Pubdate: Thu, 29 Mar 2007
Source: Gazette, The (London, CN ON Edu)
Copyright: 2007 The Gazette
Contact:  http://www.gazette.uwo.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2548
Author: Lauren Pelley

STUDY: ALCOHOL MORE HARMFUL THAN LSD

According to a recent study conducted by U.K. medical  journal The 
Lancet, alcohol and tobacco are more  harmful than illegal drugs like 
cannabis, LSD and  ecstasy.

Of the 20 drugs studied, alcohol ranked fifth behind  heroin, 
cocaine, barbiturates and street methadone.  Tobacco ranked ninth, 
while cannabis ranked 11th, LSD  14th and ecstasy 18th.

Addiction experts, including psychiatrists, scientists,  medical 
specialists, and police officers, were  solicited for the study.

Professor Michael Cook, who teaches physiology and  pharmacology at 
Western, wasn't surprised by the  rankings. He said tobacco's 
negative effects aren't  seen in the short term. Likewise, alcohol 
does cumulative damage to users over an extended period.

Cook added more dangerous drugs are often overshadowed  by mainstream drugs.

"If you look at the usage patterns, alcohol and tobacco  are used to 
a far greater extent than any of the drugs  on the list," Cook said.

"The drugs that have a spectacular effect aren't ranked  as being so 
harmful... part of that is the frequency of  use is so small."

Professor Rick Csiernik, who teaches social work at  Western, said 
tobacco leads to more premature deaths in  the world than all illegal 
drugs combined.

He said there's no simple answer as to which drugs are  most harmful, 
as no sufficient classifications exist  for the diverse array of 
drugs in existence.

"Alcohol leads to more economic loss than does  cocaine," Csiernik 
said. "However, where illicit drugs  are more expensive is in terms 
of policing and criminal  justice issues."

Mainstream drugs like alcohol and tobacco cause more  overall 
economic and societal harm due to their  accessibility, Csiernik said.

Sociology professor Paul C. Whitehead agreed.

"Alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous in the sense  that they are 
more widely used and they cause far more  ill health and death than 
any of the other drugs."

Whitehead attributed mainstream drugs' danger to their  availability 
and acceptability, adding legal status and  cost make them far more accessible.

Whitehead said restrictions on drugs are imperative.

"Restrictions, through mechanism of price or tax in  respect to 
tobacco, have shown to be an effective  mechanism in stopping people 
from smoking," Whitehead  said. "If we wanted to have lower rates of 
alcoholism  -- and there is good reason to do it -- we should  reduce 
accessibility."

Although The Lancet study ranked cannabis below alcohol  and tobacco, 
Whitehead said increased acceptability of  cannabis and other less 
harmful drugs wouldn't be  beneficial.

"Increased availability for what we call 'normal  healthy adults' 
would increase acceptability and  availability to children and 
adolescents who, as it's  widely agreed, shouldn't use these drugs."

- --with files from Dave Ward
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman