Quantifying Addictive Potential

[rorick the hammer]

Well, the search engine didn't yield anything for me. I am curious if there is a common method in place for quantifying relative addictive potentials of various drugs? Yes, it is fairly subjective, but surely there must be some relative method in place to accomplish this? For example, giving strong opiates a high number (let's say for example: 50), then saying that alcohol, which is clearly less addictive but still has some addictive potential a lower number (let's say for example: 15). Does a system like this exist? Any information would be nice!
rorick diddy

 

[PhreeX]

Not that I know of, because as you said yourself - there are a lot of varriables involved... for instance, if it's a 0-to-50 thing, I would have to put KETAMINE at about a 45, METHAMPHETAMINE at a 35, and HEROIN would only pull about a 25 ..
I like the idea though - so, lts hear YOUR lists... and yes, feel free to include psychedelics, even though this isn't the Psychedelics forum, it's on-topic enough to allow...
Also, threse must be drugs you HAVE TRIED on multiple occasions... if you snorted an OxyContin once then you can't really tell us how addictive the drug is - in fact, unless you have been addicited this isn't going to be accurate, but it should serve to paint a picture none-the-less...
Ok, lets rock and roll!

 

[Hellfiregurl]

Heres my personal list of how addictive drugs could be for me. ill go ahead and continue the 0-50 then.
40-heroin
25-coke
20-benzos(more binge potential really)
15-pot
10-ecstacy(i had a short term problem a while back
I don't really have a potential for any others really...I guess I found my niche and decided I only need one temptation to contend with Lol. I have strong willpower I guess. No drug compares to smack for me, but I have definetly calmed down about it thankfully

 

[annoynimous]

for me, ive done just about as much coke as heroin and found no problem with coke but horrible addiction with heroin... this would be mine
50-heroin
45-nicotine
40-mdma (i would fiend so fucking bad mentally,glad i dont use it anymore)
25-coke
10-thc
5-shrooms,acid.

 

[TDogge]

For me, this is fairly straightforward. But first, a few complications.
If every MDMA experience was like the first one, I would say that MDMA is the most addictive by far. This is, of course, not the case. I've used the drug thirty-some times in the last two years, and once in the last eight months. I think that MDMA is the only drug whose addictive potential actually decreases with use.
Another thing to consider is the method by which the drug is consumed. The amount of time between consumption and onset (latency) is directly related to the addictiveness of a drug. Nicotine is not a terribly addictive drug, but cigarretes cut the latency to 5-10 seconds so that a smoker can satisfy an urge immediately. From a physiological perspective, I think that the amount of meso-limbic dopamine released by a non-dopamine specific drug (e.g., nicotine, heroin) is negatively correlated with the drug's latency of onset.
Alas, a drug is a drug.
40-oxycontin (snorted)
30-amphetamine (snorted)
25-oxycodone (oral)
20-hydrocodone (oral)
20-amphetamine (oral)
20-BDO (oral)
18-benzos (oral)
15-alcohol (i.v.)
5-45-MDMA (oral)
5-psychedelics
0-marijuana (smoked...actually it doesn't matter. I can't stand the shit period.)
This is, of course, my opinion. And no, I've never i.v.ed alcohol.

 

[purkinje]

just a factual tidbit regarding addiction potentials....
nicotine is more physiolgocially addictive than heroin..but this means nothing, because psychologically the scale is off the charts( at least for most people)...and cocaine physiologically is not addictive in the sense that if u stop, u dont get physiological withdrawl symptoms...however once again the psychological factors can screw u....

 

[meister]

Isnt there a Morphine-Benzadrine addictive scale?

