Tobacco and alcohol are more detrimental to health than class A drugs.
According to a latest study complied by addiction specialists and published in Lancet Medical journal, tobacco and alcohol are more detrimental to health than class A drugs. Prof David Nutt from Bristol University headed this research.
This study rates alcohol as the fifth most dangerous drug followed by ketamine, speed and safety. Tobacco is considered more addictive than heroin. Cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and is recently downgraded to class C. It was rated more dangerous than ecstasy and LSD.The specialists who conducted this study urged a classification system which accurately represents the drugs and its safety in place of the existing A, B and C grades. Currently heroin and cocaine are on top in the list and belong to class A drugs. Though LSD, ecstasy and 4-methylthioamphetamine belong to class A drugs, they have comparatively milder effect in terms of physical harm, addictiveness and social risk. They are also called flatliners.
The intention of these experts is not to ban tobacco and alcohol but to highlight the facts of comparison. Professor David Nutt avers that the defect of existing classification was that isolated cases of unpleasant responses to drugs were allowed to dictate policies. He urged for a more scientific approach on assessing the effects of these drugs on the population.
Source-Medindia
JYT
