Study: Alcohol more lethal than heroin, cocaine

[tyler811]

LONDON (AP) — Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study.
British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.
Researchers analyzed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addition to other criteria like environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families and its economic costs, such as health care, social services, and prison.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. When considering their wider social effects, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<D9J70A0O0@news.ap.org>&ps=1018

 

[zerocool84]

and the same people that drink alcohol think legalizing marijuana is bad

 

[shiner]

You can have my bourbon when you pry it from my cold, dead, slightly yellowed fingers.

 

[DrPizza]

What were those researchers smoking when they came to that conclusion? Overall alcohol outranked heroin? They had to be smoking something.

 

[Eli]

This really shouldn't be news to anyone...

Alcohol is a terrible, terrible drug.

 

[erikistired]

i stopped reading at "british experts" because...yeah...

 

[Matthiasa]

What were those researchers smoking when they came to that conclusion? Overall alcohol outranked heroin? They had to be smoking something.

If you cared to read it that's not what it said. It lists those to be more lethal on an individual level.
It was that alcohol has greater societal effects.

 

[xSauronx]

What were those researchers smoking when they came to that conclusion? Overall alcohol outranked heroin? They had to be smoking something.

fta

ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.

i think the vast issues caused by alcohol abuse are probably greater overall than that based on heroin. certainly more people drink that shoot heroin

 

[sandorski]

i stopped reading at "british experts" because...yeah...

4/5 British Dentists don't recommend flouride.

 

[TecHNooB]

This really shouldn't be news to anyone...

Alcohol is a terrible, terrible drug.

blizz let me down with starcraft 2

 

[Fingolfin269]

I think the researchers were smoking something when they decided to publish these results.

 

[Indolent]

"Experts said alcohol scored so high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequences not only for drinkers but for those around them."

Seems pointless. The data is skewed because alcohol is legal and more widely available.

 

[Tristicus]

Seems pointless. The data is skewed because alcohol is legal and more widely available.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

 

[slayer202]

this is retarded

 

[SphinxnihpS]

This really shouldn't be news to anyone...

Alcohol is a terrible, terrible drug.

Yep. I thought this was a "duh" for years now. Only second to cigarettes.

 

[BD231]

Anything that literally degenerates muscle tissue is clearly a terrible thing, I've tried for the longest to accept drinking but I simply cannot appreciate a substance that is so physically destructive.

After seeing what alcohol poisoning dose to people I really can't believe it's even legal, such a terrible substance. It turns nice people into assholes just like coke.

 

[nutxo]

Seems pointless. The data is skewed because alcohol is legal and more widely available.

So when alcohol was illegal there probably weren't nearly as many issues.

 

[ElFenix]

What were those researchers smoking when they came to that conclusion? Overall alcohol outranked heroin? They had to be smoking something.

drunk driving (it's never the drunk that dies) and the sheer volume of alcohol use (they didn't normalize the study)

 

[tyler811]

So when alcohol was illegal there probably weren't nearly as many issues.

I recall something about that in early 1930's.

 

[bignateyk]

This study is retarded. It is completely subjective based on the fact that alcohol is widely used, when in reality, if you sat an alcoholic and a heroin addict next to each other, the heroin addict would obviously be much more of a wreck than the alcoholic.

 

[Pollock]

Regardless of how you feel about the results of this study, the simple fact that this comparison is even being considered shows the inanity of the drug war and all of the double standards.

If alcohol is legal, then "similarly destructive" illegal drugs should also be legal.

Of course, this is besides the more important point that a person should have the freedom to imbibe whatever they choose.

 

[Ns1]

Who cares? Alcohol, unlike heroin and cocaine is LEGAL.

 

[lxskllr]

After seeing what alcohol poisoning dose to people I really can't believe it's even legal, such a terrible substance. It turns nice people into assholes just like coke.

That's not correct. Alcohol is a personality revealer. If someone's an asshole while drunk, they're most likely just an asshole, but hide it when sober.

 

[sandorski]

That's not correct. Alcohol is a personality revealer. If someone's an asshole while drunk, they're most likely just an asshole, but hide it when sober.

Uhh, if a Sober Man "hides" his assholishness, is he really an Asshole?

 

[lxskllr]

Uhh, if a Sober Man "hides" his assholishness, is he really an Asshole?

Yes, I'd say it makes them inherently less trustworthy. That's the kind of person that'll stab you in the back when things get rough.