Another Horizon
Feb. 7th, 2008 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zahryn...
After yesterday watching the programme on Isolation from last weeks Horizon, I went back to iplayer today and watched this weeks programme about drugs.
A group of scientists in all different fields have been consulting together and have come up with a list of the top 20 most dangerous drugs. It's not based on social stigma or convention, it's based on the effect on people, how addictive it is, how easy it is to die from, and societal consequence. The British Drugs act was put together 35 years ago and hasn't been revised since then.
I for one was quite surprised. I don't consider myself particularly well educated about drugs, for the most part I have steered well clear of them, even smoking, but the actual science of this list was fascinating, and if nothing else it's given me a lot better information about them.
Perhaps unsurprisingly #1 was Heroin which causes 700 recorded deaths per year, it's not hard to overdose and is massively addictive. #2 was Cocaine, again not a massive surprise with 214 recorded deaths a year.
My first surprise came when (counting backwards from 20) the science bods had put Ecstasy at #18. The danger of Ecstasy lies in dehydration, the body can't process the effects of the drug if it's dehydrated, so the majority of publicised deaths come from E combined with alcohol in a situation where people are dancing and drinking to excess, either the heart can't stand the stimulation, or the body can't handle the processing due to lack of fluid. Ecstasy was originally developed to be used medically, and in medical circumstances has been shown to be perfectly safe and the effects are reversible (usually taking about 6 hours.)
We then have LSD at #14 and Cannabis at #11, both of which are more dangerous than Ecstasy, and again, I got a surprise. Apparently LSD is less harmful than many other drugs, there has been a lot of hype about it, but in terms of it's effects and the fact that it's got low addiction rates it's relatively low on the scale. LSD is being researched for use in the psychological field as a way to break down barriers to communication, allow people to access thoughts and verbalise them sooner. I have heard the news stories and seen the programmes on the dangers of drugs, and I would have put LSD higher up, but apparently (scientifically) I would be wrong.
In my own mind, cannabis is not something that is particularly dangerous, but the scientists were talking about long term use, people think (as I did) that it's "safe" and therefore don't feel the need to regulate their use of it which is exhibiting links with schizophrenia in later life, if you are susceptible to the drug the effects are irreversible.
I've heard people say "cannabis is no more dangerous than tobacco" and after watching this programme, I would have to agree, especially when you consider that tobacco is #9 on the list (more dangerous than cannabis, LSD & ecstasy) Smoking causes over 114,000 deaths per year, smoking kills more people annually than HIV, car crashes, suicide, homicide, alcohol and drugs COMBINED.
I've never smoked, my parents did for a long time, and I'm pretty much on the anti-smoking soapbox. I do still respect peoples rights to do it, as long as they respect my rights to stay away from them. I'm not just talking about social smoking, although medically there is very little difference between the people who have 1 or 2 when they're out once a week, and the people who do it constantly. The thing I hate (and it's very personal) is hair, clothes, breath everything stinking of it, the all-pervading smell that I can pick up on from a mile away.
Smoking has become a socially acceptable form of drug addiction and I know that I have no hope of understanding how difficult it is to give up. I lived in a house for 4 years with a smoker and it was horrible, I could never do it again. Apart from that though is the medical effect, tobacco is massively addictive, it only takes 3-4 cigarettes to develop an addiction that can last a lifetime, it does incredible amounts of damage to the human body. I hate the thought that people I love will have less life because of it.
Alcohol is at #5, more dangerous than LSD, cannabis, tobacco & ecstasy, it's the 'other social drug' and this one I have experience of :o) It's cheap and available, but if alcohol was developed today it would almost certainly be classified Class A. It's a sedative and affects dopamine receptors which gives it addictive qualities. Alcohol is implicated in approximately 40,000 deaths per year and over time can damage your heart, liver and stomach. There are 180,000 alcohol related hospital admissions every year and alcohol accounts for 40% of A&E admissions at a cost to the NHS of £1.7Billion a year.
