Harm Reduction Benzos VS Ritalin (Which is less harmful?)

[Shitake]

About benzodiazepines, everybody knows that this class can gives you alzheimer, dementia, and memory problems. The benzo comedown also can be fatal, the abstinence gives seizures during the low gabanergic levels. The addiction of benzos can be treated for the rest of life.

But how about methylphenidate? I cant find a lot of studies saying that this substance can cause serious damage in long therm use. Looks like the only stimulant with a good security and tolerability. The pleasure isn't high like amphetamines and cocaine, the repeated use makes you feel bad. Soo. I don't think that ritalin have a aggressive damage in the brain compared with alcohol, benzos, heroin, barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines and another substances.

 

[Keif' Richards]

The argument really can't be made. These two things are too different to compare in the way that you're trying here. The way peoples use them, why they use them, who uses them... these are all very difficult variables to try to consider for such a question. For example, take Opioid addiction/dependence. Effectively, the entire world is in the midst of a historically significant Opioid-addiction-epidemic and be mindful, history is filled with instances of Opioid-addiction-epidemics going back to probably before recorded history. With all of this in mind, the fact that Opiates have and still do bring humans to their knees... we really have little to no idea of how to effectively fight against it. This is one, single class of drugs.

We have tried time and again to find a silver bullet in dealing with Opiates. How do we make them safe? How do we use them effectively? Can they EVEN be used effectively? We don't know the answer. We have very little to say of how to "cure" people of their addiction to Opiates. So, all of this knowledge and experience, we don't know.

So, when you throw a question out like, what's better/safer or what have you... Benzodiazepines or Methylphenidate is like asking is Football more dangerous than Hockey? Were the Romans better administrators than the Imperial Chinese? Sure, we can and do have men and women of great intelligence and knowledge to debate these things, but they spend their lives doing so, researching, arguing, debating and learning. We are in essence, a very basic set of resources for people who are looking for very real and practically useful information. What you're asking is a debate that would involve research, researchers and hours and hours of debate and research and we are not that type of organization.

If this is too long/didn't read, you're asking for an "Apples to Oranges Comparison" and this parable is meant to illustrate the futility of comparing such dissimilar things. If you're truly curious, I suggest taking it upon yourself to continue the research that you already are clearly involved in. Perhaps you can come back here and educate us in a couple of weeks?