[lbo-talk] Alcohol worse than ecstasy on new U.K. drug list....

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Mon Apr 16 07:52:28 PDT 2007


The rankings take into account the stronger cultivated 'skunk' cannabis (which has been the subject of recent media scare stories). I still don't think they have the rankings correct.

"The final rankings placed heroin and cocaine as the most dangerous of the 20 drugs. Alcohol was fifth, the class C drug ketamine sixth and tobacco was in ninth place, just behind amphetamine or 'speed'.

"Cannabis was 11th, while LSD and ecstasy were 14th and 18th respectively."

********** LSD is an extremely powerful psychoactive drug. Acid shouldn't be considered less dangerous than cannibas--gives the wrong impression. And ecstasy can kill you--only ten deaths?...What's that about? As far as I know, it's zero for cannibas.

Anyway:

"The position of ecstasy near the bottom of the list was defended by Prof Nutt, who said that apart from some tragic isolated cases ecstasy is relatively safe. Despite about a third of young people having tried the drug and around half a million users every weekend, it causes fewer than 10 deaths a year. One person a day is killed by acute alcohol poisoning and thousands more from chronic use.

"Prof Nutt said young people already know ecstasy is relatively safe, so having it in class A makes a mockery of the entire classification system for them. 'The whole harm-reduction message disappears because people say, 'They are lying.' Let's treat people as adults, tell them the truth and hopefully work with them to minimise use."

(Guardian, 23/3/07) full: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/story/0,,2040890,00.html

Regards, Mike B)

Download a free pdf copy of the "Industrial Worker": http://www.iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWMarch07.pdf

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