Danger of drugs.

[Bolshevik]

I'm sure this has been discussed countless times before. Basically I'm wanting to know what the risk of harm is on certain drugs. For instance, I hear horror cases of heart-attacks, overheating and dehydration on MDMA, but is it actually that likely to happen?

Does anyone have links to specific studies on the most/least dangerous drugs? For instance, this:

I'm looking to find as many as I can to make cross-references and see if they back up each others claims. To me the idea that Cannabis is more dangerous that MDMA and LSD is preposterous, but I'm new to this so I have no idea, other than what the media has told me.

 

[Deadhead420]

Yea that Cannabis placement is bullshit. They're trying to say it's worse than benzos that makes people black out, get in car wrecks, and shoplift. And worse than fucking Mephedrone? I remember reading horror stories about that drug. It's basically just a dirty RC version of meth if I remember right and people were overdosing and getting sick as hell on it.

Also it's amphetamine, not "amfetamine". Where did you dig up this trash?

 

[Bolshevik]

Yea that Cannabis placement is bullshit. They're trying to say it's worse than benzos that makes people black out, get in car wrecks, and shoplift. And worse than fucking Mephedrone? I remember reading horror stories about that drug. It's basically just a dirty RC version of meth if I remember right and people were overdosing and getting sick as hell on it.

Also it's amphetamine, not "amfetamine". Where did you dig up this trash?

Hmm well that us interesting. The Lancet medical journal.

 

[i against i]

Yea that Cannabis placement is bullshit. They're trying to say it's worse than benzos that makes people black out, get in car wrecks, and shoplift. And worse than fucking Mephedrone? I remember reading horror stories about that drug. It's basically just a dirty RC version of meth if I remember right and people were overdosing and getting sick as hell on it.

Also it's amphetamine, not "amfetamine". Where did you dig up this trash?

they aren't "trying" to do anything, besides represent drug harms in an objective way, based on facts rather than vague "horror stories". amfetamine is a common spelling in medical journals, because it is the offical international generic name of it. as opposed to the US way.

OP i'm not going to find a load, but there are quite a few written by david nutt (former head of UK drug policy thinktank, resigned because government wouldn't listen to him) such as this:

http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus1714/Estimating_drug_harms.pdf

and this:

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000774.full.pdf+html

and this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R..._(mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence).svg

but i don't know exactly what paper that was from.

 

[Deadhead420]

they aren't "trying" to do anything, besides represent drug harms in an objective way, based on facts rather than vague "horror stories". amfetamine is a common spelling in medical journals, because it is the offical international generic name of it. as opposed to the US way.

OP i'm not going to find a load, but there are quite a few written by david nutt (former head of UK drug policy thinktank, resigned because government wouldn't listen to him) such as this:

http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus1714/Estimating_drug_harms.pdf

and this:

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000774.full.pdf+html

and this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R..._(mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence).svg

but i don't know exactly what paper that was from.

There's nothing objective about saying weed is worse than Ketamine or huffing Butane (wtf)

 

[T. Calderone]

I agree that alcohol causes more deaths than any of these substances. But the cannabis part seems a bit skewed.

 

[i against i]

There's nothing objective about saying weed is worse than Ketamine or huffing Butane (wtf)

that's because this graph is taken out of the context of the paper it was in. it's not saying "drug a is worse than drug b" it is comparing and weighting the harms to society, user and environment, and probably weighted for how prevalent that specific drug is in that society, as not many people sniff solvents, it's not weighted as highly.

if you actually look at the graph in detail and not just skim over it, you will see that butane has a high "drug specific mortality" and cannabis has none. it also has a high "drug specific mental impairment" whereas cannabis has low.

if you're looking for a simple graph that says drug a is more dangerous than drug b, you simply won't get it, because life isn't black and white.

 

[i against i]

I agree that alcohol causes more deaths than any of these substances. But the cannabis part seems a bit skewed.

who are you agreeing with? that graph, and no one in this thread has said anything about alcohol causing more deaths. although it probably does.

 

[Cornishman]

What part about cannabis seems skewed?

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

The Lancet knows more than most publications how safe weed is. I can't remember the specific study but it essentially labeled weed as very benign. They've also campaigned for legalization. Don't hate just because weed isn't the holy grail we want it to be.

That said I can't think of why/how butane is where it is

 

[Jktm]

On mortality rates, one has to think about the fact that when people die from drug overdoses, normally they don't OD because of one specific drug, but a combination of drugs...When I was taken into the ER for OD, I had smoked weed that day..........

hence why drug RELATED mortalities is part of the graph and not just drug SPECIFIC mortalities...

 

[Renz Envy]

Honestly GHB's specific mortality looks way off.

So do Heroin and Alcohol's combination mortality rates.

 

[Jktm]

You've got to think about the number of users vs. the number of individuals that die while on them...

 

[kokaino]

That graph is the most ridiculous one I've seen yet and I've seen a lot. It's completely wrong and has no value for any of us. Cannabis is more addictive than GHB, methadone and even benzos? WOW! Ketamine is more addictive than methadone? Shit, I got a lot to learn lmao!

This is a complete and utter joke.