Alcohol "most harmful drug"

[Chiliagon]

Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,' followed by crack and heroin

By the CNN Wire Staff
November 1, 2010 9:13 a.m. EDT

The Lancet, a British medical journal, lists alcohol as the most harmful drug among a list of 20 drugs.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The study uses a new scale to rank the harmfulness of 20 drugs
• Alcohol is the most harmful overall, according to panelists
• A co-author of the study has said horseback riding is more dangerous than ecstasy

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.

 

[Praxius]

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 long as you don't take a pile of pills at once, keep yourself hydrated and use the bathroom regularly in order to not over-hydrate, his conclusions are probably pretty accurate. Sure people died from taking X, but that's usually younger teenagers who were never told the risks and what they need to do while under the influence....... which can be equally applied to someone inexperienced in riding horses getting tossed into a fence or into a tree...... or getting a good kick in the face.

^ That happens too.

 

[Chiliagon]

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 long as you don't take a pile of pills at once, keep yourself hydrated and use the bathroom regularly in order to not over-hydrate, his conclusions are probably pretty accurate. Sure people died from taking X, but that's usually younger teenagers who were never told the risks and what they need to do while under the influence....... which can be equally applied to someone inexperienced in riding horses getting tossed into a fence or into a tree...... or getting a good kick in the face.

^ That happens too.

here's a GREAT idea?!?!?

Don't TAKE IT!! SHEESH!!!!!!!!

 

[Praxius]

here's a GREAT idea?!?!?

Don't TAKE IT!! SHEESH!!!!!!!!

Here's another great idea..... Don't go sky diving, or drive an ATV, or bungee jumping, or surfing, or mountain climbing, or skiing, or skateboarding, or drive a car or fly a plane, or go out in public in anyway and just wrap yourself up in bubble wrap and live in a cave.

Everything has its own risks and personal gains/rewards. Whether or not something is worth any known risk is up to the individual.... just as it should be.

I did X a few years back.... for about a year an a half, and while I have no interest in ever doing it again, if someone knows what the heck they're doing, has experience in what they're doing and doesn't indulge too much to the point of increasing risks to yourself or others around you, ie "Responsible"..... then one doesn't have much to worry about.

Just like if someone wants to ski down a black diamond hill..... if you're experienced, know what you're doing and don't screw around, chances are you'll make it down to the bottom of the hill in one piece...... but it still holds a level of risk.

Toss some 14 year old kid down that hill with no experience or knowledge on how dangerous it is and you'll probably end up scraping a dead kid off the side of a tree.

Your above response might make sense to someone who fears the unknown, but keeping away from things in your life simply because they may hold some risk, is no way to live a life.

If you're not interested in something that's one thing...... completely avoiding something because you don't understand it or otherwise fear it due to lack of information is another.

 

[EagleSmack]

Damn Prax... You like your controlled substances don't you!

 

[Chiliagon]

Here's another great idea..... Don't go sky diving, or drive an ATV, or bungee jumping, or surfing, or mountain climbing, or skiing, or skateboarding, or drive a car or fly a plane, or go out in public in anyway and just wrap yourself up in bubble wrap and live in a cave.

Everything has its own risks and personal gains/rewards. Whether or not something is worth any known risk is up to the individual.... just as it should be.

I did X a few years back.... for about a year an a half, and while I have no interest in ever doing it again, if someone knows what the heck they're doing, has experience in what they're doing and doesn't indulge too much to the point of increasing risks to yourself or others around you, ie "Responsible"..... then one doesn't have much to worry about.

Just like if someone wants to ski down a black diamond hill..... if you're experienced, know what you're doing and don't screw around, chances are you'll make it down to the bottom of the hill in one piece...... but it still holds a level of risk.

Toss some 14 year old kid down that hill with no experience or knowledge on how dangerous it is and you'll probably end up scraping a dead kid off the side of a tree.

but Drugs are just plain stupid.. you know it's not good to do them.. it's not like they say "we don't know what will happen when you take this"

they know!!

 

[Praxius]

Damn Prax... You like your controlled substances don't you!

And others like their extreme sports, while others like their firearms, meanwhile others like their mountains of food they continually shove down their gullets until they look like that guy who was face down in his soup in the movie Se7en.

The point being is that just about everything under the sun has risks attached.... so long as someone knows moderation, personal responsibility and gains knowledge/experience in a certain thing to make informed decisions & actions before they try doing something, then the risks attached to whatever is being discussed reduce greatly on an individual basis.

Would you be happy if all firearms were banned and removed from citizen's possession simply because a few idiots didn't know how to use them, or abused their rights with those firearms and decided to commit crimes with them and thus, put others at risk?

You'd argue that they're a small % of the overall population that use firearms and all we hear about are the bad apples who didn't know how to properly use those firearms or were just crazy.

So besides some piece of paper saying owning firearms is a right to all, what's the real difference both in approach and in mentality towards drug use (which includes Alcohol) in comparison to firearms?

