http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660210

1 November 2010 Last updated at 14:11 GMT


Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin' says Prof David Nutt

Professor David Nutt: "In terms of the cost to society, alcohol causes the biggest
harm"

Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack, according to a study published in
medical journal the Lancet.

The report is co-authored by Professor David Nutt, the former UK chief drugs adviser
who was sacked by the government in October 2009.

It ranks 20 drugs on 16 measures of harm to users and to wider society.

Gavin Partington, of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said alcohol abuse
affected "a minority" who needed "education, treatment and enforcement".

The study also said tobacco and cocaine are judged to be equally harmful, while
ecstasy and LSD are among the least damaging.

Harm score
[chart at url above]

Prof Nutt refused to leave the drugs debate when he was sacked from his official post
by the former Labour Home Secretary, Alan Johnson.

He went on to form the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, a body which
aims to investigate the drug issue without any political interference.

One of its other members is Dr Les King, another former government adviser who
quit over Prof Nutt's treatment.

Members of the group, joined by two other experts, scored each drug for harms
including mental and physical damage, addiction, crime and costs to the economy
and communities.

Graphic comparing the harmfulness of various substances

The BBC's home editor, Mark Easton, writes in his blog that the study involved 16
criteria, including a drug's affects on users' physical and mental health, social harms
including crime, "family adversities" and environmental damage, economic costs and
"international damage".

The modelling exercise concluded that heroin, crack and methylamphetamine, also
known as crystal meth, were the most harmful drugs to individuals, but alcohol,
heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to society.

When the scores for both types of harm were added together, alcohol emerged as
the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack.

'Valid and necessary'

The findings run contrary to the government's long-established drug classification
system, but the paper's authors argue that their system - based on the consensus of
experts - provides an accurate assessment of harm for policy makers.

"Our findings lend support to previous work in the UK and the Netherlands,
confirming that the present drug classification systems have little relation to the
evidence of harm," the paper says.

"They also accord with the conclusions of previous expert reports that aggressively
targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

In 2007, Prof Nutt and colleagues undertook a limited attempt to create a harm
ranking system, sparking controversy over the criteria and the findings.

The new more complex system ranked alcohol three times more harmful than
cocaine or tobacco. Ecstasy was ranked as causing one-eighth the harm of alcohol.

It also contradicted the Home Office's decision to make so-called legal high
mephedrone a Class B drug, saying that alcohol was five times more harmful. The
rankings have been published to coincide with a conference on drugs policy,
organised by Prof Nutt's committee.

'Extraordinary lengths'

Prof Nutt told the BBC: "Overall, alcohol is the most harmful drug because it's so
widely used.

"Crack cocaine is more addictive than alcohol but because alcohol is so widely used
there are hundreds of thousands of people who crave alcohol every day, and those
people will go to extraordinary lengths to get it."

He said it was important to separate harm to individuals and harm to society.

Government advisor Professor David Nutt likens the effects of alcohol to a range of
other drugs including heroin.

The Lancet paper written by Prof Nutt, Dr King and Dr Lawrence Phillips, does not
examine the harm caused to users by taking more than one drug at a time.

Mr Partington, who is the spokesman for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said
millions of people enjoyed alcohol "as part of a regular and enjoyable social drink".

"Clearly alcohol misuse is a problem in the country and our real fear is that, by talking
in such extreme terms, Professor Nutt and his colleagues risk switching people off
from considering the real issues and the real action that is needed to tackle alcohol
misuse," he said.

"We are talking about a minority. We need to focus policy around that minority,
which is to do with education, treatment and enforcement."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Our priorities are clear - we want to reduce drug
use, crack down on drug-related crime and disorder and help addicts come off drugs
for good."


_______________________________________________
THS mailing list