Alcohol ranked as 'Fifth most harmful drug'

According to research performed by leading British scientists, which categorizes drugs into a table on the basis of respective “harm” scores, claims that alcohol could be as dangerous as heroin.

In fact, the classification table, published in the Lancet, puts alcohol before drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy, and cannabis. Around 20 different drugs have been classified in the table including amphetamines, cocaine, and LSD.

The research has been performed by a team of medical scientists, which prominently figures David Nutt, Professor at the University of Bristol, and Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council.

Three main factors were outlined to classify drugs, viz. physical harm, potential for addiction, and impact on society. On the basis of scores in these three, the drugs were categorized as “no risk”, “some risk”, “moderate risk”, “extreme risk”. Two groups of subjects were questioned for the same, i.e. legal/police officials with scientific expertise and psychologists dealing in addiction cases.

While class A drugs LSD and Ecstasy feature somewhere near the bottom in the list, Cannabis, a class C drug features in the middle at position 11. Ecstasy, possession of which could lead to a seven-year prison sentence, has a score of about 1.1. Prolonged use of these drugs leads to hallucinations and/or illusions. Ecstasy may even lead to neuron damage. Cannabis, a flowering plant found mainly in China, and Northern Himalayas, produces a variety of mental and physiological effects when consumed.

Higher above is tobacco at the ninth position with a score of 1.7. Heroin, with a score of 2.7, and Cocaine, with a score of 2.3, occupy the first two positions.

Heroin, a prodrug, gets metabolized into morphine when it enters the body. Thus it produces the same defects as does morphine. Morphine is a highly addictive drug which acts directly on the central nervous system. Cocaine, obtained from the leaves of the Coca plant, is an appetite suppressant and a stimulant of the nervous system.

A major section of these drugs produce a state of heightened happiness, or an euphoris sense of being.

Heroin and Cocaine are followed by Barbiturates and Street Methadone. Alcohol as been classified as the 5th most harmful substance.

In a news briefing at London, Professor Blakemore stated, “Alcohol and tobacco are way up there in the league table, with alcohol being not very far behind demonised terrors of the street like heroin.”

He added that, “We hope that policy makers will take note of the fact that the resulting ranking of drugs differs substantially from their classification in the Misuse of Drugs Act and that alcohol and tobacco are judged more harmful than many illegal substances."

The research team hopes that the findings and publication will initiate a debate in the world about regulation of drugs. The system proposed by the study to classify drugs, has never been used by authorities in different countries to mark dangerous drugs. The team hopes this effort will provide international law makers a framework to work upon.

According to Professor Nutt, United Kingdom’s current practice of assigning drugs to three different classes based on their potential for harm is “ill-thought out and arbitrary.”

"The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary," stated Nutt in the Lancet.

A “Drug Futures’ group from the Academy of Medical Sciences has started the review process as drug regulation is concerned. Chairman Professor Sir Gabriel Horn said, "We have heard views from both members of the scientific community and of the public which indicate that the current classification system is in need of review. Such a review must be underpinned by evidence on the harms of drug use to the individual user, to families and to society, and be considered in the light of the latest evidence from brain sciences."

The research highlights the need of increased awareness and education about the harmful effects and risks of these drugs.