Thought I'd post this study which got a lot of circulation when it appeared in 2010. I think anyone involved with an alcoholic will agree.........
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Alcohol – the most dangerous addiction
What Gandhiji had said years ago is now been proved true, by British experts. It has been found in a study that alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.
The researchers from Britain has evaluated the addicted substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them with that they also added the criteria like environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families and its economic costs, such as health care, social services, and prison.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. When considering their wider social effects, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana and ecstasy scored far lower.
The study was published online Monday in the medical journal, Lancet it paid for by Britain's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
According to experts the reason behind high scored of alcohol is its wide use and following devastating consequences for drinkers as well as the people surrounding them
Alcohol scored so high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequences not only for drinkers but for those around them.
Alcohol when consumed in excessive amount it damages almost all organs of the body. The high alcohol intake is also connected to higher death rates and is involved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin.
Experts view
"Just think about what happens (with alcohol) at every football game," said Wim van den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam. He was not linked to the study and co-authored a commentary in the Lancet.
But experts said it would be impractical and incorrect to outlaw alcohol.
"We cannot return to the days of prohibition," said Leslie King, an adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and one of the study's authors. "Alcohol is too embedded in our culture and it won't go away."
King said countries should target problem drinkers, not the vast majority of people who indulge in a drink or two. He said governments should consider more education programs and raising the price of alcohol so it isn't as widely available.
Experts said the study should prompt countries to reconsider how they classify drugs. For example, last year in Britain, the government increased its penalties for the possession of marijuana. One of its senior advisers, David Nutt - the lead author on the Lancet study - was fired after he criticized the British decision.
"What governments decide is illegal is not always based on science," said van den Brink. He said considerations about revenue and taxation, like those garnered from the alcohol and tobacco industries may influence decisions about which substances to regulate or outlaw.
"Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit," he said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...103103887.html