Do you consider marijuana to be a major source of drug worry in your community? According to a brand new survey from the DEA, America’s cops seem to think weed is a pretty low priority in the big drug sweepstakes.
The police-n-pot findings pop up in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s gargantuan “2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary.” Over 1,000 law enforcement agencies from across the country were asked what they saw as the biggest drug threats. Marijuana finished in the bottom of the listed responses coming in at a meagre 6 percent.
What finished higher? Heroin (that thing musicians love!) polled at 38 percent as the drug law enforcement agencies considered it the greatest threat. Scoring the silver and later pawning it for drugs is meth at 33 percent. Painkillers pop in at the No. 3 spot at 15 percent and cocaine is listed just a smidge above pot at 7 percent.
The Washington Post (who has done a fantastic job of combing through the results) notes that law enforcement’s perceived threat of heroin has quadrupled in the past eight years. Conversely, the threat of painkillers appears to have dipped sharply in the eyes of law. From 2007 to 2013, prescription meds were on the rise as a perceived threat. In 2014 and 2015, the level of concern dropped.
(via Washington Post)