Alcohol More Harmful to Health than Crack Cocaine or Heroin

A new study claims that alcohol is more harmful to health than crack cocaine or heroin. The takeaway from this is not how harmful alcohol is when it's abused. That isn't news. It's how misguided the "War on Drugs" is.

Scientists from Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) recently released a study that assessed which drugs cause the most overall harm to both users and society. According to their analysis, alcohol is the most harmful drug, scoring higher on the list than both crack cocaine and heroin.

Published in the journal Lancet, the study used a system called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to assess damage caused by various drugs. Nine of the criteria evaluated specific harm inflicted on users of the drug, while seven criteria looked at the harm caused to others. Upon investigation, alcohol scored nearly three times more harmful than cocaine and eight times more harmful than ecstasy. Read more

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Posted in: alcohol,crack cocaine,heroin

Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers, Study Finds

In another blow to the convention wisdom, a new study has found that heavy drinkers outlive lnondrinkers.

One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers. Read more

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Posted in: alcohol,longevity

Marijuana Is Far Safer Than Alcohol

Marijuana is far safer than alcohol, so why are the feds prohibiting it and driving people to drink?

For 35 years the federal government has been well aware – yet publicly denied – that cannabis possesses potent anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. Even under the Obama administration, which promised to "base [their] public policies on the soundest of science," the myth that pot promotes cancer persists. In fact, the White House’s website, whitehousedrugpolicy.gov, presently warns, "Marijuana has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract."

Or not.

In a clinical abstract published online on journal of Cancer Prevention Research website in July, a team of U.S. investigators reported – with absolutely no mainstream media fanfare – that lifetime marijuana use is associated with a "significantly reduced risk" of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Read more

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Posted in: alcohol,drug prohibition,marijuana