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Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
| Good [+2]Toggle ReplyLink» databoy replied on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 1:06pm |
 Coolness: 106070 | Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today. When all factors related to self harm and harm to others are considered, alcohol comes out top. The authors explain that drugs, including tobacco products and alcohol are major contributors to damage to individuals as well as society as a whole.
The harms that are caused by drugs need to be comprehensively assessed so that policy makers can be properly advised regarding health, social care and policing, the authors write; not an easy undertaking because drugs can cause damage in so many different ways. Professor Nutt and colleagues had previously tried to do this (Lancet 2007) by asking experts to give each drug a score according to nine criteria of harm, which included the drug's intrinsic harms as well as the social and health care burdens. The report triggered widespread debate and interest. However, there were doubts regarding the differential weights of each criterion used. In this latest report, Nutt and colleagues say they have addressed these concerns by using a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) when reviewing drug harms. MCDA technologies have been effectively used to help decision making in areas where factors, features and characteristics are complex and often conflicting, as may be the case when deciding policy on nuclear waste disposal. Nine criteria related to harm to an individual from a drug, while six looked at harm to others - both in the United Kingdom and other countries. The harms were gathered into five subgroups that covered social, psychological and physical harms. Scoring was done with points up to 100, with 100 being the most damaging and zero no damage. Weighting then compared the impact a score of 100 had on all the other criteria, thus identifying the 100-points-scoring-drugs which were more harmful than other 100-points-scoring-drugs. for more... [ www.medicalnewstoday.com ] |
| I'm feeling crazy lazers right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Psykotropik replied on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 3:22pm |
 Coolness: 37850 | Dr. David Nutt is really doing a great job trying to pump some common sense into the clusterfuck that is current drug policy in the Western world. Anyone who's explored outside the realm of alcohol and tobacco should know that there are HUNDREDS of safer (and, to many, more interesting/enjoyable) options out there - the government, and the uninformed majority that makes up most of the world, just don't want to give us access to them. So, people who enjoy psychotropics other than the relatively bland and addictive choices that the government offers are stuck with breaking the law and buying products that are more apt to hurt us due to a lack of knowledge of exact contents and dosage than due to the psychoactive chemicals themselves. There's also the option of research chemicals and a select few over-the-counter drugs, which are legal and tend to be pure - but the amount available tends to be quite limited, and it seems that, for the most part, the RCs and over-the-counter drugs still available today are mostly poor shadows of their illegal counterparts (ex: mephedrone compared to MDMA, DXM compared to ketamine).
Dr. Nutt's classification system would fix this problem. Sure, "normal" people would be pissed off that alcohol would be going in the most restricted class, but I say fuck 'em and give them a choice: have all the currently illegal psychoactive drugs government-regulated, taxed, and made legal for any adult citizen to buy... or have ALL psychoactive drugs classified by an objective-as-possible scale of harm. Either way, drug policy would start actually making sense. In a 2009 government study called the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey, 76.5% of the people surveyed said that they had consumed alcohol in the past year. That's over 3/4 of the Canadian population (not counting those under 15 years of age). I believe that, if all psychoactive drugs were made legal in Canada, there would be a gradual reduction in alcohol use along with a gradual increase in use of the more popular psychotropics (cannabis, cocaine, MDMA, amphetamine, etc). I think the net number of people doing drugs regularly would be pretty close to what it is now (although I suppose there would be a bit of an increase, due to people who specifically don't like alcohol or tobacco but are up for other drugs) - but because most drugs are a lot safer than alcohol and tobacco, the cost to the health system would be significantly lower. On top of that, the government could sell at close to or even significantly below current street prices, and make a fucking killing on taxes - not to mention effectively crippling all the gangs and crime syndicates that base most of their profits on illegal drug sales, reducing the number of Canadians in prisons, and giving the Canadian economy a boost by allowing pharmaceutical companies to synthesize and sell these drugs. Compared to complete legalization, the classification-by-harm option gives citizens less freedom, BUT it would be much more efficient for harm reduction. Like I said, people would be pissed off by the fact that they wouldn't have access to legal alcohol... but it wouldn't be long before the safer drugs would begin to replace alcohol for a lot of people. The least dangerous category of drugs - the most legal and least restricted one - would eventually become the most commonly-used, leading to a much healthier Canada in general. Also: this is just gorgeous. :) |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» databoy replied on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 3:57pm |
| Coolness: 106070 | Making alcohol illegal would not work. IT's too ingrained into almost every society.
The problem with making alcohol illegal is that it's easily made at home with almost any ingredient. The last time prohibition was tried on alcohol, it failed miserably, because there is so much demand. Sure other drugs would fill in part of the gap but the whole world would have to undergo major overhauls to implement those kinds of changes. The only thing capable of operating such draconian changes in society are deep traumas... the kind no one wants to live through, and a one world government. However, if peoples start learning more about the different drugs, they will be better able to make smart choices |
| I'm feeling crazy lazers right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Psykotropik replied on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 4:06pm |
| Coolness: 37850 | ^ Sadly, that is most likely true. No amount of research and knowledge can overcome the tyranny of the majority if there isn't a willingness to progress. Look how hard it's been for gay marriage to be accepted - and illegal drug use doesn't have remotely that level of public acceptance yet. The average American would probably still like to see drug dealers publicly hanged.
That doesn't mean I can't have my pipe dreams. :) |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» supermario replied on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 4:42pm |
 Coolness: 49515 | very interesting info
thanks Update » supermario wrote on Tue Nov 2, 2010 @ 6:13pm I've never understand why the hell weed is illegal but alcohol isn't. Im not screaming on the street "legalize!" but I totally agree that alcohol is the most dangerous drug on Earth. I did some research about how alcohol affects the human body. Especially your brain. Just find some articles like "that's going on with you when you have a hangover. It gives much more damage then weed or E for example.
LOL The most craziest things I have ever done were on alcohol =)) I don't mind to drink some beer or cocktail. I came from Ukraine. There are A LOT of people who drink like every day. You should see what's going on on the streets. Teenagers go wild taking alcohol. It's a shame for me to say think than alcohol is a big fucking problem in my country. Seems like a conspiration against the nation. Almost every single russian/ukrainean would never accept a simple truth that alcohol is a drug |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» perception replied on Sun Dec 5, 2010 @ 12:45pm |
 Coolness: 65870 | I didn't read the actual article, however with the brief post I see two things wrong with the survey,
(1) psychometrics indicates that a likert-scale between 0 and 100 is much to broad to gather any meaningful data e.g. what is the difference between 33 and 39 or 10 and 20, is there real difference, while anyone can agree on the real difference between a score of 50 and 100, it is up for debate that on such a large scale that there are any real difference between close numbers. It is best to use a small scale, like 1 to 5 where difference between 2 and 3 carry more weight than the difference between 20 and 30. (2) the physicians are probably exposed to people who abuse alcohol than illegal and/or psychotropic, this disproportionate exposer may distort the data. For this point, I would have to look at the surveyed sample, perhaps they included a fair number of psychiatrist or physicians that specialize in substance abuse other than alcohol. with that said, doesn't mean I don't agree with the general thesis, many studies show that illegal drugs are less detrimental to one's ability to successfully navigate through life i.e., maintaining a job, family, or motor reflexes which are important for driving a vehicle. Studies have also shown that social behaviour such as gambling are more detrimental :/ |
| I'm feeling punkadelic right now.. | |
Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
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