Alcohol has been described as “more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin, ecstasy and crack cocaine” in a new British study.
Researchers led by Professor David Nutt, former UK government drugs adviser, rated alcohol the most dangerous substance among a list of 20 drugs based on the overall dangers to the individual and society as a whole. The study by Prof. Nutt’s Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs found heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, to be the most lethal to individuals. Prof. Nutt was sacked as the former government drugs adviser for criticising the then Labour government’s decision to upgrade cannabis from class C to class B.
The study analysed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body as well as other factors like environmental and socio-economic costs like health care, social services, and prison. Also, included in the list criteria were a drug’s capacity to kill, its addictiveness, effect on mental functions, what material loss it causes, injuries stemming from use and its power to end relationships.
Taking into account wider social effects of the drugs, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were found to be the most dangerous.
Overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.
Marking substances from zero to 100, the study found alcohol scored 72 overall, compared to 55 for heroin and 54 for crack. Crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine/speed (23), cannabis (20), GHB (18), benzodiazepines (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), butane (10), khat (9), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7), buprenorphine (6) and magic mushrooms (5) were relatively low on the list.
“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 harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy,” the study said.