Alcohol More Harmful than Heroin

[Barefootsies]

An interesting read. I doubt it will have much change in regards to laws.

LONDON: 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 on 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 Centre 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 criticising ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organisation 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).

[ThumbLord]

shit, well goodbye beer, welcome heroine.

[CaptainHowdy]

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.

I don't mind that...

[Denny]

My liver hates me

[anexsia]

I was a heroin addict for 8 years...it's the lifestyle that's harmful, not so much the drug.

[PAR]

hummm beer...
so crack is better then beer.. wow.. I have a feeling someone did a little math wrong, and but too much crack in the pipe..

[michael.kickass]

I gotta go puke now.

just heard this on the radio!
i dont drink much alcohol anyway, cant handle it these days!

[JFK]

I'll drink to that

[Klen]

Bullshit and idiocracy.Drink 1 liter of beer or take 1 kg of heroin,and let's see what's stronger then.

[Sly]

It's sort of misleading.

Let's say you have one million alcoholics and 1000 heroin addicts. Of course the one million alcoholics are going to have a more negative impact on society, there are one million of them.

I would rather see what 1000 alcoholics do against 1000 heroin addicts.

[Black All Through]

Originally Posted by ThumbLord

shit, well goodbye beer, welcome heroine.

[brassmonkey]

don't believe everything you read.

[brassmonkey]

dont believe everything you read

[quiet]

i have an old script to morphine from when i was injured a couple of years ago. it's funny seeing this thread, as i actually popped a pill due to a monster headache last night. haven't done this in years. still feeling the effects. opiates are one hell of a drug

[TrainWreckContent]

well time to trade the bottle in for some needles

[2intense]

Originally Posted by ThumbLord

shit, well goodbye beer, welcome heroine.

[GregE]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

dont believe everything you read

You can say that again.

[PR_Glen]

Originally Posted by anexsia

I was a heroin addict for 8 years...it's the lifestyle that's harmful, not so much the drug.

Exactly why studies like this are a waste of time, they don't take in account factors like this.

[CDSmith]

I would say there's more people who drink alcohol in the world than people doing all those other drugs combined (except tobacco), so of course it's going to come through their test as the worst.

You have to drink a ton of booze to get alchohol poisoning. You do NOT have to do a "ton" of most of those other drugs to OD on them. Given a level playing field drugs like crack, lsd, heroin, etc wreak far more devastation on the frequent user in a far shorter period of time than most drinkers of alcohol would ever see.

What would be more level and more relevant would be to compare the % of hardcore serious problem drunks to the % of heroin/crack/etc users whose lives are seriously negatively impacted.

Since there are a lot of people who drink in moderation and don't have a problem with it I'd say Alcohol would test well under the rest. It's only showing as being the worst because 1000 x more people drink.

Do the authors of that study really want alcohol made illegal? Um, wasn't that already tried in the 20's? From what I've heard it didn't go over well.

[amateurbfs]

Originally Posted by anexsia

I was a heroin addict for 8 years...it's the lifestyle that's harmful, not so much the drug.

Exactly. Anyone who knows a heroin addict knows that the above statement is foolish. The things a junky will do to get money on a daily basis is totally destructive to everything around them.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by anexsia

I was a heroin addict for 8 years...it's the lifestyle that's harmful, not so much the drug.

Isn't that true of anything?

Alcohol itself isn't that bad. Driving drunk, beating your kids and wife while drunk, lack of productivity, getting into fights... those are all bad. Part of the "alcoholic lifestyle."

[DamianJ]

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

Bullshit and idiocracy.Drink 1 liter of beer or take 1 kg of heroin,and let's see what's stronger then.

They didn't say beer was STRONGER than heroin, they said it was less harmful.

[cwd]

Shrooms and LSD for all!!!

[Amputate Your Head]

booze destroys lives.

[RyuLion]

Congratz to the winners..

[Horny Joe]

So.... next weekend, no red wine or beer to my steak .. but some heroine? A steak and a crackpipe? Nah, don't like the sound of that. I will keep on living dangerous and drink my beer, gin, cognac, vodka and wine Like the Rebel I am! On the edge...... Hell, yeah!

[Agent 488]

if you read it worst for you physically is crack, heroin, meth - alcohol has more social costs which is probably true, accidents, violence, drinking and driving ...

[MaDalton]

one thing is sure: the number of deaths due to alcohol every year beats all other drugs

[Agent 488]

i don't anyone even read the article here.

[pornguy]

The day you can buy Heroin and Crack in a Stop and Rob will be the day that those stats change.

[Klen]

Anyway,when it comes to alcohol,it's all about knowing when to stop and to avoid heavy stuff like whiskey and anything else in that class.If you drink let say ten beers weekly i am sure you will never have any problem beacuse of it.(unless you got those ten beers at once)

[alias]

Originally Posted by quiet

i have an old script to morphine from when i was injured a couple of years ago. it's funny seeing this thread, as i actually popped a pill due to a monster headache last night. haven't done this in years. still feeling the effects. opiates are one hell of a drug

At least you didn't have a beer.