There has been a lot of flannel in both press and politics about "binge drinking" but it's undeniable, if you drink 2 bottles of wine on a Saturday night, the effects on your pre-frontal cortex are disastrous in a very short space of time. In less than 5 years, tasks which involve planning, deciding, thinking something out are severely affected. A hangover is basically your body and brain trying to process the effects of the alcohol, quite often producing toxic side-effects throughout the next 12 hours. If you drink the same 2 bottles of wine over the course of the week there is not such a large effect and the repair required is less.
So, quite a few surprises there for me, and I'm keeping this as a reference to come back to. My particular vice is alcohol although I don't even do much of that any more, I went through the "getting blitzed on a Saturday" phase, but I seemed to grow out of it faster than my peers, and certainly faster than 'young people' today. (Gods I feel old) People I work with started at 18 and have carried on into their late 20's whereas I was pretty much over it by 21-22. I think I currently drink 2 bottles of beer at the weekend (I usually buy 4 bottles that G and I share) and share a bottle of wine with G as well, I don't know if that's excessive, although it would probably count as binge drinking according to the scientists.
If you're interested in watching the programme, you'll find it Here
And here's the list:
20. Khat (African Salad) 40,000 users in UK
19. Alkyl Nitrite (Poppers) 400,000 users in UK
18. Ecstasy (E) 500,000 users in England & Wales
17. GHB (Liquid Ecstasy) Unknown number of users
16. Anabolic Steroids 42,000 users in UK
15. Methylphenidate (Vitamin R) 40,000 prescription users in UK
14. LSD (Lucy) 80,000 users in UK
13. 4MTA (Flatliner) Unknown number of users
12. Solvents 30,000 users in UK
11. Cannabis (Dope, Hash) 3 Million users in UK
10. Buprenorphine (Subbies) Unknown number of users
9. Tobacco 10 Million users in UK
8. Amphetamine (Speed, Whizz) 430,000 users in UK
7. Benzodiazepine (Valium, Temazepam) 100,000 users in UK
6. Ketamine (Special K) 100,000 users in UK
5. Alcohol 40 Million users in UK
4. Street Methadone (The Precious) 33,000 users in UK
3. Barbiturates (Pink Ladies) Unknown number of users
2. Cocaine (Charlie, Coke) 780,000 users in UK
1. Heroin (Skag, Smack) 300,000 users in UK
After yesterday watching the programme on Isolation from last weeks Horizon, I went back to iplayer today and watched this weeks programme about drugs.
A group of scientists in all different fields have been consulting together and have come up with a list of the top 20 most dangerous drugs. It's not based on social stigma or convention, it's based on the effect on people, how addictive it is, how easy it is to die from, and societal consequence. The British Drugs act was put together 35 years ago and hasn't been revised since then.
I for one was quite surprised. I don't consider myself particularly well educated about drugs, for the most part I have steered well clear of them, even smoking, but the actual science of this list was fascinating, and if nothing else it's given me a lot better information about them.
Perhaps unsurprisingly #1 was Heroin which causes 700 recorded deaths per year, it's not hard to overdose and is massively addictive. #2 was Cocaine, again not a massive surprise with 214 recorded deaths a year.
My first surprise came when (counting backwards from 20) the science bods had put Ecstasy at #18. The danger of Ecstasy lies in dehydration, the body can't process the effects of the drug if it's dehydrated, so the majority of publicised deaths come from E combined with alcohol in a situation where people are dancing and drinking to excess, either the heart can't stand the stimulation, or the body can't handle the processing due to lack of fluid. Ecstasy was originally developed to be used medically, and in medical circumstances has been shown to be perfectly safe and the effects are reversible (usually taking about 6 hours.)
We then have LSD at #14 and Cannabis at #11, both of which are more dangerous than Ecstasy, and again, I got a surprise. Apparently LSD is less harmful than many other drugs, there has been a lot of hype about it, but in terms of it's effects and the fact that it's got low addiction rates it's relatively low on the scale. LSD is being researched for use in the psychological field as a way to break down barriers to communication, allow people to access thoughts and verbalise them sooner. I have heard the news stories and seen the programmes on the dangers of drugs, and I would have put LSD higher up, but apparently (scientifically) I would be wrong.
In my own mind, cannabis is not something that is particularly dangerous, but the scientists were talking about long term use, people think (as I did) that it's "safe" and therefore don't feel the need to regulate their use of it which is exhibiting links with schizophrenia in later life, if you are susceptible to the drug the effects are irreversible.
