Pubdate: Tue, 04 Mar 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Nancy Szokan

BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW?

'Demons: Our Changing Attitudes to Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs' By 
Virginia Berridge

In 2007, scientists writing in the British medical journal the Lancet 
caused a stir when they ranked 20 often-abused drugs in terms of 
their degree of harm. Few readers had objections to the scientists' 
naming heroin as the worst drug, or khat (a stimulant popular mostly 
in the Arab world) coming in as least dangerous. What raised hackles 
was their uncompromising evaluation that alcohol was worse than 
cannabis, which in turn was worse than LSD; and that the street 
version of the synthetic narcotic methadone was worse than any of them.

The scientists said they were trying to "help society to engage in a 
more rational debate about the relative risks and harms of drugs." In 
her new book, "Demons: Our Changing Attitudes to Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Drugs," Virginia Berridge aims to take this discussion deeper, 
looking at how public opinion of different substances has been 
affected by research, politics and social mores. The book tells a 
complicated tale involving opium dens and absinthe, Prohibition and 
medical marijuana, and offers fascinating insights for a world where 
teenage binge drinking, legal marijuana, anti-smoking fervor and 
e-cigarettes are in the headlines.
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