Study Finds: Marijuana, LSD and Ecstacy Less Dangerous Then Alcohol and Tobacco

A new study of recreational drug use out of the UK has reached some startling conclusions. The study headed up by professor David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and his colleagues have proposed a new framework for classifying recreational drugs and harmful substances. Within this new framework alcohol and tobacco were listed higher on the danger scale then other more notorious drugs like: LSD, Ecstasy and Cannabis (more commonly referred to as marijuana). Here is the list of the twenty harmful substances with the number one spot and title of most harmful drug going to Heroin.

1. HEROIN

2. COCAINE

3. BARBITURATES

4. STREET METHADONE

5. ALCOHOL

6. KETAMINE

7. BENZODIAZEPINES

8. AMPHETAMINE

9. TOBACCO

10. BUPRENORPHINE

11. CANNABIS (MARIJUANA, WEED, GANJA, REEFER ETC)

12. SOLVENTS

13. 4-MTA

14. LSD

15. METHYLPHENIDATE

16. ANABOLIC STEROIDS

17. GHB

18. ECSTASY

19. ALKYL NITRATES

20. KHAT

The study compiled this list by examining three key factors regarding the substances: The physical harm done to the user, the drugs potential for addiction, and its impact on society as a whole. The researchers then asked numerous experts in: Law enforcement, psychologists (specializing in addiction), and legal officials to assign scores to twenty different drugs. Nutt and his colleagues then calculated the drugs overall ranking. The end result was the above list, which needless to say has caused a serious uproar as it is in direct conflict with the current UK and US perceptions of specific drugs and the legality of specific substances. "The current drug system is ill thought out and arbitrary." said Nutt. Nutt and his colleagues hope that the conclusions of the study will prompt greater debate about how drugs should be regulated.

While the research at first glance may prompt a person to ask "How can an illegal and 'hard drug' such as LSD be worse for society than a legal and highly used drug like alcohol?" not many people realize the detrimental effect that legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco actually have. Alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. While tobacco causes around forty percent of all hospital illnesses. Wayne Hall of the university of Queensland in Brisbane Australia wrote (in response to the study) " the rankings also suggest the need for better regulation of the more harmful drugs that are currently legal." Dr. Leslie Iversen professor of pharmacology at Oxford University stated that the study was a the first real step toward an evidence-based classification of drugs." Both Dr. Iversen and Hall were in no way connected with the study.

It would appear (at least according to Nutt's paper at least) that the so called benign recreational drugs are even more harmful than those our current legal system has demonized. Which is a tragedy when one considers the lives that have been destroyed do the current system of classification. Countless lives lost do to alcohol related accidents and even more lost do to tobacco use. Not to mention the lives and families torn apart by incarcerating users and dealers of the so called "bad drugs". The current system has also resulted in the gross mis-allocation of valuable law enforcement and medical resources. Hopefully Nutt's paper will indeed foster debate and perhaps change within the current system but for now it would appear that we must accept the fact that all drugs are on some level bad even the ones we think are less bad then others but its worse to be arrogant enough to think we can demonize some and embrace others.