Alcohol more damaging than illegal drugs-study
Hugh Freaking Dillon
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LONDON - Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study.
British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.
Researchers analyzed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addition to other criteria like environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families and its economic costs, such as health care, social services, and prison.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. When considering their wider social effects, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.
The study was paid for by Britain's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and was published online Monday in the medical journal, Lancet.
Experts said alcohol scored so high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequences not only for drinkers but for those around them.
"Just think about what happens (with alcohol) at every football game," said Wim van den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam. He was not linked to the study and co-authored a commentary in the Lancet.
When drunk in excess, alcohol damages nearly all organ systems. It is also connected to higher death rates and is involved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin.
But experts said it would be impractical and incorrect to outlaw alcohol.
"We cannot return to the days of prohibition," said Leslie King, an adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and one of the study's authors. "Alcohol is too embedded in our culture and it won't go away."
King said countries should target problem drinkers, not the vast majority of people who indulge in a drink or two. He said governments should consider more education programs and raising the price of alcohol so it isn't as widely available.
Experts said the study should prompt countries to reconsider how they classify drugs. For example, last year in Britain, the government increased its penalties for the possession of marijuana. One of its senior advisers, David Nutt — the lead author on the Lancet study — was fired after he criticized the British decision.
"What governments decide is illegal is not always based on science," said van den Brink. He said considerations about revenue and taxation, like those garnered from the alcohol and tobacco industries, may influence decisions about which substances to regulate or outlaw.
"Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit," he said.
British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.
Researchers analyzed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addition to other criteria like environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families and its economic costs, such as health care, social services, and prison.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. When considering their wider social effects, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.
The study was paid for by Britain's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and was published online Monday in the medical journal, Lancet.
Experts said alcohol scored so high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequences not only for drinkers but for those around them.
"Just think about what happens (with alcohol) at every football game," said Wim van den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam. He was not linked to the study and co-authored a commentary in the Lancet.
When drunk in excess, alcohol damages nearly all organ systems. It is also connected to higher death rates and is involved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin.
But experts said it would be impractical and incorrect to outlaw alcohol.
"We cannot return to the days of prohibition," said Leslie King, an adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and one of the study's authors. "Alcohol is too embedded in our culture and it won't go away."
King said countries should target problem drinkers, not the vast majority of people who indulge in a drink or two. He said governments should consider more education programs and raising the price of alcohol so it isn't as widely available.
Experts said the study should prompt countries to reconsider how they classify drugs. For example, last year in Britain, the government increased its penalties for the possession of marijuana. One of its senior advisers, David Nutt — the lead author on the Lancet study — was fired after he criticized the British decision.
"What governments decide is illegal is not always based on science," said van den Brink. He said considerations about revenue and taxation, like those garnered from the alcohol and tobacco industries, may influence decisions about which substances to regulate or outlaw.
"Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit," he said.
Gimli 1993
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in my opinion we can't compare these drugs to alcohol because in the end dead is dead if it's one kid or a thousand adults,if it's your child or your friend will it matter how many people before them were hurt or killed because of drugs or alcohol ? sorry to use such extreme examples but that is what life with drugs and alcohol can easily come down to.
guess you can tell I'm not a big fan of drugs or alcohol.
Godfather.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favour of decriminalizing heroin, crack or whatever. But when it comes to the usual and rather mild substances like pot or alcohol, I dont see the point in criminalizing the use. I'd rather it be out in the open (and regulated), than legislated away and out of sight.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
understood.
Godfather.
that's ridiculous. do you really think that consumption and/or driving under the influence of pot would actually increase with decriminilization? I highly doubt it.
And the point of this story is not pro-drugs, it's anti-alcohol, and deeming alcohol a drug like any other, which it is.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
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St. Paul 2014
Legalize hard drugs? Can't say I'd be for that, but decriminlizing marijuana is a good step. Don't legalize it, just make it so it's like a traffic ticket. putting pot users in jail solves NOTHING.
Fargo 2003
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St. Paul 2014
Agreed.
Recently heard policemen saying to the person they just arrested for drug possession (pot) that the big deal is not that they actually use it, rather that they fund the criminal organizations importing and selling it.... Well, if THAT is the problem, guess we already know how to solve it ....
'that's ridiculous. do you really think that consumption and/or driving under the influence of pot would actually increase with decriminilization? I highly doubt it.'
I believe so, I wonder what the death rate in car accident was during Prohibition then after ?
and I agree alcohol is a drug but it's always the back stop for other drugs, just gets old,,how many times is that statement going to be used ?
Godfather.
This line in the story kind of bugged me. I mean of course alcohol when drunk in excess is dangerous. But when alcohol is drunk in moderation it actually has health benefits. On the other hand is it even possible to do heroin or crack in moderation, and if it was would there be any health benefits?
Having said that, I say legalize it all, I could care less if someone wants to destroy their own life
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
or a loved one.
Godfather.
accidents happen, and legalizing heroin or not won't stop someone from hitting me with their car. They will be punished accordingly, which is why we have dui laws to begin with. They aren't just for alcohol.
I can hit someone when I take cold medicine too.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
I don't know if that's possible. I've never heard of anyone shooting up only on the weekend.
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Fargo 2003
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So would you pot supporters also favor legalizing steroids and X?
yes...
Fargo 2003
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St. Paul 2014
Where does that leave you? Raising penalties on growers and distributors....this is hypocritical, and if anything, escalates the drug war. making the stakes higher for the people with the most to lose is a good way to increase the associated violence as well.
But yes...my body has been telling me for years that alcohol is harder on it than pretty much anything else
Yes there are health/medicinal benefits to pretty much every drug. There may be BETTER drugs for that particular use, but you can say the same thing about the beneficial aspects of alcohol. Sure, it thins your blood, but so do a hundred other drugs. And yes it's possible to do any drug in moderation. I've never understood the theory of 'instant addiction'....in my experience, sleep cures that. If you wake up and do it again...you've got issues...MENTAL HEALTH issues....it can become a physical health issue....but it should remain a health issue, same as it is for the deadliest drugs of them all
excellent point. hadn't thought of it that way before.
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the study took into account the effects on the entire health care system etc etc.
The fact that booze is used by so many and abused by 1 in 10 people.
Of course that makes it worse then, due to sheer numbers and the life long health and disease factors, then illegal drugs. Dumb study, like so many of them, hope the Docs weren't getting paid for that