[alias]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

if you read it worst for you physically is crack, heroin, meth - alcohol has more social costs which is probably true, accidents, violence, drinking and driving ...

Yeah I read the skewed headline and got the idea.

[PornMD]

Most of the social costs of booze are from drunk driving. How much of that driving happens because people are legally drinking at bars when they can't legally do heroin, crack, etc. at those same bars?

[pornmasta]

lol

[babymaker]

Booze is the worst for your health as well, addictive from 1st time, a hangover is withdrawal, and alchohol is the only withdrawal that can kill you, of course a 1st time or casual drinking hangover is not as bad as heroin withdrawal, but try comibg off of booze when you are an alchohlic that drinks regularly. Also if you do heroin tonight you wont wake up sick at all as compared to drinking some wine or beer you will wake up sick.

[ottopottomouse]

Availability. Plus a large percentage of people here seem to only drink to get utterly fucked.

[Robbie]

Working in rock bands with many alcoholics over the years, I can agree with that study.

Of course what it does leave out is the fact that alcoholics are also addicted to just about everything. An alcoholic pretty much is usually also addicted to another of the most dangerous drugs on earth: nicotine.

And 3 of the alcoholics I was in bands with also had to be kept away from most recreational drugs because they had no control. Addictive physiology and personalities were the common factor in all of them.

But playing bars most of my life in bands...and meeting literally millions of people over the years doing so...I can tell you that true alcoholics completely destroy their lives without fail. Whereas drug addicts don't do that most of the time. The things I'm reading in this thread about that are taking worst case scenarios of desperate poor people. Newsflash: there are tons of successful, wealthy, and functioning drug addicts out there who never commit a crime and you would never know they are addicted to anything.

Then factor in prescription drugs like pain killers and ambien...and it's off the charts. Heroin and crack are small potatoes. Remember...heroin was completely legal for many years and was invented and distributed around the world by Bayer.

[fatfoo]

According to that article, it would seem that alcohol is more harmful than I thought. Good luck, everyone.

[donkevlar]

Originally Posted by pornguy

The day you can buy Heroin and Crack in a Stop and Rob will be the day that those stats change.

Would you do herion or crack just because it became legal?

[$5 submissions]

I believe it. Back when I was in college, frat bros who drank always gave stoner bros grief. It's all a political question of whose vice is more "acceptable".

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by donkevlar

Would you do herion or crack just because it became legal?

I know I wouldn't.

Hell, any of us can find it NOW. Drug laws don't stop anybody from doing what they want to do. They just make people into criminals. If a person wants to do heroin or crack (totally and completely opposite ends of the spectrum by the way...DOWN and UP) they can do it right now anyway.

Making it legal would simply lower the prices and stop 99% of the crime and violence involved in "illegal drugs". Just like prohibition brought on the mafia and organized crime and violence...when it was stopped, all the violence and crime from bootlegging booze ended. Same with drugs.

People who don't want to drink alcohol didn't suddenly start drinking when it became legal again. And people who did want to drink alcohol never stopped when it was illegal.

[donkevlar]

Originally Posted by Robbie

I know I wouldn't.

Hell, any of us can find it NOW. Drug laws don't stop anybody from doing what they want to do. They just make people into criminals. If a person wants to do heroin or crack (totally and completely opposite ends of the spectrum by the way...DOWN and UP) they can do it right now anyway.

Making it legal would simply lower the prices and stop 99% of the crime and violence involved in "illegal drugs". Just like prohibition brought on the mafia and organized crime and violence...when it was stopped, all the violence and crime from bootlegging booze ended. Same with drugs.

People who don't want to drink alcohol didn't suddenly start drinking when it became legal again. And people who did want to drink alcohol never stopped when it was illegal.

Exactly... they didn't learn their lesson when they created the Mafia.

[GAMEFINEST]

sam adams for life

[alias]

Old lady crack party bingo community activism sessions are the future.

[emill]

Strongest alcohol drink for real man 95 % alcohol

[ThunderBalls]

Originally Posted by anexsia

I was a heroin addict for 8 years...it's the lifestyle that's harmful, not so much the drug.

Thats true. Out of all the drugs out there heroin causes the least amount of damage to the body, unless of course you overdose.

[pornmasta]

Originally Posted by ThunderBalls

Thats true. Out of all the drugs out there heroin causes the least amount of damage to the body, unless of course you overdose.

+ dirty needles...

[ottopottomouse]

Originally Posted by emill

Strongest alcohol drink for real man 95 % alcohol

That stuff looks fucking dangerous.

Could probably run my car on it