Thread: High Times down under

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand have a proud history of co-operation, but now it seems the nations have achieved a more dubious honour: the world's biggest pot-heads.

Together the countries have higher levels of marijuana and amphetamine use than any other region in the world, according to the findings from a series of papers to be published today in the medical journal The Lancet examining global drug use and law enforcement.

In 2009 in Oceania, for which only data from Australia and New Zealand was available, 10 to 15 per cent of people had used marijuana in the past year, compared to 1.2 to 2.5 per cent in Asia, the region with the lowest use. Between 2 and 2.8 per cent used amphetamines such as speed, compared with 0.2 to 1.4 per cent in Asia.


Read more: Healthy image up in smoke as nation lives the high life



Perhaps we've found the reason Aussie's are often very laid back.