Illegal drugs like hallucinogen LSD, marijuana and ecstasy are not as harmful as smoking and alcohol are, especially if we rely on the assessment framed by Professor David Nutt of Britain’s Bristol University and colleagues, in which they have listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances, giving LSD and marijuana lower ranking.
A look: The drugs ‘harm index’
1: Heroin
2: Cocaine
3: Barbiturates
4: Street Methadone
5: Alcohol
6: Ketamine
7: Benzodiazepines
8: Amphetamines
9: Tobacco
10: Buprenorphine
11: Cannabis
12: Solvents
13: 4-MTA
14: LSD
15: Methylphenidate
16: Anabolic steroids
17: GHB
18: Ecstasy
19: Alkyl Nitrates
20: Khat
Nutt and colleagues ranked heroin and cocaine as most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy. This classification by Nutt and colleagues is based on three factors: the physical harm to the user, the impact on society of drug use, and the drug’s potential for addiction. Interestingly, this classification has given rise to a new debate by questioning the current system of ranking drugs because in most of the countries it is legal to use drugs like alcohol and tobacco while Nutt and colleagues have ranked them more dangerous than illegal drugs like marijuana, LSD. Remarking on the current system of ranking drugs, Nutt said:
The current drug system is ill thought-out and arbitrary. The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary.
Touting alcohol and tobacco more dangerous than drugs like marijuana or LSD by Nutt and colleagues, sounds quite convincing because the use of alcohol and tobacco not only harms user’s health but also cast a bad impact on her/her surroundings.However, this finding stands somewhat head to head to a previous study, according to which Smoking ‘reduces alcohol effect’ but still claims of Mr. Nutt and colleagues seem plausible according to which tobacco causes 40 per cent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is responsible for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. On churning the whole subject matter, conclusion that comes out is that to consider any drug less or more harmful is wrong because use of any drug from headiness point of view is harmful. Giving voice to the similar view Mr. Nutt remarks:
All drugs are dangerous. Even the ones people know and love and use every day.
Image credit: BBC
Via: Independent