The 20 Most Dangerous Drugs - Response

I watched this documentary titled the 20 Most Dangerous Drugs. It's a BBC produced documentary so obviously has its own agenda and I found it a bit contradictory at times as well as being very rushed. It claims to dispel conventional thinking and base its finding directly on science.



What I did find most interesting, however, is the differing views of professionals. The list follows three criteria, the harm the drug does to the individual, how addictive the drug is and finally the impact on society. The link is here if you want to check it out for yourselves. If you can't be bothered sitting through the 49 minutes of it the count down is, as follows. It's quite surprising.


20. Khat
19. Alkyl Nitrite (Poppers)
18. Ecstasy
17. GHB (Liquid Ecstasy)
16. Anabolic Steroids
15. Methylphenidate
14. LSD
13. 4MTA
12. Solvents
11. Cannabis
10. Buprenorphine
9. Tobacco
8. Amphetamine
7. Benzodiazapines (Valleum etc)
6. Ketamine
5. Alcohol
4. Methadone
3. Barbiturates
2. Cocaine
1. Heroin

I can agree completely that heroin and cocaine are very damaging drugs but I don't think that they followed their own guidelines as thoroughly as they say. Alcohol is a very contentious inclusion at number 5 but if it were my list, I probably would have put it higher. While I admit that the additivity of heroin and cocaine are through the roof the actual harm on the body is negligible, unless overdosing. Heroin addicts are more likely to die when they begin to surrender more and more life necessities such as shelter and warmth in order to pay for their habit. The impacts on society inflicted by heroin or cocaine are nothing compared to alcohol. You might see a group of smack heads sat in a park but in comparison to the amount of pissed-up people wandering round town or the amount of money spent on anti-social behaviour, repairing damage or hospital costs caused by drunk people, the effects of alcohol on society vastly outweighs all of the other drugs on the list put together.



However, I do feel alcohol is given a bit of a tough break in the number of deaths it is attributed to. While ecstasy, sitting at number 18 is only attributed to 2 deaths a year, alcohol is apparently involved in 40,000 RELATED deaths. This doesn't mean that drinking too much alcohol kills a person (although it can), it means that when you're pissed you're more likely to step out in front of a bus or fall into a canal and drown. I think this is a little unfair as the results of related deaths due to cannabis or ecstasy aren't included and I feel you're still likely to be hit by a car when under the influence of these drugs as you are if you drank too much alcohol. The ecstasy death toll doesn't include the amount of people who die when dehydrating themselves or conversely, drink too much water and drown their own brain.

There are a few other wild cards thrown into this list. Cannabis and solvents are separated by only one place. Solvent users are around 30,000 and are responsible for 50-60 deaths per year, while cannabis users are up to around 3 million with only 1 death per year. When even first-time solvent users can die you would have thought it would be further up the list. Interesting, the same doctor who pretty much states on record that there are NO negative effects from ecstasy would probably put cannabis further up the list if she could. We all know that there are risks involved with cannabis such as developed schizophrenia and long term brain effects but this is still very theoretical. LSD is only at number 14 and fails to take into account bad trips or flashbacks.



Anabolic steroids are another tricky one. How many fights every weekend involve juiced-up, angry pricks looking to kick off? It's well known they can cause little dick syndrome (not the medical name) in men as well as having terrible consequences for the heart or liver. With the user desperate to maintain their image they begin to use steroids more and more, becoming psychologically addicted. This checks all three criteria so why is this so far down the list? Similarly tobacco. Incredibly addictive, can cause cancer and with the threat of passive smoking it effects members of society. Why does this only reach number 9 on the list?

As this documentary points out, this list will almost certainly be challenged and you might want to challenge what I've said. The problem is, for example, if you have a family member or close friend who has committed suicide and at the time smoked, what you considered, 'too much' marijuana then obviously you'll have you're own view on the subject and that's fair enough. I'm in a lucky situation where I feel I can make an unbiased view. I'm not defending any certain drug and deliberately didn't try and make my own table. First off, I'm no expert, I've not even heard of some of the drugs on this list nor do I think I could make a fair tally. I just question whether the scientists that made this documentary really considered the three criteria they set at the beginning.