Is This Drug Chart Real?
Question by : Is this drug chart real?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_%28mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence%29.svg
I just wanted to know if this accurately accesses the physical damage and dependancy levels of the drugs it has listed.
how can breathing in a solvent do less physical damage than drinking alcohol?
Best answer:
Answer by Live free or Die
It looks pretty accurate. I think it’s a little off with the cannabis as it seams by reports to be much less harmful than previously thought,but everything else is pretty close from my opinion. BTW I don’t smoke it.
It depends on the solvent,the saturation of it,the ventilation and many factors. I was a professional painter for years before studying health and drinking alcohol has a stronger effect on the body because it’s done much more often usually unless someone is sniffing solvents on purpose.
Now there are some solvents that can do quick damage to organs and the brain and be much more dangerous that alcohol,so it depends. Epoxy paint is one of them. Paint and varnish remover is another. Acetone in fingernail polish is even bad for brain cells. Also, that oil spill has terrible fumes. Petroleum burns your eyes and makes you light headed.
Anyways I hope that helped.
Answer by Mathieu
That chart is based on a very large British study/report on dangerous drugs of abuse. Actually they did a documentary about the 20 most dangerous drugs in Britain based on the surprising results of the report. They ranked drugs based on risk of dependence, harm to the user (which may have been split into psychological and physical), and harm to the community.
The only issue is that the term “dependence” is almost always misused.
Addiction = psychological dependence = dependence
Physical dependence is not addiction and the term “dependence” should not be used.
Having said that the study was very good but the chart is not great. Amphetamines, ketamine, benzodiazepines, buprenorphine, alcohol, and tobacco are not really placed well. It sort of looks like some of the drugs were placed by defining dependence as addiction (correct) and others were placed by defining it as physical dependence.
Also physical harm is hard calculate. Barbiturates, for example, are most likely to kill you if you overdose and cocaine is far more likely to kill you then amphetamine but amphetamine is far more addictive. And methadone abuse is far more dangerous than heroin abuse. And of course using these drugs that are available as a prescription for a legitimate medical reason is a lot different.
Solvents are a bit strange- they kill a lot of first time users and other people can heavily use for a long time. It really does not typically cause that much physical harm. Generally speaking no drug is at all capable of causing more physical harm than alcohol (when abused).
UPDATE:
I found the Horizon documentary about the 20 most dangerous drugs in Britain:
The original study was published by Lancet medical journal (a very well respected medical journal). A lot of research was by David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist and psychiatrist fired by The UK government after saying horse riding is more dangerous than ecstasy (which is a correct fact). He also wanted the government to reclassify drugs based on the science, not the hysteria.
This link has better charts than you one on wikipedia:
http://www.lila.it/doc/documentazione/rdd/thelancet.pdf
PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17382831
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/31_07_06_drugsreport.pdf
M.D., C.M. psychiatry, internal medicine (Québec)
Hons. BSc in pharmacology