The world’s top consumers of cannabis and cocaine are Americans, according to a recent international study based on World Health Organization data and published in the online scientific magazine PLoS Medicine.

According to this study, which surveyed 54,068 people in 17 countries, over 16 percent of Americans have tried cocaine at least once, and over 42 percent have used marijuana. By comparison, in second-place New Zealand, only 4.3 percent of study participants had ever used cocaine, even though marijuana usage was about the same.

The United Nations estimates that America’s appetite for deadly drugs is fueling a $142-billion-a-year business—despite punitive U.S. drug laws and massive drug seizures.

Earlier this month, the United States House of Representatives approved $1.6 billion over the next three years to combat drug traffickers in Mexico and Central America. This sum will be quickly overpowered, however, by the nearly half-trillion dollars that drug-addicted Americans will pay to drug cartels over this same period.

Combating drug cartels and enacting stringent domestic anti-drug policies cannot solve America’s drug addiction. Treating the effects will not solve the problem as long as the cause still remains. The only way to halt the problem of drug traffickers is to eliminate the demand at home.

To find out more about how to solve America’s drug addiction, read “A Key to Winning the Drug War” by Joel Hilliker.