Drugs
Alcohol is worse for you than LSD, and a lot worse for you than Ecstasy.
So say the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
They ranked some of the major drugs, rating them by
* Physical harm
* Dependence
* Social harm
with a score of 0 = none, 1 = some, 2 = moderate, and 3 = high.
| Substance | Physical | Dependance | Social |
| Heroin | 2.78 | 3.00 | 2.54 |
| Cocaine | 2.33 | 2.39 | 2.17 |
| Barbiturates | 2.23 | 2.01 | 2.00 |
| Street Methadone | 1.86 | 2.08 | 1.87 |
| Alcohol | 1.40 | 1.93 | 2.21 |
| Ketamin | 2.00 | 1.54 | 1.69 |
| Benzodiazepines | 1.63 | 1.83 | 1.65 |
| Amphetamine | 1.81 | 1.67 | 1.50 |
| Tobacco | 1.24 | 2.21 | 1.42 |
| Buprenorphine | 1.60 | 1.64 | 1.49 |
| Cannabis | 0.99 | 1.64 | 1.50 |
| Solvents | 1.28 | 1.01 | 1.52 |
| 4-MTA | 1.44 | 1.30 | 1.06 |
| LSD | 1.13 | 1.23 | 1.32 |
| Methylphenidate | 1.32 | 1.25 | 0.97 |
| Anabolic Steroids | 1.45 | 0.88 | 1.13 |
| GHB | 0.86 | 1.19 | 1.30 |
| Ecstasy | 1.05 | 1.13 | 1.09 |
| Alkyl Nitrates | 0.93 | 0.87 | 0.97 |
| Khat | 0.50 | 1.04 | 0.85 |
So alcohol is the 2 most societally damaging drug after heroin - that's a pretty bad indictment of it.
I'm very glad that someone in the Government has stopped banging the "drugs are bad, but alcohol and tobacco are fine" drum for a few seconds, and has spent some time calculating the actual harm that drugs can do. It's also nice to see alcohol and tobacco listed in a list of "drugs", as too often they're overlooked, as they're legal.
I don't think they're saying though, that taking LSD or Ecstasy 20 times a day is less damaging for you than smoking. I wonder if the "physical" effects include long term mental/psychological damage?
And I also wonder where a strong cup of tea would come in that list. And what the hell is Khat?
Of course, the best drugs are the natural ones - andrenaline, endorphins, dopamine, serotonin. Get high on life, kids.