Alcohol worse than heroin and crack

[GoNRA 12]

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/11/01/drug-experts-say-alcohol-worse-crack-heroin-1148653343/

 

Drug Experts Say Alcohol Worse Than Crack or Heroin

 

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).

[LorenzoS 100]

Typical of Fox News, they grossly misunderstand and misrepresent what the study shows. The results of the study do not show that alcohol is more dangerous than heroine. The study concluded that alcohol causes more damage to society becuase of the widespread use.

 

The implication is that if we are interested in setting policy or directing public health resources to do the greatest good, we can make more of a difference dealing with alcohol than by dealing with some other scarier but less widely used drugs.

[GoNRA 12]

They should do a test with 2 monkey's, put two in seperate rooms with unlimited amount of alcohol and unlimited amount of heroin and see which one dies first.

[Malsua 1,422]

Think of how many people you've known in your life that have died "unnaturally" by car/motorcycle crashes. Every single one I can think of was because of Alcohol. 9 guys in my high school of 300 people were killed on Motorcycles 18-20yo, one friend wrapped his Mustang around a telephone pole at 19, and a co-worker crashed his motorcycle on a guardrail at 45yo. All had been drinking. I've known no one who died of pot or any other drugs.

 

I don't do any of it, but I'd have to agree.

[Krdshrk 3,878]

Otto: Alcohol increases your ability to drive.

[LorenzoS 100]

They should do a test with 2 monkey's, put two in seperate rooms with unlimited amount of alcohol and unlimited amount of heroin and see which one dies first.

Nobody is disputing that heroine is a more dangerous substance than alcohol. That's not what the study said - it's how Fox misinterpreted it.

 

The point of the study is that alcohol does more harm to more people because of the vastly more widespread use.

[StephanieSeven 70]

The implication is that if we are interested in setting policy or directing public health resources to do the greatest good, we can make more of a difference dealing with alcohol than by dealing with some other scarier but less widely used drugs.

 

Which worked wonderfully during prohibition.

[LorenzoS 100]

Which worked wonderfully during prohibition.

Who's talking about prohibition?

[vladtepes 1,060]

for what it's worth.. while I certainly don't believe alcohol to be more dangerous than crack.. and while I do NOT believe it should be illegal.. alcohol is pretty dangerous do to widespread use.. my mom died when I was 17 due to just drinking herself to death.. people make bad decisions.. such is life.. you can't legislate common sense decisions and the amount of effort society devotes to worrying about it is kind of a big waste.. it is what it is.. people will abuse substances.. illegal or not.. so stop wasting all this time money and energy worrying about why.. or which is more dangerous.. because honestly.. does it even matter?

[FFDP82 4]

Which worked wonderfully during prohibition.

 

Hey, Prohibition wasn't a complete failure. It was great for the Mafia

[LorenzoS 100]

Sigh.

 

I guess once someone passes off a misunderstanding, it becomes accepted as fact and people run with it. Fox News and other news hacks are misquoting and misrepresenting the results of the study. You know how badly reporters screw up facts when reporting on guns? Same thing here. This article might as well be reporting on an AK-15 semiautomatic machine gun assault rifle a high capacity 10 round magazine loaded with armor piercing hollowpoints that can shoot down planes.

 

The study DID NOT say that alcohol is more dangerous than crack. The study said that the cumulative damage to society is greater for alcohol because so many more people abuse it. That's it. No policy recommendations, no left wing liberal nanny state nonsense. They just measured some stuff and published the results.

 

What our moronic politicians and news channel talking heads do with the data of course is a separate question.

[tony357 386]

They should do a test with 2 monkey's, put two in seperate rooms with unlimited amount of alcohol and unlimited amount of heroin and see which one dies first.

 

If they could see each other i wonder which one would give the other one the finger 1st..

[tony357 386]

Otto: Alcohol increases your ability to drive.

 

yes, they had proved that in WKRP in Cicinatti.. the more he drank the faster his reflexes were..

[bbk 188]

To highlight what LorenzoS has been saying, alcohol as a substance is not as dangerous as other illicit drugs. However, as FNC and other news outlets did not portray correctly, because of the widespread access and consumption, numbers indicate that alcohol is "more deadly."

 

Really, to tie in with firearms stuff, its partially the same logic AK guys use when they say they possess "one of the most deadly rifles." Because a rifle has been around the globe, and then some, and have been used, in different variations, by different cultures to kill numerous people, it HAS to be the most deadly, right? (Even though there are far more efficient tools out there.)

 

But in other applications, its like the loaded question that is always asked during "social issue" topics and courses (this is in college): Which 'race' commits the most crime? Of course people automatically think "minorities," while in reality it is Caucasians simply because they are the majority.

 

For the sake of clarity, as numbers seem to work best: 50% of 100 is more than 50% of 30-- now just think about that in bigger numbers.

A better way to look at it is like this though:

Say 10% of alcohol consumers are involved in some type of accident that has to do with their alcohol consumption (1). However, the same study says 80% of cocaine users are involved in something that ties directly to cocaine use (2).

