Drug experts say alcohol worse than crack or heroin

[Islander]

I hate these fear-mongering, sensational headlines...read my comments below.

By Kate Kelland
Mon Nov 1, 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said Monday.

Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs. Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy." He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences. "It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed -- alcohol and tobacco -- score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances," Nutt, who was formerly head of the influential British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), said in a statement about the study. Nutt was forced to quit the ACMD a year ago after publicly criticizing ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organization estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer -- accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

In an effort to offer a guide to policy makers in health, policing, and social care, Nutt's team rated drugs using a technique called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) which assessed damage according to nine criteria on harm to the user and seven criteria on harm to others. Harms to the user included things such as drug-specific or drug-related death, damage to health, drug dependence and loss of relationships, while harms to others included crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion. Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all.

The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54.
Among some of the other drugs assessed were crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine or speed (23), cannabis (20), benzodiazepines, such as Valium (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5).
(Editing by Alison Williams (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=alison.williams&))

http://tinyurl.com/2d9prm3

[Islander]

What they actually mean is that alcohol abuse is responsible etc. etc.

There is no reason to demonize a beer with your pizza or a glass or two of wine with dinner. Judicious use of alcohol relaxes, de-stresses, warms the heart and lends conviviality to the meal.

It's true, of course, that — all things considered — alcohol causes more harm than marijuana. People don't typically drive stoned, and even if they did, they'd be more inclined to take it slow and careful, wouldn't they? Abuse of either can lead to adverse health effects, but no one's promoting abuse. Prohibition, as we should have learned, never works and only leads to unintended consequences. I'm looking forward to Prop 19 succeeding in CA, and I'm hopeful that the federal government will regain its sanity someday soon and treat Cannabis as the Canadians do: under an ounce is legal.

[Reesacat]

I have several friends who gave up hard drugs and alcohol but can't shake cigarettes....

[Samurai]

I saw this article on Yahoo! and frankly, it made me laugh.

I used to smoke pot years ago, and it never caused the problems that booze does. Pot like booze, does hit the GABA however.

I think that one day when I know that my days are numbered, I would like to try some good old fashioned opium. Why not?

[DizzyIzzy]

Haha, I like your style, Sam!!

I'd like to add, pure meth should be at the top of the list. Alcohol is probably worst if abused, yep, but pure crystal meth (or 'P' as it's known here) is the scariest, most terrifying drug there is. Makes people literally lose their minds, and one hit will have a person hooked. I don't know a single police officer or person who works with drugs who isn't terrified of the stuff, having seen what it does to a person and just how insane and violent they become. Across the board.

[Reesacat]

Good point, Dizz.

[DizzyIzzy]

Can't wait for pot to be legalised. Think how many problems that would solve!!

[Aaltrude]

I wouldn't hold you breath Iz. If it ever does happen, it will be a long way off.

[DizzyIzzy]

Ugh, I know. But a girl can dream, right?

(That's not to say I'm a pot-head either. I just think, speaking objectively about it as a plant, it's an incredible herb medicinally, I don't see the harm in it recreationally, and it has so many uses in so many industries and would solve so many of the world's problems it's actual insanity that it's so trampled upon. And it grows like a weed - even better. But I guess that's the problem; too many industries would lose too much money if a humble plant could be used instead of all the other materials...).

I came across this image when researching a story I had to do on it earlier this year on the pros and cons of legalising it, and found that I couldn't find any cons at all, and I thought it spoke volumes. Certainly opened my eyes anyway.

http://www.alcp.org.nz/images/stories/hempuses.jpg

[Islander]

Actually, today's sensemilla is light years more powerful than the weed I was introduced to in the 60s and sampled occasionally through the 70s. I don't really care for it, alcohol is my recreational drug of choice, but about 8 years ago, my then boyfriend longed for some but had no source. I scored a lid for him, and when he lit up, I took a couple of hits just to be sociable, like when you pass a joint around the campfire in the evening, right? And within half a minute I was reeling. Reeling! I felt fookin' paranoid, I was anxiety-ridden, I had to lie down on the couch and make him hold my hand. This from someone who's done everything except coke/crack/meth. Believe me, this is not your mother's marijuana.

So my point is, while I still agree that weed is safer all around than alcohol, I would never go so far as to call it innocent or harmless. Of my 2 therapist friends, the one who specializes in addiction has a shitload of information on the physiological effects of grass. I remember one experimental example in which pilots who smoked a modest amount had too much in their system 48 hours later to be allowed to fly.


ETA: RE: opium: this is possibly the loveliest high of all. Calming, relaxing, very sensory. I always did it to classical music and it was like riding waves of violins. I became the music. Drifting...drifting...in long slow waves. Smells perfumey too. Mmmmm.

[DizzyIzzy]

I hear stories about the really strong stuff... but I think it's still down to sourcing. Whenever I've tried it - rarely, I should add (I'm usually out there enough and floating-with-the-fairies that I really don't need the help of drugs, lol) - it's been lovely. But I get it from friends who grow it organically and use slightly older cultivars so it's not the super-potent stuff, as far as I know. Certainly doesn't feel it anyway, ha. A lot of the gangs here lace their pot with other drugs to get you hooked, and they supply a lot of the erm, supply, so I don't trust it unless I know the source.

