A new analytical system that ranks drugs via certain criteria has placed alcohol as the most harmful drug, above heroin and crack. Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College in London, was the expert who developed this scale. The system that Nutt helped to develop was not easy to conceive, especially considering all the different ways that drugs can cause harm to both the people who use them and those who don’t. Nutt had tried a similar analysis earlier where he engaged experts, trying to have them score a drug for nine different areas of harm that included “the intrinsic harms of the drugs to social and healthcare costs.” After using that approach he came at the same issue with the thought of using multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). This system uses “ninc criteria that relate to the harms that a drug produces in the individual and seven to the harms to others both in the UK and overseas. These harms are clustered into five subgroups representing physical, psychological, and social harms.” The researchers explained that the scores out of 100 that drugs receive must be relative to one another, so the one that receives a score of 40 must be half as dangerous as the one that receives 80. Some of the other categories are drug-specific mortality, drug-related mortality, dependence, drug-specific impairment of mental function, and loss of relationships. The final score that alcohol received was a score of 72 with heroin and crack coming in second and third place with scores of 55 and 54 respectively. A lot of other drugs, such as cocaine and tobacco, received a score near one third that of alcohol’s. Nutt then goes on to describe that any sort of classification would have ranges for the different types of dangerous drugs. Nutt continues to proclaim that “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.”
Overall I thought that this study and this article was very well done and explained its purpose very well. I was more than surprised when I came across that headline, and even more surprised at the nut graph, with what it said beginning the story. But I also have some reservations concerning this article. I wish I knew more about the type of classifications and the train of thought for some of these researchers because from a study I made up 10 out of 10 people would agree that crack and heroin are, if anything, just a little more harmful than alcohol. I guess it’s just been set in my mind that those hardcore drugs just have to be more lethal than alcohol. I mean, come on, alcohol is legal. Those are the reasons why I felt like this article was semi-foolish, but interesting nonetheless.
The biggest reason why I chose this article is because of all the commotion surrounding alcohol, especially in Bronxville. In a recent SFL meeting the main topic of discussion was the consumption of alcohol by students in the school. Of course the students brushed it off. “It’s just alcohol.” Seemed to be the thought of most students in the room, while the teachers showed a legitimate concern. This article made me think that maybe it’s a little bit more dangerous than just one beer.
ScienceDaily 1 November 2010. 2 November 2010
.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101101162138.htm
5 comments:
Jack Deasy
There were a few things that I liked about this presentation. One of them being the information Henry gave us. I liked how that he provided with the three most harmful drugs and what their respective scores where. This was nice because we got to see where most drugs that people think are the most dangerous score compared to alcohol. I also like his last paragraph. The reason is that it really opens your eyes about how most people think alcohol is. When they do this test it shows you how dangerous alcohol can really be. I agree with what he said about how most people just think it only one beer. No one realizes the danger that it can impose on you. Finally I really like how he related it back to our school. He mentioned how it was brought up in a SFL meeting and it was just brushed off by most of the people.
I think this review could have been made better in a few ways. One of them being that he could have given us more information. Even though he mentioned that there was more that he would have liked to have. There must have been more drugs that they did the tests on. Also, I think he could have elaborated on who the tests were done on. All you know is that they were done in the Uk. And nothing else.
I learned a lot about how alcohol is the worst drug. This was very new information for me and very eye opening.
1. One thing that I liked a lot about this article was how he related the topic of alcohol to our every day lives and how it was brought up in SFL. I was at that meeting and I can agree with the opinions that were being passed in that room by both students and teachers with Henry.
2. Another thing that I really liked was how he went into good detail about how these researchers are presenting their data and how they compare one drug to the other. It seems like a solid and accurate system for comparison.
3. Lastly I liked how he went into the doses of the drug and not just claiming that one sip of wine is worse than shooting up heroin.
1. I thought he could go into more detail about what makes alcohol so dangerous. He told us the statistics but not many facts about why it is so lethal.
2. I wish that he touched on professor Nut’s reasoning for his claims and what field research he did to make this conclusion on ranking drugs among drugs.
1. One thing that I learned in this was that how dangerous and lethal alcohol can be. I had no idea that alcohol is such a dangerous drug to consume and ranks so much higher than scary names like crack and heroine. This article made me concerned with what alcohol can do to people.
Henry wrote a very nice article review. I really like the information he provided. It was interesting to see how he described alcohol as being in our everyday lives. It was also great how he described the three most dangerous drugs and how data and information has been presented by researchers and scientists. Henry did a really good job explaining how different amounts of different drugs can be more harmful than others. For instance, one shot of heroine is a lot more dangerous then one sip of alcohol.
I think this review could have been improved by adding slightly more information. For example, comparing other drug tests could have added a lot more to this review. Explaining what makes alcohol so dangerous would have helped me further understand this article as well.
The main thing I learned from this article review was that alcohol is the most dangerous drug. I had no idea that it was the most dangerous. I knew that in large amounts, it can cause health problems and even death but this scares me because it is legal and definitely the most common drug out there.
I liked the review because it was informative, clear, and offered a different opinion on the subject matter. The review listed how the drugs were being classified, and rated. With this information the review goes on to surprise readers by announcing alcohol as the most dangerous drug, though more "hard" drugs would be the most likely suspects. Additionally the review presented the point of view of most readers who would suspect that methamphetamines or cocaine would be more harmful drugs, and presented readers with interesting points to encourage readers to truly asses the dangers of alcohol. Finally, the review made the subject matter familiar by relating it back to Bronxville Highschool, proving that alcohol and its harmful side effects are not uncommon even in the 'burbs.
Though the review was generally well written the use of colloquial diction challenged the author's authenticity. Had the vernacular been more sophisticated it would have had more impact on readers.
Overall, it was surprising to find that alcohol was considered the most dangerous drug though it is legal and available for consumption throughout the entire world. It was also surprising to find that drugs such as tobacco or marijuana were rated less harmful than drinking, yet the later remains illegal.
I really enjoyed Henry’s article because he explained the effects that these drugs would have on your body. Also, he explained gave numbers on the grades that the drugs got on their harmfulness to you, which really helped to understand the article. The last part I found very helpful was how Henry related this to our everyday lives and how our school is handling the effects of the drugs on people.
I felt that he could have explained the effects of each of the drugs to explain why they got the grades they got. Also, Henry could have elaborated and told us who the tests were done on because that would give us a better idea about the real effects.
I learned a lot about the effects alcohol can have on a person seeing that it has a worse effect than cocaine or even heroine, which surprised me because when you hear of drugs you have of drugs such as those which are supposed to be “hardcore,” but when alcohol is rated worse it shows how scary of a drug alcohol really is.
Post a Comment