Alcohol named NZ's most harmful drug by university research paper (www.stuff.co.nz)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by RaoulDuke@lemmy.nz to c/newzealand@lemmy.nz

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The results of a new Otago University study comparing the harm caused by different drugs have been released. Here's the breakdown by drug:

This is the original paper in the Journal of Psychopharmacology: The New Zealand drug harms ranking study: A multi-criteria decision analysis

Other coverage:

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[-] evanuggetpi@lemmy.nz 18 points 2 years ago

The UK did a similar study over a decade ago and the government effectively buried the report because it didn't shore up their war on drugs rhetoric.

[-] frevaljee@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

Yeah it's crazy, they also kicked out the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), David Nutt because he used data to show that the UK ranked the harm of drugs incorrectly, and showed that using MDMA was less harmful than horseback riding.

He was asked to go because he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy.

I guess facts have no place in government policy.

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 15 points 2 years ago

Daily mail: the most harmful drugs, the results will shock you!

Results: alcohol and meth, shocking no one

[-] RaoulDuke@lemmy.nz 10 points 2 years ago

I always regret opening the Daily Mail

[-] Dalinar@lemmy.nz 11 points 2 years ago

Alcohol is extremely harmful and a large amount of the harm for drugs is being caught with the drugs.

Good job.

[-] gardner@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 years ago

"Our study has identified that a significant proportion of drug harm arises from the legal status of the drug, rather from the drug itself. This includes harms to the drug user such as loss of employment and relationships, along with harms to others relating to crime and family adversities.

"This suggests we need to reconsider our policy settings to reduce overall drug harm

[-] Qualanqui@lemmy.fmhy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

I was wondering why cannabis was so high but this makes sense, it's not the ill effects the plant has (which should put it down with nitrous and hallucinogens) but what the state will do to you for possessing the plant that causes the most harm, which is a pretty clear statement that our policy settings are way off.

[-] sortofblue@lemmy.nz 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I love the lady on one news being completely disbelieving. I guess she doesn't like the idea of partaking of something with such a social stigma.

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago

Willful idiots, I suspect

[-] fart@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 years ago

nitrous oxide is fine for you cool

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 7 points 2 years ago

I like the format of this post. Also yeah alcohol is so bad. I've seen and made many mistakes under the influence. I should stop drinking but I like it.

[-] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 years ago

I was in a similar boat. I thought I couldn't stop. But I've quit 5 years ago and it is awesome. There's a stopdrinking community at lemmy.world if you want to chat. Or, /r/stopdrinking is great.