Home » Pharmaceutical Articles » Study Says Alcohol, More Than Other Drugs, Poses Biggest Risk to Society
Study Says Alcohol, More Than Other Drugs, Poses Biggest Risk to Society
A British Medical Journal today published the results of a study of harmful drugs and ranked alcohol on top, ahead of 19 others including heroin and crack cocaine.
November 01, 2010 /Pharmaceutical PR News/ -- A British Medical Journal today published the results of a study of harmful drugs and ranked alcohol on top, ahead of 19 others including heroin and crack cocaine.
The study was conducted by a panel of experts and weighed the physical, psychological and social problems created by drugs. Their results appeared in The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical research publications.
The study scored alcohol at 72 on a 1-to-100 scale, indicating it was three times more harmful than cocaine or tobacco.
The study's panelists said their results are in line with other research that argues that "aggressively targeting alcohol is a valid and necessary public health strategy."
Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, immediately took issue with the study's findings.
She called the results "irrational" and said, "The vast majority of people know it's just not rational to say that enjoying a social beer with friends in the pub or glass of wine over dinner has the moral or societal equivalence of injecting heroin or smoking a crack pipe.
"Alcohol misuse amongst a minority is an issue that the industry is working with government to address. This deliberately sensationalist, headline-grabbing language risks distorting debate and alienates sensible people from discussing the sort of balanced and proportionate actions that do need to be taken."
David Nutt, Britain's former chief drug adviser and co-author of the Lancet article, last year stirred controversy after he published an article saying ecstasy was not as dangerous as riding a horse.
The London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies sponsored the latest study.
For more beverage news, visit Beverage Industry Today (http://beverages.einnews.com), a beverage media monitoring service from EIN News.
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