Condensed from "Drug Experts Say Alcohol Is More Dangerous than Crack in UK," copyright Reuters, published in the Cambodia Daily, Nov. 2, 2010. All text below is copyright Reuters.
LONDON - Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published yesterday . . . .
Led by sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt with colleagues from the breakaway Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the study says that if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do, alcohol would be class A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine.
Yesterday's study . . . examines nine categories of harm that drugs can do to the individual, "from death to damage to mental functioning and loss of relationships" and seven types of harm to others. The maximum possible harm score was 100 and the minimum zero.
Alcohol scored 72 -- compared with 55 for heroin and 54 for crack. The most dangerous drugs to their individual users were ranked as heroin, crack and then crystal meth. The most harmful to others were alcohol, heroin, and crack, in that order.
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