New study reinforces earlier data, scoring substances based on harm they cause
London, England (GenevaLunch) – UK media headlines Monday 1 November are mainly about bombs and another potentially explosive subject: which substance is the most damaging, among drugs and alcohol. Alcohol comes out tops, followed by heroin, but before wine lovers panic that this will lead to another French-style effort by some health authorities to ban the beverage or at least ban advertising, the story deserves a closer look.
In particular, the headlines don’t make it clear right away that alcohol’s dubious winning title is part of a strong case made for the British government to reclassify abused substances. The UK classification system serves as a basis for public policy but a respected group of scientists has been arguing that the current classification system is woefully out of date.
Alcohol has a double-whammy impact under their proposed classification, with its record for harm to both users/abusers and people around them. The widespread availability of alcohol, compared to drugs, is a factor. The study measures nine categories of harm to oneself and seven categories of harm to others. They scored each of 20 drugs, including drink, for several forms of harm: addiction, death, mental functioning, loss of relationships, costs to the economy and community.
“Our findings lend support to previous work in the UK and the Netherlands, confirming that the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm. They also accord with the conclusions of previous expert reports that aggressively targeting alcohol harm is a valid and necessary public health strategy,” the authors state.
Professor David Nutt of Bristol University co-authored the study, published 1 November in The Lancet, which confirms earlier findings by Nutt, published in 2007 in The Lancet, that alcohol and tobacco are among the most harmful of abused substances, based on the risks they carry for society. The new study, more complex, responds to criticisms in 2007 of measurement tools.
Nutt was then the chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in Britain and he argued for a government reclassification of drugs. He was fired by then Home Secretary Alan Johnson in late 2009, an action that created an uproar in British health and science circles. He and colleagues then formed the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the group behind today’s paper. The Lancet published a scathing editorial in February 2010, suggesting that the British government had some serious work to do to repair “the damaged relationship that exists between the government and its scientific advisers”.
The new Lancet paper, notes the Guardian, argues that “Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published today which will reopen calls for the drugs classification system to be scrapped and a concerted campaign launched against drink.” The newspaper notes at the end that the political debate over how to handle legal and illegal drugs and drink “proved politically damaging to Labour”, which lost the 2010 elections in Britain.
The most harmful drugs to individuals, according to the report: heroin, crack and methylamphetamine. The most harmful to others: alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine.
Most harmful when the two are combined: alcohol, followed by heroin and crack.
An upswing in teenage excess drinking in recent years in the UK has become a hot political issue. The UK ranked third in a 2009 European survey of the top five binge-drinking countries:
- Denmark: 49%
- Isle of Man: 35%
- UK: 33%
- Austria: 31%
- Ireland: 26%
Matt Hartley says
LEGALIZE CANNABIS