LONDON (Oct. 31) -- Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study.

British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.

Researchers analyzed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addition to other 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, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.

The study was paid for by Britain's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and was published online Monday in the medical journal, Lancet.

Experts said alcohol scored so high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequences not only for drinkers but for those around them.

"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.

When drunk in excess, alcohol damages nearly all organ systems. It is also connected to higher death rates and is involved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin.

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."



........so for all the alcohol drinkers that say ...don't legalize marijuana ..suck on this...

That a doobie?

..it could be...........

Preachin' to the choir :-)

Well, I think pot would have ranked higher on the list of "social problems" if those that used it would ever stop eating "cheetos" and get off the couch.

rock on.

I find it dispicable that anyone would advocate the use of such things..........

haha-potheads are just too lazy to go out and committ crimes-LOL_

to me its all garbage

actually in terms of addiction and damage done per capita it still goes to nicotine and cigarettes (inhalation, the most effective way of delivering the drug and getting you hooked)...

Well, I am going to do my part this weekend to keep alcohol at the number one spot.

Me too

I wonder how many studies say the opposite... That's the funny thing about a lot of the studies, they'll somehow tell the researchers exactly what they're looking to find...

that's usually why an independent double-blind study, is reasonable.

But, you can't trust anything published, due to the fact that the medical researchers may not publish very important facts regarding the study, such as people used in the clinical trials, full results, etc.

fck the media

i propose a new study

lets all meet somewhere and have a mingle lush-a-thon

a three day event, where we can really delve deep into the subject.

c'mon people who's with me?

Exactly.. Thank you for adding the detail..

ne time :]

Me. I'll bring tequila.

You know you don't have to ask me twice.. I'll take alcohol over any of the others any time.. At least I'll keep my teeth...

well that's three of us, sounds like enough to base our findings on...yes?