This is not really a surprise but I'm sure some will argue against it. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/01/alcohol.harm/index.html?hpt=C1 London, England (CNN) -- Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs -- beating out crack and heroin -- according to study results released by a British medical journal. A panel of experts weighed the physical, psychological and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall, according to an article on the study released by The Lancet Sunday. Using a new scale to evaluate harms to individual users and others, alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100, the study says. That makes it almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, according to the article, which is slated to be published on The Lancet's website Monday and in an upcoming print edition of the journal. Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, the study says, while alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others. In the article, the panelists said their findings show that Britain's three-tiered drug classification system, which places drugs into different categories that determine criminal penalties for possession and dealing, has "little relation to the evidence of harm." Panelists also noted that the rankings confirm other studies that say that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy." The Lancet article was co-authored by David Nutt, a professor and Britain's former chief drug adviser, who caused controversy last year after he published an article saying ecstasy was not as dangerous as riding a horse. "So why are harmful sporting activities allowed, whereas relatively less harmful drugs are not?" Nutt wrote in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. "I believe this reflects a societal approach which does not adequately balance the relative risks of drugs against their harms." Nutt later apologized to anyone offended by the article and to those who have lost loved ones to ecstasy. He said he had no intention of trivializing the dangers of the drug and that he only wanted to compare the risks. In the article released by The Lancet Sunday, ecstasy's harmfulness ranking -- 9 -- indicates it is only one eighth as harmful as alcohol. The study was funded by the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies.
This comes as no surprise to those of us who have studied drug use and abuse. Alcohol is an incredibly harmful substance, the damage it does to the human body is unbelievable when you look at the evidence that has been collected over the last few decades. Cocaine and heroin are damaging as well, and heroin is more "addictive" than alcohol (it causes a higher degree of physical dependence), but those three are on the same tier as far as the harm that they cause.
They are all harmful when you use in excess. Alcohol though is good for you in moderation unlike the others.
And then they ran over a little girl on her tricycle while ordering 20 dollars worth of 99 cent tacos at jack in the box. WEED KILLZ
a more detailed link http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/11/drugs_debate_hots_up.html
I'd say the variable that tips this in alcohol's favor is the incredibly widespread usage over the entire world. I have a hard time thinking that a planet in which almost every other human shoots up heroin or smokes crack on a regular/consistent basis would still deem alcohol to be the most dangerous drug--hell, even the most unhealthy.
if you are Cali, Im guessing you would vote NO on Prop 19... I was conflicted with that one. People are going to do it no matter what so why not regulate it. But then again it might cause more people to do it and the scenario you described might happen.
New Study Finds College Binge Drinking To Be A Blast AMHERST, MA—Researchers at the University of Massachusetts released a surprising new study Monday indicating that, contrary to long-held beliefs about its destructive effects, collegiate binge drinking is a ****ing blast. "Data collected at bars and fraternity parties on the UMass campus has yielded unexpected conclusions with regard to the practice of binge drinking," study head Dr. Albert Greaves said. "Over the course of our research, a consistent pattern emerged demonstrating that binge drinking seriously kicks ass." ...
ya i agree...also have to put into consideration of the after effects of alcohol like drink driving and violence.
Right. But that's kind of the point. Alcohol is legal AND has widespread usage. Most people don't consider it harmful unless consumed in excess, but the problem is most people don't consider themselves excessive. But there are plenty of people who drive around drunk after a party/game/etc. If you made heroic/crack legal, how widespread would the usage be?
Though I am in favor of legalization of most, if not all, street drugs as a way to minimize harm to society overall, I can think of probably dozen independent variables that have not been controlled and tend to doubt the study. Given that we may have say 100 times more people around the world drinking alchohol vs using crack I can buy that there are more drunks than crack addicts but I don't think that is exactly the issue.
The only reason we DON'T see more crackheads higgh driving and violence is because they already sold there car for more crack. And probably yours too...
uhhh....the whole, "alcohol is worse than crack/heroine because more people use it" argument falls short on me. yeah..great....more people use the legal drug than the illegal one. not sure that tells me much of great value. i'm guessing my 10 year old could have put that together.
It is only partly because of the higher level of usage. A big part of it is the damage that it does to the human body when abused and the percentage of people who use it that end up abusing it.
Alcohol is the only known drug that can kill you from the physical symptoms of withdrawal. As GR stated if you've studied drugs alcohol is about the worst and nicotine by the way is the most addictive drug known to man.
of course...people drink responsibly all the time...and heroine and/or crack are far more addictive. honestly, this is absurd. glynch nailed it.
