Health News - Saturday, March 24, 2007
Alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than marijuana or ecstasy, according to a new British study. In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, David Nutt of Bristol University and colleagues propose a framework for classifying harmful substances based on the actual risks to society. Their ranking has alcohol and tobacco among the 10 most dangerous.
They used three factors to determine harm associated with any drug: physical harm to the user, potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. They asked two groups of experts - psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with special expertise - to assign scores to 20 drugs, including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD. The team then calculated overall rankings. In the end, the experts agreed with each other - but not with the existing classification of substances. Continue reading