Why Alcohol Is the Most Harmful Drug

Why Alcohol Is the Most Harmful Drug Addiction Drug Use Print Why Alcohol Is the Most Harmful Drug By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on October 19, 2016 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on October 06, 2019 Alcohol Is a Dangerous Drug. © Getty Images More in Addiction Drug Use Cocaine Heroin Marijuana Meth Ecstasy/MDMA Hallucinogens Opioids Prescription Medications Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery Alcohol is the worlds most dangerous drug when you consider the harm it does to drinkers, their friends, and families and to society in general. The harm that alcohol does exceeds the dangers of even heroin and crack cocaine when the overall danger to the user and others is taken into account.?? This is the conclusion of a panel of British experts that assessed and ranked the harm caused by 20 different drugs, both legal and illegal. Members of Britains Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and two specialists from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) carefully assessed the harm caused by each drug in 16 separate categories.?? Ranking the Harm Drugs Do The scientists ranked each drug on a scale of 0 to 100 in nine areas related to the harm that the drugs do to the individual and seven categories of harm they do to others. How Harm Is Assessed When ranking drug harm, researchers looked at the physical, psychological, and social harm the drugs do to life expectancy, health risks, dependence, mental functioning, loss of tangibles, loss of relationships, crime, costs to society, family adversities, and other factors. By applying multicriteria decision analysis to each drug and then weighing which harms are more important than others, the scientists were able to give each drug a score that could be compared and combined across all 16 criteria. How Alcoholism Affects Society The Damage Done by Drugs Some of the harms to the user the panel looked at included:?? Drug-specific deathDrug-related deathDamage to healthDrug dependenceLoss of relationships Some of the harms to others that were considered included: CrimeEnvironmental damageFamily conflictInternational damageEconomic costDamage to community cohesion The panels analysis showed that heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to the individual user, while alcohol, heroin, and crack were the most harmful to others.?? When the two areas of harm were combined, the overall most harmful drugs were alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine. The Most Harmful Drugs Here are the scores each drug received for overall harm caused on a scale of 0 to 100:?? Alcohol 72Heroin 55Crack Cocaine 54Methamphetamine 33Cocaine 27Tobacco 26Amphetamine 23Marijuana 20GHB 19Benzodiazepines 15Ketamine 15Methadone 14Anabolic Steroids 10Ecstasy 9LSD 7Buprenorphine 7Mushrooms 6 Legal Drugs Do Much Harm The ISCD panel, chaired by Professor David Nutt, concluded that the current drug classification systems do not take into account the actual harms done by various drugs and have little relation to that harm caused.?? It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed â€" alcohol and tobacco â€" score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances, Nutt said. Alcohol Is a Public Health Issue Experts suggest that public health strategies need to be adjusted to aggressively target the harm that alcohol does. Addressing these issues can lead to programs and policies centered on harm reduction. How Alcoholism Hits All of Our Pocketbooks