According to the latest study carried out by British scientists, and published on Saturday in The Lancet medical journal, both alcohol and tobacco are more hazardous than some illicit drugs, such as marijuana or Ecstasy. Therefore, they should be reclassified to reflect the danger they pose to society.
By the use of three factors to identify the damage they cause, Professor David Nutt of Bristol University and his team came to conclusion that alcohol and tobacco belonged to the top ten most hazardous substances, the Associated Press informed.
These three factors used to identify the rankings of twenty substances were: physical damage to the user; potential for addiction; and influence on society. Heroin and cocaine were classified as the most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was classified on the fifth position and marijuana was a number nine. Ecstasy was near the bottom of the list.
Nutt observed that alcohol and tobacco are the substances that are legal in the United States, Britain and most other countries, whereas marijuana and Ecstasy are not. Hence, he questioned the scientific motivation for this sort of approach to drug classification, calling it ill thought-out and arbitrary, the AP informed.
Alcohol is related to more than fifty per cent of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. Tobacco is responsible for about forty per cent of all diseases that require hospitalization. Both these substances have other adverse effects on the society, including harming families and using up police resources, the research revealed.