Most of the cases of people dying from drug use you hear in the news are usually teenagers who didn't know wtf they were doing other then trying to impress their friends and be cool....... most of the people you read in the new who die from Ex are teenagers or people who just turned legal age, loaded themselves up with the stuff and never considered to keep themselves hydrated and died from jumping around like a hyper freak or danced and danced and danced because it felt good...... or were told to keep drinking water but were never told to continually go to the bathroom to prevent over-hydration and thus, died.

but Drugs are just plain stupid..

That's your opinion, not fact..... and besides, "Stupid" is a tad vague.

you know it's not good to do them..

That depends on what drug you're talking about and how it's being used...... and I'm not even addressing the illegal drugs many use for legit, medical needs due to one reason or another..... I'm just addressing the recreational aspect for the time being.

it's not like they say "we don't know what will happen when you take this"

they know!!

Who knows?

The person who gave the drug to you to use, the person who died from using, or the person who used who didn't die.... or someone else?

Generally in the high school environment when a teen is first handed something to try, they're usually just told it'll make them high or help them have a good time...... they don't have the first damn clue what they're getting into or what they need to do in order to ensure their experience is safe..... and chances are, the friends or the person who gave it to them isn't all that concerns with their well being, but want to get a laugh out of watching them freak out over something they have no clue over, but took anyways due to peer pressure.

It's the same thing as teens being introduced to sex for the first time..... there are risks and there are consequences, and regardless of how many times you tell someone to "Just don't do it"..... they're going to do it eventually, with or without proper knowledge of what they're getting into..... with or without their parent's permission...... it is always better to make sure someone is informed and educated on the facts and common things to expect in any situation, then it is to just tell them not to do something and leave them ignorant.... magically expecting them to never do something because you told them not to.

Life doesn't work that way...... how many teen kids were left ignorant on the risks and consequences of sex, only to end up infected with something or expecting a baby in a few months?

The exact same mentality and approach can be applied to drugs, just as it can be applied to just about anything in our lives..... whether you like it or not, there's a real good chance that either you or someone you know will try one drug or another in their lives..... regardless if you approve of what they're doing, wouldn't you at least be somewhat informed on what they're about to do so that you don't hear the next day that they died? (Be that related to drugs, extreme sports, hunting, whatever)

And for the record, I'm not promoting under aged drug use, as nobody but adults should be exposed to drugs.... including alcohol...... and in an ideal world, nobody but adults would be having sex..... but this isn't an ideal world and thus, youths need to be educated and prepared for what's out there so they can make informed decisions based on real facts..... rather then the hearsay told to them by their friends who probably know just as little as they do.

 

[Praxius]

Yeah thanks China for duplicating the same news report..... now could you clean up half the crap that came with your report?

Though I do appreciate the added part on the bottom listing the other drugs and where they fit..... noting LSD and Shrooms are the safest of all the drugs.... which is true.

Nothing like being everywhere and nowhere at the same time for 8 hours or so.

 

[TenPenny]

but Drugs are just plain stupid.. you know it's not good to do them.. it's not like they say "we don't know what will happen when you take this"

I think that the whole point of the article is to point out that alcohol, which society accepts / encourages, is MORE dangerous than 'drugs', which society doesn't accept.

 

[EagleSmack]

And others like their extreme sports, while others like their firearms, meanwhile others like their mountains of food they continually shove down their gullets until they look like that guy who was face down in his soup in the movie Se7en.

.

I'm not judging... I just get a kick out of it that's all.

Trip away you White Rabbit!

 

[Praxius]

I'm not judging... I just get a kick out of it that's all.

Trip away you White Rabbit!

Whoa..... Dude, check out what this red pill's doing...... The kid was like... right..... there is no mirror, like there is no spoon.

Added:

For the record, I haven't "Tripped" on anything for probably 6+ years now..... but just because I don't do something anymore, doesn't mean I think nobody else should be allowed to.

 

[petros]

It took a study to figure this out?

 

[Praxius]

It took a study to figure this out?

Some people either won't make a decision, or will simply assume what makes sense to them, regardless of how many others tell them otherwise..... until a study is tossed out there..... and even then you'll have those who still won't budge in their views.

 

[mentalfloss]

Let's bring all drugs together in peace and harmony. Time to stop the drug wars!

 

[petros]

A 'study" can be written on a bar napkin in 5 mins at any pub.

 

[Praxius]

A 'study" can be written on a bar napkin in 5 mins at any pub.

And 93.62% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

 

[petros]

4.3 times out of 20

 

[EagleSmack]

A 'study" can be written on a bar napkin in 5 mins at any pub.

OR by watching outside the pubs after closing time.

 

[petros]

Or opening time when you'll see line ups of ethyl junkies outside of bars.

 

[Cliffy]

but Drugs are just plain stupid.. you know it's not good to do them.. it's not like they say "we don't know what will happen when you take this"

they know!!

Chili, go smoke some pot and then come back and tell us how stupid it is. Until then you don't know what you are talking about and have zero cred.