I've heard people say "cannabis is no more dangerous than tobacco" and after watching this programme, I would have to agree, especially when you consider that tobacco is #9 on the list (more dangerous than cannabis, LSD & ecstasy) Smoking causes over 114,000 deaths per year, smoking kills more people annually than HIV, car crashes, suicide, homicide, alcohol and drugs COMBINED.
I've never smoked, my parents did for a long time, and I'm pretty much on the anti-smoking soapbox. I do still respect peoples rights to do it, as long as they respect my rights to stay away from them. I'm not just talking about social smoking, although medically there is very little difference between the people who have 1 or 2 when they're out once a week, and the people who do it constantly. The thing I hate (and it's very personal) is hair, clothes, breath everything stinking of it, the all-pervading smell that I can pick up on from a mile away.
Smoking has become a socially acceptable form of drug addiction and I know that I have no hope of understanding how difficult it is to give up. I lived in a house for 4 years with a smoker and it was horrible, I could never do it again. Apart from that though is the medical effect, tobacco is massively addictive, it only takes 3-4 cigarettes to develop an addiction that can last a lifetime, it does incredible amounts of damage to the human body. I hate the thought that people I love will have less life because of it.
Alcohol is at #5, more dangerous than LSD, cannabis, tobacco & ecstasy, it's the 'other social drug' and this one I have experience of :o) It's cheap and available, but if alcohol was developed today it would almost certainly be classified Class A. It's a sedative and affects dopamine receptors which gives it addictive qualities. Alcohol is implicated in approximately 40,000 deaths per year and over time can damage your heart, liver and stomach. There are 180,000 alcohol related hospital admissions every year and alcohol accounts for 40% of A&E admissions at a cost to the NHS of £1.7Billion a year.
There has been a lot of flannel in both press and politics about "binge drinking" but it's undeniable, if you drink 2 bottles of wine on a Saturday night, the effects on your pre-frontal cortex are disastrous in a very short space of time. In less than 5 years, tasks which involve planning, deciding, thinking something out are severely affected. A hangover is basically your body and brain trying to process the effects of the alcohol, quite often producing toxic side-effects throughout the next 12 hours. If you drink the same 2 bottles of wine over the course of the week there is not such a large effect and the repair required is less.
So, quite a few surprises there for me, and I'm keeping this as a reference to come back to. My particular vice is alcohol although I don't even do much of that any more, I went through the "getting blitzed on a Saturday" phase, but I seemed to grow out of it faster than my peers, and certainly faster than 'young people' today. (Gods I feel old) People I work with started at 18 and have carried on into their late 20's whereas I was pretty much over it by 21-22. I think I currently drink 2 bottles of beer at the weekend (I usually buy 4 bottles that G and I share) and share a bottle of wine with G as well, I don't know if that's excessive, although it would probably count as binge drinking according to the scientists.
If you're interested in watching the programme, you'll find it Here
And here's the list:
20. Khat (African Salad) 40,000 users in UK
19. Alkyl Nitrite (Poppers) 400,000 users in UK
18. Ecstasy (E) 500,000 users in England & Wales
17. GHB (Liquid Ecstasy) Unknown number of users
16. Anabolic Steroids 42,000 users in UK
15. Methylphenidate (Vitamin R) 40,000 prescription users in UK
14. LSD (Lucy) 80,000 users in UK
13. 4MTA (Flatliner) Unknown number of users
12. Solvents 30,000 users in UK
11. Cannabis (Dope, Hash) 3 Million users in UK
10. Buprenorphine (Subbies) Unknown number of users
9. Tobacco 10 Million users in UK
8. Amphetamine (Speed, Whizz) 430,000 users in UK
7. Benzodiazepine (Valium, Temazepam) 100,000 users in UK
6. Ketamine (Special K) 100,000 users in UK
5. Alcohol 40 Million users in UK
4. Street Methadone (The Precious) 33,000 users in UK
3. Barbiturates (Pink Ladies) Unknown number of users
2. Cocaine (Charlie, Coke) 780,000 users in UK
1. Heroin (Skag, Smack) 300,000 users in UK