Not really big on alcohol though, just personally. I'll drink it, and the odd glass of wine is good, but my liver hates it and throws tantrums, lol. Weed's much easier on my system in my experience... but again, I'm so like that anyway maybe it's not really doing much at all!!

[Maurya]

Y'all have given me the splendid realization that, after twenty nine years in the Navy, Uncle Sam no longer owns me! After this amount of time, I would have no idea where to obtain any good stuff, anyway; but it sure is nice to contemplate even a theoretical state of liberation.

In my case, during my misspent youth, the older generation (yes, Virginia, once upon a time, there were living people even older than me) did not smoke, did not smoke ANYTHING, so baked goods, such as brownies were prepared and eaten. Always seemed to be a good idea to me, and as a family tradition, makes a lot of sense still to this day. :)

[Reesacat]

I hear stories about the really strong stuff... but I think it's still down to sourcing. Whenever I've tried it - rarely, I should add (I'm usually out there enough and floating-with-the-fairies that I really don't need the help of drugs, lol) - it's been lovely. But I get it from friends who grow it organically and use slightly older cultivars so it's not the super-potent stuff, as far as I know. Certainly doesn't feel it anyway, ha. A lot of the gangs here lace their pot with other drugs to get you hooked, and they supply a lot of the erm, supply, so I don't trust it unless I know the source.

Not really big on alcohol though, just personally. I'll drink it, and the odd glass of wine is good, but my liver hates it and throws tantrums, lol. Weed's much easier on my system in my experience... but again, I'm so like that anyway maybe it's not really doing much at all!!

I stick with organic wine, Bacardi rum and gluten-free beer. I seem to react to trace amounts of gluten in other stuff. I didn't realize beer had gluten in it-kept getting sick after going out and having a draft beer with lunch.

[Samurai]

ETA: RE: opium: this is possibly the loveliest high of all. Calming, relaxing, very sensory. I always did it to classical music and it was like riding waves of violins. I became the music. Drifting...drifting...in long slow waves. Smells perfumey too. Mmmmm.
Whoa! How in the world did you get a hold of opium???

[mellowsong]

I'm going to tell this story to give y'all a good laugh. This occurred in 1978. I have still never touched weed or any other "recreational" drug, lol. I'm not judging anyone...there were many reasons I made the choice not to indulge.

When I retrained into pharmacy after 18 months in the Air Force, I had a little rank that most of my classmates did not. I also didn't join until I was 22 so was also older than most. I was asked to be what was called a "red rope"...basically just a leader for female airmen. One day the first sergeant came to get me because he had to search female rooms and had to have a female present. He showed me the green plant in his hand and said he found it growing, so needed to search the rooms with windows above where he found it.

I was thoroughly confused. I remember saying "what a pretty green". Yes, I was that naive, I'd never even seen a marijuana leaf, lol. What he found was apparently growing from seeds from discarded joints.

Anyway, once his shock wore off when he realized I truly didn't have a clue what he had, and he was able to stop laughing at me, I got a quick lesson and we then proceeded with the search...finding grass in 2 of the 3 rooms we searched.

[Katee]

I'm right there with you, Mellow. Never done any of those things (or even tried a cigarette). I took a friend's children to a local Oktoberfest last weekend. We gave each of the kids $5 to spend. The older boy bought a bracelet with a design on it that i took for a palm tree & didn't give it a second thought until hubby pointed it out. Huh. (Still don't know if the mama is mad about it; she's a former druggie.)

When hubby & i were dating, not long after we first met, my roommate at the time was talking to us about feeling mellow, saying, "You know, like when you have some really good weed." I found myself nodding, uh huh, uh huh. Looked over at BF & saw him nodding with the same blank look. "You've never done that, have you?"

"Ah, no," he answered.

"Neither have i."

Roommate was astounded & almost didn't believe us.

[Islander]

Whoa! How in the world did you get a hold of opium???

Remember, I lived in Chicago for ten years and Milwaukee for two, during the late sixties when "Ecstacy" was known simply as MDMA and came straight from the men in white coats, was pure as the driven snow, and lasted 24 hours. I hung with street people in the city and druggies in Milwaukee, trying to "go along to get along" with my psychotic husband. With the exceptions I mentioned earlier, I have tried just about everything. Remember (no, never mind, most of you were too young), America was a drug culture and anything you wanted was readily available in any grade, in any amount.
Actually, that's still true. You just need to know where to go.

Although I was admittedly curious, I rarely tried anything more than 2-3 times. I didn't consider myself part of the hippie movement and I was skeptical about what drugs might do to my brain cells. Besides...I just didn't find it appealing. Still don't.

[DizzyIzzy]

Ecstasy's still known as MDMA... or being re-dubbed again, maybe.

I've not really done alot. Herbal cigarettes mainly - there are so many good legal herbs, when you know what to do with them, you can get good effects with them - and the odd bit of pot, very very rarely (hadn't tried it till recently, though my friends as teenagers were all stoners - I was always the one looking after everyone else, ha). Which I like, but I'm naturally so 'out there' anyway I don't really need it, lol. I will drink but I'm just not that big a fan. The odd bit of Baileys or Guinness or Cider is great, or wine maybe.

My favourite I still think is mugwort. Something about that herb... make a potent enough wine with it and wow, lol. Or sleep with it in the room. Or drink it as a tea. Good grief it's err, good. And totally legal. :D