 

[ketamatic]

Never acquired any physical addictions, so in terms of psychological addiction, here is my list:
50 - Butanediol
45 - Oxycodone, hydrocodone
43 - Morphine
40 - (Meth)amphetamines
35 - Marijuana
30 - MDMA
25 - Benzos
20 - Other psychedelics
15 - Tobacco
12 - Cocaine
10 - Alcohol
5 - Codeine

 

[AbraMontague]

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/tables/195tb1.htm
TABLE 195-1. POTENTIAL FOR DEPENDENCE WITH COMMONLY USED DRUGS
I'm sure some people will disagree with the markings for drug a or drug b, but its still more accurate than most of the above posts. (Did I see alcohol (IV) on someone's list? if you have never done it, how in the hell could you even rank it? its like virgins talking about their favorite sexual position)
This table obviously isn't the gold standard for every drug user because, as PhreeX pointed out, there are many other factors involved. For instance, lots of people would never get "addicted" to psychedelics (me, at least). And in general, girls seem to have more of a problem with cocaine than guys do. Patterns of use are important too; you don't do smack once and suddenly have a huge tolerance, terrible withdrawls, and severe cravings.

 

[fairnymph]

TDogge -- Actually, nicotine IS quite addictive...in fact I believe it is one of the most addictive chemicals known to man.
I don't really have an addictive personality, but I'll give the list a go...
50-nicotine
35-caffeine
30-opiates (codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone)
20-alcohol
15-ketamine, GHB, 1,4 butanediol, GBL
10-meth,amphetamine
5-cocaine, benzos
0- MDMA, hallucinogens

 

[fraxflame]

no one can claim to know the upper threshold of addictivity. therefore I can put nicotine at only 40.
smokes - 40
GHB - 35
Methamphetamine - 25
Alcohol - 20
these are the only drugs I've ever been truly addicted to.

 

[DigitalTweak]

Heroin: 45 (snorted)
50 (injected)
K: 43
Amphetamines: 37
--meth: 40
Cocaine: 25
--crack: 35
Benzos: 20
thc: 13
Dxm powder: 15
lsd, shrooms: 5
E: 28

 

[Ketamike]

Sorry.. I've only been addicted to two substances, nicotine (or actually the ritual of smoking) and opiates
Opiates-50
The act of smoking cigarettes-20
If I can't have a cigarette I don't withdraw. Sure, I'll bitch a lil, but nothing compared to the agony of an opiate withdrawal. But if OxyContin was available at QuikCheck, then I guess I wouldn't have this problem.
About nicotine... some days (especially when hungover), I won't want a single smoke. While watching some bullshit anti-smoking propaganda film in my Health Psych class. They mentioned that people addicted to nicotine must have a cig as soon as they wake up, to maintain the level of said drug in their blood stream. This isn't the case for me. Some days I'll go 5-6 hours of wakefulness before I light one up. Some times I smoke just cuz I'm bored.

 

[SovietContin]

I personally think trying to make a scale of quantified addictive potentials for drugs is one of the most absolutely pointless things ever.
I've found that addictive patterns vary too greatly from person to person. I've seen marijuana addicts more hooked on pot than some of the worst junkies hooked on heroin that I've encountered and things like that. I used ketamine daily for months on end because there was always several grams sitting around my room, but as soon as I stopped dealing it years ago I never had the desire to touch it again, but I see people here giving it more than a 0. I've never been impressed enough with even the best of cocaine to go make a regular habit out of it, but I've watched my friends completely destroy themselves with coke obtaining the same stuff I was using from the same sources.
In short, the psychological aspects of addiction are larger factors than the drugs themselves in someone becoming addicted to drugs or a drug. Another consideration is that a lot of people go through phases with drugs. Someone might use cocaine heavily one year then just abruptly stop using it and either go clean or find some other drug of choice. And prices, availability and whether or not you can use a drug on a daily basis and function as you could on meth as oppossed to something like MDMA which you can't preform your daily task on are also huge factors. So much so that even if you took over a thousand ratings based on personal opinion about the addictive qualities of drugs and averaged them, I believe you'd still have so many individuals claiming exceptions that the scale would be completely worthless.
I even tried creating my own scale after writing the above just to see how it compared to other peoples scales. But I just couldn't come up with anything logical or consistent. A few years ago I probably could have, as at one point in my life my primary concern was being intoxicated and I actively pursued getting high on something every day, although I definantly had my preferences. But I've since quit using virtually all forms of drugs except a select few including opiates and then cocaine and marijuana once every few months.

 

[PhreeX]

Alright, enough with this, check the link...