Alcohol and tobacco just as harmful as heroin

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has performed a risk assessment on the harmful effects of 17 illegal drugs plus that of legal drugs tobacco and alcohol.

The assessment was performed by a panel of 19 experts who based their judgement on their own scientific expertise and information derived from the literature. The assessment focussed on toxicity, potential for dependency and social harm at individual and population levels.

The bars in the image indicate:

Pink: physical damage
Orange: social harm to the user
Green: harm to society

The most important conclusions drawn from the assessment are as follows.

Firstly, alcohol, tobacco, heroin and crack scored relatively high on the scale for Total harm, whereas magic mushrooms, LSD and khat scored relatively low.

Secondly, the scores of the Dutch expert panel correspond well with
previous findings from British experts as well as previous advice from the Dutch Coordination point Assessment Monitoring new drugs (CAM).

Thirdly, classed as legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco have been judged by the experts as more harmful than many of the illegal drugs included in the assessment –with the exception of heroin and crack. This accounts for the Total harm at individual and population levels.

Finally, regarding Total harm at individual level, cannabis and ecstasy have been assessed by the experts as moderately harmful.

The study is remarkable, as Dutch drug policy has been making a U-turn in the last 7 years. Magic mushrooms (Paddo's in Dutch) have been banned last December. This study shows magic mushrooms are at the lower end of the risk spectrum, while legal drugs like tobacco (Tabak in Dutch) are much more harmful.

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Comentarios

asdercore - 2009-07-03 18:22:02

-10

please translate the graphic so we can read it

iam - 2009-07-03 19:50:42

read the text so u know whats up with the graphic!!!

tribble - 2009-07-04 16:29:08

it's a bit strange on lsd: what are the physical damage? was the bottle to large?

BREAKER - 2009-07-05 13:53:59

-14

trust me i know this statistic it´s fake no fakt. You can find a documentation about that on youtube (ABC Doku) and they say that cannabis is more dangerous than sniffing on a airsol with toxic chemicals in it. I don´t know why they telling such bullshit but maybe theres a reason for it

Don Jia - 2009-07-07 00:29:15

Alright, I'm no certified statisticion, but I find this graph to be highly ambiguous. I mean no doubt alcohol and tobacco qualify as hard drugs, in that they are bodily addictive, meaning you get physical withdrawel symptoms if you suddenly stop using. Supposedly, I'm a daily smoker and drinker, but if I go without either for a day or two I feel quite good immediately, if a bit spaced out.

I believe in the maxim to enjoy, but with moderation. I don't see any data on dosages, which means the moderate drinker and raging alcoholic are seen as one demographic of "users." Okay, but then it says the graphs are based on the judgements of 19 experts who base their figures primarely on their expertise. What, no figures? If so, there appears to be a perversely looping logic at work with this "research" which in theory would seem capable of thereby reaching any outcome, of course based on the expertise of the experts, and the liberature of other experts, who too have reached conclusions based on their expertise, by which they are "authorized" to publish their findings unquestionably as scientifically sound research. I'm just doubtful of these types of descriptive statistics anyway, but it's way too coarse. Need I point out that it doesn't even mention any of the GOOD effects of said substances, i.e. the reason why people turn to them in the first place. There is a trade off, obviously, when it comes to illicit substances, which sometimes includes the risk of bodily harm, or something entirely subjective like mind warping OBE experiences. Also, going by the figures on alcohol and tobacco, what rates high on the "socially damaging" scale here, might actually be socially benefitial when enough other people are using the same thing. I want these people's job.

Fuz2y - 2009-07-20 03:19:45

for Don Jia, quoting "Supposedly, I'm a daily smoker and drinker, but if I go without either for a day or two I feel quite good immediately, if a bit spaced out."

Try going 3 years without using tobacco or alcohol then :P

and yall understand how fucked up society is...

ergonomico - 2009-09-03 15:08:06

I wish You could provide the direct url to the info inside the rivm site.

Psyched.bE - 2009-12-12 17:27:22

Statistics, studies, scientific lobbyists ...
I only have 1 major keyword here and that is: MODERATION!
Any substance, whether it are so called "drugs" or "medicine" or simply food is harmful to the body if not used in moderation. What is good for some one can be bad for another. Of course, from some substances we do know they are highly addictive, but even so, when used in small enough a dose, those will be quite harmless. It's all a matter of how you look at the subject... people died overdosing on water, people died overdosing on vitamins, people died overdosing on transfatty acids, people...

People should be informed on what is a dangerous dose, and what isn't, people should know how to deal with side-effects, people should be INFORMED instead of being fined n put away in jail where they might get in touch with even worse things than being a drug-user.

So please, all of you who know or do not know what you are doing with whatever substance, educate yourself!
Don't just believe what the government tells you and take a stance in certain subjects.

As long as "they" divide the people and their opinions, there will never be any "winners" in this case...

inform yourself, educate yourself and by all means, be safe ;)

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