1.25	138	HUNGARY	0.66
17	CANADA	3.73	78	BHUTAN	1.25	139	SERBIA	0.66
18	UNITED KINGDOM	3.72	79	SAUDI ARABIA	1.24	140	PORTUGAL	0.66
19	SWEDEN	3.62	80	LUXEMBOURG	1.23	141	SAO TOME	0.63
20	ICELAND	3.55	81	NIGER	1.23	142	BAHAMAS	0.62
21	DENMARK	3.38	82	MOROCCO	1.21	143	CHILE	0.60
22	EQU. GUINEA	3.05	83	POLAND	1.21	144	OMAN	0.58
23	CAPE VERDE	2.78	84	CYPRUS	1.20	145	BOSNIA/HERZEG.	0.57
24	SIERRA LEONE	2.73	85	INDIA	1.18	146	MICRONESIA	0.56
25	CHAD	2.73	86	ANTIGUA/BAR.	1.17	147	CAMBODIA	0.55
26	IRAN	2.68	87	SLOVENIA	1.14	148	UGANDA	0.53
27	ZIMBABWE	2.60	88	LIBERIA	1.14	149	DJIBOUTI	0.53
28	GHANA	2.55	89	UZBEKISTAN	1.14	150	EL SALVADOR	0.51
29	ROMANIA	2.42	90	ARMENIA	1.10	151	COMOROS	0.51
30	AUSTRIA	2.42	91	ALGERIA	1.09	152	LAOS	0.51
31	GREECE	2.37	92	ANGOLA	1.09	153	BURUNDI	0.50
32	NORTH KOREA	2.32	93	TURKEY	1.09	154	MALDIVES	0.49
33	PERU	2.25	94	MONGOLIA	1.09	155	PARAGUAY	0.44
34	SWAZILAND	2.24	95	SYRIA	1.07	156	TONGA	0.42
35	NAMIBIA	2.18	96	BANGLADESH	1.07	157	TIMOR-LESTE	0.42
36	TOGO	2.13	97	SURINAME	1.07	158	ERITREA	0.41
37	SWITZERLAND	2.09	98	GABON	1.02	159	INDONESIA	0.40
38	BOLIVIA	2.00	99	SAINT VINCENT	1.02	160	SAMOA	0.40
39	GERMANY	2.00	100	CONGO	1.01	161	BURKINA FASO	0.39
40	MAURITANIA	1.97	101	ITALY	1.01	162	FIJI	0.39
41	BENIN	1.97	102	DR CONGO	1.00	163	RWANDA	0.38
42	LESOTHO	1.96	103	GRENADA	1.00	164	CUBA	0.37
43	LATVIA	1.96	104	MYANMAR	0.99	165	SOMALIA	0.36
44	GUINEA	1.94	105	HAITI	0.98	166	TANZANIA	0.36
45	IRAQ	1.90	106	VIET NAM	0.97	167	NO MACEDONIA	0.36
46	BELGIUM	1.87	107	THAILAND	0.96	168	EGYPT	0.35
47	TAJIKISTAN	1.87	108	TUNISIA	0.96	169	JAPAN	0.34
48	MALI	1.86	109	NETHERLANDS	0.95	170	SOLOMON ISL.	0.30
49	TURKMENISTAN	1.86	110	HONDURAS	0.94	171	VANUATU	0.28
50	GUATEMALA	1.85	111	COLOMBIA	0.91	172	JAMAICA	0.28
51	CHINA	1.84	112	DOMINICAN REP.	0.88	173	NEW GUINEA	0.28
52	MONTENEGRO	1.84	113	SLOVAKIA	0.88	174	BARBADOS	0.26
53	SOUTH AFRICA	1.82	114	BAHRAIN	0.87	175	MALAWI	0.26
54	BOTSWANA	1.82	115	ETHIOPIA	0.86	176	SOUTH SUDAN	0.26
55	LIBYA	1.81	116	TRINIDAD/TOB.	0.86	177	SINGAPORE	0.25
56	JORDAN	1.80	117	SAINT LUCIA	0.85	178	MOZAMBIQUE	0.24
57	GUYANA	1.78	118	BULGARIA	0.85	179	ZAMBIA	0.24
58	CROATIA	1.75	119	MEXICO	0.85	180	SOUTH KOREA	0.24
59	FRANCE	1.70	120	BRAZIL	0.84	181	MADAGASCAR	0.23
60	GAMBIA	1.69	121	AFGHANISTAN	0.82	182	BRUNEI	0.22
61	SEYCHELLES	1.65	122	GUINEA-BISSAU	0.81	183	KENYA	0.18

Why are our drug related deaths so much higher that other countries? Does our rate at three times the average of the EU countries make sense to you? In addition to wasted lives there is another factor to consider. Well over half of all incarcerations are a result of drug related crimes, most of which are relatively minor infractions by addicts. Many of these inmates are eventually released without any support and they end up back through the revolving prison door. At an average of $40,000 per year per incarcerated prisoner our inability to reduce the problem ends being a very heavy burden on the tax payer.

How do we get better at managing this problem? I honestly do not know, but I do know how to find out. My approach is called “base-lining”. I would research at least five countries that have a drug related mortality rate at least 1/3 of ours and determine why they are doing a better job. By implementing some of the best practices established by other countries I am convinced that we could cut our death rate in half, if not even more.

A few countries worth investigating, in my opinion, are: Canada, Austria, France, Greece, Italy & New Zealand. Our best hope to reduce drug addiction and incarcerations may be by learning from others.