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What is the most harmful drug?

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eurolite

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I got a little off topic in the lounge so I figured id throw this up in the appropriate forum.

What do you all think the most physically damaging drug is?

Personally from what I have witnessed first hand I would say alcohol.

I know methamphetamine can cause some serious tissue / brain damage but it is not popular in my city so I have not witnessed any of this first hand.

Also I've been told by a pharmacology buddy that PCP physically alters your brain chemistry...

Anyways what do you all think?
 
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I'd say methamphetamine. Not only can it cause neurological damage, but also malnutrition, impaired immune system, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, liver and kidney damage, dental deterioration, and in an overdose, a stroke or heart attack.
 
Sorry, wrong forum.

Drug Studies ---> Drug Culture? (I'm not sure DC mods. Please move if I'm wrong!)

Good question though. Have a look at Professor Nutt's work.

He used research evidence to rank 20 different types of drugs on 3 categories each with 3 subcategories: Physical harm (acute, chronic, intravenous harm), dependence (intensity of pleasure, psychological dependence, physical dependence), and social harm (intoxication, other social harms, health-care costs).

Mean harm scores for 20 substances

1. Heroin
2. Cocaine
3. Barbiturates
4. Methadone
5. Alcohol
6. Ketamine
7. Benzodiazepines
8. Amphetamine
9. Tobacco
10. Buprenorphine
11. Cannabis
12. Solvents
13. 4-MTA
14. LSD
15. Methylphenidrate
16. Anabolic steroids
17. GHB
18. Ecstasy
19. Amyl nitrates
20. Khat

He was recently sacked from the UK Drug Advisory board. His list makes the point that the illegal/legal split has little to do with harm.
 
^ Methamphetamine isn't even on the list? And this guy's a professor?
 
^ remember this was done in the UK where meth isnt as large in the drug scene as it is in other places like the US, Australia, and New Zealand.

I feel like we have a thread for this....time to search around.
 
^ Maybe I should move to the UK, then! That'd be one way to cure my meth addiction. ;)
 
I'm going to asume heroin is #1 because it is responsible for the most deaths in the UK, well probably everywhere. This is due to the fact street Heroin greatly differs in quality causing the uncareful addict to overdose.

All the dangers of heroin do not exist if the proper precautions are taken and if a program such as the needle exchange is setup. There would be no need to share or even reuse the same needle, the needle exchange here even gives out sterile cooking utensils, ties and water.

However unfortunately I have witnessed first hand (the loss of friends) from the proper precautions not being taken due to the fact Heroin changes a lot of peoples thought process... Kills motivation and the part of the brain that will make you want to be careful.

I have also witnessed first hand (myself personally for years) some people with the ability to live a total normal and healthy life being heavily addicted to heroin.

It is also one hell of a physically addictive drug... but to rate it the #1 most dangerous drug I guess I agree for some things but I highly doubt it causes the most physical / mental damage of all drugs. It is a drug not to be taken lightly though so I totally see how he came to rate it #1.

There is a dissociative I remember reading about with a massive % of deaths per use. I can't think of the name but I don't think I see it on his list either. It is fairly rare and I have never seen it around here. I need to go back to sleep but I will try and find the name tomorrow and post more info on it.
 
I think Professor Nutt would have been including methamphetamine in the amphetamine category.

As for heroin being rated #1, this list was compiled using real-world understandings, contexts, data, etc. I bet if the list were constructed in a hypothetical world where all drugs were legal and pure, heroin would not be at the top of the list...
 
Tronica said:
I think Professor Nutt would have been including methamphetamine in the amphetamine category.

As for heroin being rated #1, this list was compiled using real-world understandings, contexts, data, etc. I bet if the list were constructed in a hypothetical world where all drugs were legal and pure, heroin would not be at the top of the list...
Click to expand...

Totally agreed. Even if heroin was simply made legal it would not be nearly as dangerous as it is right now because the government would regulate its quality.

Thizzerfershizzer said:
In a world like that, how do you think the list would change?
Click to expand...

Sorry for a double post, I don't know how to quote two different people in one post? sorry I am a noob

Anyways I think ketamine and PCP would significantly go up the list in a world with pure drugs...

I've been lucky enough to obtain lab grade ketamine ampoules and boil them down to 99-100% pure ketamine it is some damn potent stuff if I did lines of it the same as street grade k I would be in some serious trouble I can only imagine what pure uncut PCP would be like.


Also since cocaine is so terribly cut these days I think people would be having some serious issues with 99-100% pure cocaine and it would climb up the list aswell.
 
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heroin- for amount of deaths/most addicting but pretty safe biologically.

MDMA-worst pyschological problems but not too deadly

METH-worst combination of above 2
 
Thizzerfershizzer said:
In a world like that, how do you think the list would change?
Click to expand...

That would be a whole new research project ;)

Actually, an assignment I did way back in 2001 at university addressed this question. I remember reading some material about how pure heroin administered in standardised environment was a lot safer than many other drugs administered under the same circumstances. Lack of knowledge about purity (and hence, ease of overdose) and dirty equipment play more of a role than the pure chemistry of the drug in harms experienced in the real world, so I read.

Alcohol would be fairly high on such a list. When taken daily over decades, liver cirrhosis is a standard outcome, along with increased risk of numerous cancers...
 
From my own (albeit limited) experience:

IV coke just feels the worst. It is the most psychologically addicting to me and seems to cause the body the most harm, due to repeated shooting (and the chances of missing increase as your hands start shaking more and your veins get fucked up) and the tremendous strain it places on your cardiovascular system). This is followed shortly afterwards by IV meth, which causes incredible damage to your body due to staying up for days on end and not eating properly.

The big two stimulants to me are worse (at least when shooting) then heroin, which granted I did a lot more, but it just feels so much less bad. If I shot as much meth or coke as I did heroin, I don't know what physical/mental state I'd be in right now, but it'd be bad. Stimulants make you paranoid/psychotic when you binge on them too, among other issues.
 
I'd imagine solvents would be very far up in terms of physical harm, followed by meth, I've met heroin addicts who despite their addiction mainitained a relatively healthy lifestyle, likewise with other addicts, exept tweakers, they seem to get very fucked up very quickly.

Solvents and gules are however just ridiculously harmful to every organ in the body,
 
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