[Stubbs]

The drug classification system in the UK is not "fit for purpose" and should be scrapped, scientists have said.

Interesting  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6474053.stm

[GCW]

This is old news but worth repeating.
It's been said for years that alcohol and nicotine are 2 of the most addictive (and damaging) drugs around.

[Somebody's Fool]

What do they mean by harm?  I was under the impression that heroin accounted for fewer deaths than methadone.  Although I could be wrong.

With regard to another thread, there's 20 drugs on that graph.  I've ticked eight.

Any more for any more?

[dave]

some people say alcohol is a drug. its not a drug, its a drink.

[Jim]

a poultry 5 for me
Dave- its the drinkable drug of choice

[GCW]

some people say alcohol is a drug. its not a drug, its a drink.

"Last one on drugs is a Queer" yells Portillo."
Dave:   Do you think you'll ever write a spherical song?

[Johnny Brown]

a poultry 5 for me

We're talking drugs here Jim, not chickens. Bwakkk-awcckk!

I see no mention of Ponce-on-the-heath there?

[jfw]

  I've ticked eight.

Any more for any more?

reaching this mighty count with your portillo-esque penchant for poppers perchance?

i too have ticked 8

[dave]

some people say alcohol is a drug. its not a drug, its a drink.

"Last one on drugs is a Queer" yells Portillo."
Dave:   Do you think you'll ever write a spherical song?

maybe, but if i write the words who does the lyrics?

[Somebody's Fool]

On a more serious note, after all drugs are bad news, I think the current classification is a bit of a nonsense. 

Drugs such as cannabis which are a lowly Class C can have the potential to fuck you up a lot more than say ecstasy.  A psychotic episode brought about by THC will generally not be 'alright by Thursday'.

I don't think that criminalising drug use is the way to sort out the problems it causes.  Paul McCartney once said: 'You don't become a criminal until you go to prison.  That's where you learn all the tricks.'  While this may not strictly be the case for the likes of Hindley, Shipman, Huntley et al, I think it rings true for drug use.

Drug laws don't credit users as having any personal responsibility or common sense.  Which is a shame.

That's my two penneth.

[Bonjoy]

The standard 8 for me too, how pedestrian!

[Fiend]

1 (one) 

(And that one I never use as a drug anyway)

[Paz]

Which one on there's chalk, or did you mean Steroids?

[webbo]

Drug laws don't credit users as having any personal responsibility or common sense. 

in my experience most of the habitual users don't.

" I should be a drug worker/counsellor i know all about heroin" "yes you are such an expert that you have to sell your arse etc rob old ladys just to feed your habit"

[Stubbs]

The bog basic three for me, i'm not sure what's more pedestrian than pedestrian....

[Johnny Brown]

Well without classing 'shrooms as acid, I was on a paltry four. However a quick search of the house found me some solvents, a few good sniffs and I feel a lot less conservative now.

[Paz]

Feel like I should try to make everyone else feel better about also not having taken anything beyond the usual three suspects, but I suspect UKB isn't about to go out on a massive bender just sothey can brag about it. 

Anyway, does anyone know what the units are on the y-axis?  Mean harm rating wtf?  Percentage chance of death per hit?  Some kind of measure of a dose-effect (number of grams of dose vs percentage of deaths out of the sample given that dose) graph from toxicity?  And does anyone know what software they've used to come up with really nice looking graphs like that out of raw data?  Just Excel?  In science I was once told just to hand draw a graph using blocks and colourful fills e.g. Microsoft Paint for a talk, just to give people a general gist.  That makes the old school days where they used to put tracing paper over BBC Micro computer Screens seem cutting edge by comparison. 

[Somebody's Fool]

To quote todays Independent:
'All drugs were marked on the physical harm they caused the user, their tendency to cause dependence and their social harm, including their effect on families, communities and society (such as crime and NHS costs).'

Teams of experts, or boffins to those of a tabloid bent, analysed them and found similar results were reached.

[Rice Boy]

Y axis is a funny one. Can't think of a standard by which drugs can be easily/effectively compared other than the ranked scheme the Independent is quoting.

Old lady factoid .... leathal dose of Cocaine ~ 1000mg and Nicotine ~10mg? C'est bizarre.

[GCW]

Old lady factoid .... leathal dose of Cocaine ~ 1000mg and Nicotine ~10mg? C'est bizarre.

What's that on a cost-lethality basis?  1g of Coke vs 10mg nicotine.

But....
Marlboro Reds = 1.0mg/cig (http://www.govtlab.gov.hk/english/pub_tnrpt.htm) = 10 cigs assuming all that is absorbed.  Doesn't sound very probable to me.   

[Paz]

I'm guessing they just gave a survey to their sample of independent of experts with a question on it saying

In your opinion what is the harm of using/ abusing/ experimenting with/ ingesting the following substances where 0=fresh air and 5=Cyanide?

Heroin        0    1    2    3    4    5
Cocaine     0    1    2    3    4    5
.
.
.
etc.

[old cheese]

Should i be proud or disgusted in myself, ive ticked 12!  could have taken some others if i knew what they were. even tried that khat stuff, was shit though.

obviously i am over that painful experimental period of my life. i too am upset at the lack of mushrooms in the table

[Fiend]

Which one on there's chalk, or did you mean Steroids?

Oi, I most definitely do use chalk as a drug.


Mmmmmmm.......chalk......

P.S. Shouldn't caffeine be on there too??

[Johnny Brown]

Crikey Old Cheese, I will see you in a different light now.
Is it to do with livng in Nottingham, the only city in the UK to make it into the top 5 of every league table for crime? (Murder - 1st, Rape - 5th, Burglary - 3rd, Gun Crime - 4th, Assault - 5th) Are they doing these things because, like you, they are whacked up on a mind-bending cocktail of both legal and prohibited narcotics?

[Somebody's Fool]

Are you seriously telling me, Statman John, that Nottingham has more murders than London?