- The study uses a new scale to rank the harmfulness of 20 drugs
- Alcohol is the most harmful overall, according to panelists
- A co-author of the study has said horseback riding is more dangerous than ecstasy
London, England (CNN) -- Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs -- beating out crack and heroin --according to study results released by a British medical journal.
A panel of experts weighed the physical, psychological and socialproblems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the mostharmful overall, according to an article on the study released by TheLancet Sunday.
Using a new scale to evaluate harms to individual users and others, alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100,the study says.
That makes it almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, according to the article, which is slated to bepublished on The Lancet's website Monday and in an upcoming printedition of the journal.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, the study says, whilealcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others.
In the article, the panelists said their findings show that Britain'sthree-tiered drug classification system, which places drugs intodifferent categories that determine criminal penalties for possessionand dealing, has "little relation to the evidence of harm."
Panelists also noted that the rankings confirm other studies that say that"aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary publichealth strategy."
The Lancet article was co-authored by David Nutt, a professor and Britain's former chief drug adviser, who causedcontroversy last year after he published an article saying ecstasy wasnot as dangerous as riding a horse.
"So why are harmful sporting activities allowed, whereas relatively less harmful drugs are not?" Nuttwrote in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. "I believe this reflects asocietal approach which does not adequately balance the relative risksof drugs against their harms."
Nutt later apologized to anyone offended by the article and to those who have lost loved ones toecstasy. He said he had no intention of trivializing the dangers of thedrug and that he only wanted to compare the risks.
In the article released by The Lancet Sunday, ecstasy's harmfulness ranking -- 9 --indicates it is only one eighth as harmful as alcohol.
The study was funded by the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies.
