Drug use can lead to dangerous addiction, crime and other societal ills, but another big downside goes relatively unrecognized: Drugs drain resources. The production and trafficking of controlled substances consumes not just money, but energy, water, and forests as well. From cannabis, cocaine, and heroin to methamphetamine and the leafy drug khat, chewed for its mild buzz in parts of Africa and the Middle East, humans’ pursuit of an unnatural high is anything but green.
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