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Booze and smokes more dangerous than some illegal drugs

phishtaper

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phishtaper

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Booze and smokes more dangerous than some illegal drugs: study

MARIA CHENG

Associated Press

LONDON — New “landmark†research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study.

In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.

Prof. Nutt and his colleagues used three factors to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug's potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. The researchers asked two groups of experts — psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise — to assign scores to 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD.

Prof. Nutt and his colleagues then calculated the drugs' overall rankings. In the end, the experts agreed with each other — but not with the existing British classification of dangerous substances.

Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

According to existing British and U.S. drug policy, alcohol and tobacco are legal, while cannabis and Ecstasy are both illegal. Previous reports, including a study from a parliamentary committee last year, have questioned the scientific rationale for Britain's drug classification system.

“The current drug system is ill thought-out and arbitrary,†said Prof. Nutt, referring to the United Kingdom's practice of assigning drugs to three distinct divisions, ostensibly based on the drugs' potential for harm. “The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary,†write Prof. Nutt and his colleagues in The Lancet.

Tobacco causes 40 per cent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.

Prof. Nutt hopes that the research will provoke debate within Britain and beyond about how drugs — including socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol — should be regulated. While different countries use different markers to classify dangerous drugs, none use a system like the one proposed by Prof. Nutt's study, which he hopes could serve as a framework for international authorities.

see, E is safe! ;)

quick edit ... i'm kidding. lest someone takes me seriously

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bradm Newbie

bradm

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Anyone ever drink more than 6 coffees in a day?

Probably. I down four mugs at the office, and if I go to a show on a weeknight, I'll grab one (a Second Cup "small") on my way to the show...and probably have one or two diet Cokes at the bar. It's never made me jumpy or anything, probably because they're spread out over such a long time (before 8am for the first mug of coffee, to after midnight for the last diet Coke).

Aloha,

Brad

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I down four mugs at the office, and if I go to a show on a weeknight, I'll grab one (a Second Cup "small") on my way to the show...and probably have one or two diet Cokes at the bar. It's never made me jumpy or anything, probably because they're spread out over such a long time (before 8am for the first mug of coffee, to after midnight for the last diet Coke).

I wonder if they'd do a BradM control study. Or if they'd include 'rationalization' as something to study... hehe.

when was the last time you didn't do the caffeine regimen?

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bradm Newbie

bradm

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when was the last time you didn't do the caffeine regimen?

For a show? I can't remember; it's pretty ritualistic for me (to the point that I know which coffee shop to go to depending on the venue the show is at). On Saturdays and Sundays, I might have a mug (maybe even half-caf/half-decaf) in the morning, and that'll be it for the day. If there's a show in the evening, though, I'll grab one on the way to it.

Aloha,

Brad

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I don't drink coffee, and have never been a regular drinker of it. I probably average 2 coffees a year, and it's solely for the purpose of staying awake during late night drives. I don't know if it works, but if it's a placebo that's cool too. Still haven't crashed at night, so knock on wood.

I hate the taste. And hot drinks don't make much sense to me.

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SmoothedShredder Newbie

SmoothedShredder

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Dude... we've seen first hand what happens when you fall asleep at the wheel! That was not pretty.

(Car crosses two lanes of oncoming traffic (hits no one), ends up in the ditch, flips a couple times, the guy somehow someway ends up all right and pulls himself out of his car saying "What a weird way to wake up", I wanted to throtle him... now that everything was ok)

I don't drink much coffee... maybe one for the subway on the way to a show, or after with breakfast with the folk units once a week... it is powerful though and subtaly addictive, but if you keep it in moderation it's fine.

Decaf ~ Methadone :)

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YearsAlongTheSea Newbie

YearsAlongTheSea

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Okay, so if you're going to compare alcohol and ecstacy, I think you're out of your mind... Is alcohol a drug? Very much so; so much that I can't do it anymore, it's like my heroin. But, think about the fact that just one pill of ecstacy sends you into orbit (depending), but, to really get drunk you have to put a lot of effort into it, aka, consume a lot of beverage and filler. Plus, there is a huge healthy (for the most part / when not abused) social aspect to alcohol. So, while I think it should be considered a drug, without a doubt, and should be subject to regulations and enforcements, and people should be better educated regarding it's effects, it's a whole different ballgame. I think it's a little silly to compare alcohol to most narcotics that tend to sit in the one-hit-wonder catagory....

Just my thoughts...

Boy I wish I could have a drink....

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YearsAlongTheSea Newbie

YearsAlongTheSea

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Well, that's all relative. I'd agree if you were speaking straight MDMA, but if you're talking pressed biscuits with a medley of everything you don't want to think about conciously entering your body, then, whole different ballgame. And, I'll take it, most people that don't know what's up are eating pills with said side products... Plus, think of the guy who goes and gets drunk once a week vs. the guy who rollls face once a week, it's really a toss up, but I'd say the guy who drinks has a liver that can weed through the junk, whereas the guy rolling face weekly is having trouble (residually too) catching up on seratonin levels... Who knows? Everything in moderation is the name of the game....

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