 

(1):

Now, understand that we're talking about 10% of roughly 3,000,000,000 (just as an example)

That equates to 300,000,000

 

(2):

Now lets do 80% of roughly 750,000 (again as an example)

This equates to 600,000

 

So, you see how they (media outlets) are butchering statistics?

[vladtepes 1,060]

does the article actually say "alcohol is more dangerous than crack" or does it say "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." I just really skimmed the article.. but it just seemed like an article about a study..

[tbtrout 141]

Legalize it all and let Darwin take over.

[vladtepes 1,060]

Legalize it all and let Darwin take over.

 

this

 

[PeteF 1,044]

Legalize it all and let Darwin take over.

 

The problem is when the Darwin award candidates start to hurt and even kill normal people.

[tbtrout 141]

The problem is when the Darwin award candidates start to hurt and even kill normal people.

Unfortunaltely we have that now. That will never change. Some people will act responsably and some will not. The US War on Drugs is a sham and does not work. It only fills the jails with petty offenders.

[StephanieSeven 70]

Unfortunaltely we have that now. That will never change. Some people will act responsably and some will not. The US War on Drugs is a sham and does not work. It only fills the jails with petty offenders.

Hear hear! Legalize it, tax it, get us out of debt.

[kenw 293]

I'm bifurcated on the whole legalize pot issue.

 

On one hand, I resent a movement to legalize something just because enforcing the laws against it is too difficult, expensive and politically dangerous. Yeah, the war on drugs is an abject failure, but mostly because we don't really have the testicular fortitude to prosecute it they way it should be.

 

On the other hand, pot is a fairly benign substance, easy to produce and distribute domestically, and could provide a decent revenue stream once the kinks are worked out. Just like laws and regulations regarding alcohol, the ramifications of legalizing pot would take some time to figure out, but it could be done,. And, just like alcohol, the penalties for disregarding those regs could range from a mark on your employment record to a posthumous Darwin Award.

 

I haven't really decided where I stand on this.

[Wojo 98]

I've seen more lives ruined by alcohol directly and indirectly then the hard stuff. After about six months being stationed in Alaska I went cold turkey as I felt myself starting to slide into a daily habit of getting buzzed like the majority of fellow Toastie Coasties and locals. Careers down the crapper, marriages and professional reputations as well. I've also seen drugs ruin a lot of lives too, but not nearly as many as booze. So, 'most dangerous' to yourself or society is purely subjective. I belong to LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition because the drug was is BS and the only way to defeat the Mexicans, Afghanistan, Meth-Labs, etc., etc., etc. is to legalize, control the quality and tax it like tobacco and alcohol. The Coast Guard was busier after the repeal of prohibition because they were chasing people for tax evasion instead of illegal booze.

 

The current program and laws are an obvious failure, so let's give legalization a run for twenty years to see what happens. If you study why cocaine and weed became illegal it was a complete hoax. Imagine if we made something illegal because we had the belief that drugs 'made Negros crazy and increased their desire for white women'. Not my words, but essentially this is paraphrased from the logic they used in the beginning of the drug war. Moderation is the key. Like food, speeding, women, drugs...learn you limits and enjoy your lifestyle in YOUR home, not out in public where your choices and stupidity can kill innocent people.

[StephanieSeven 70]

It's quite possible I just fell in love with Wojo. Well said my friend.

[bry@n 195]

Well I can say I have been down just about every path. The problem is addicting personalities and once you know your that kinda person, you should be okay. I believe I can do anything, did drugs, stopped cold turkey, smoked...same thing. I have gone on breaks from not drinking but that was after I almost hit rock bottom. This is not to say that I haven't lost family and friends in the process. I agree that legalizing would be a good move, but we would see people fall off the deep end. At least some would.

 

Like popeye would say, I am what I am. I take the good with the bad.

[Wojo 98]

It's quite possible I just fell in love with Wojo. Well said my friend.

 

<lightly kicking some imaginary small object in front of me>

[9C1 0]

This is an interesting read. And its all true....

 

http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/

[GoNRA 12]

They voted down the public question to legalize marijuana under state law in California right? I'm pretty sure I heard this on the news but maybe someone can verify.

[vladtepes 1,060]

They voted down the public question to legalize marijuana under state law in California right? I'm pretty sure I heard this on the news but maybe someone can verify.

 

 

yes.. they did vote against it.. I guess the "medical system" they have in place is far more profitable..

[Malsua 1,422]

This is an interesting read. And its all true....

 

http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/

 

From that link...

 

“Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”

 

Considering all the marxist hippie wannabes at rallies, this is most certainly true.

[Wojo 98]

From that link...

Considering all the marxist hippie wannabes at rallies, this is most certainly true.

 

You never met my friends or the bikers I used to ride with or my attorney or fraternity brothers who are older then me or any number of conservative surfers I surf with or...don't believe the stereo types.

 

A real good friend has a Medical Marijuana card for his chronic pain in his feet. He lives outside SanFran and has a solid reason for it. He told me he was probably the only person in the clinic carrying medical records and x-rays, while wearing a suit and wingtip shoes. The bastard even has a card that if it gets punched 12 times he gets a free bag. Only in Kali. You can't get anymore conservative then this guy.