The Brown government is in danger of losing all its scientific advisers in a fascinating moment in which truth meets political and social prejudice. David Nutt, one of the government's chief advisers, was fired, in part, for the graph above which tries to assess the relative dangers of various drugs. Nutt assessed them on three variables:
a) the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug; b) the tendency of the drug to induce dependence; c) the effect of drug use on families, communities and society. Within each category there are three components, leading to a nine-category matrix of harm, with scores of zero to three for each category. This is the final list based on that classification. In brackets is the classification given under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with Class A attracting the most serious penalties.
The Brits classify drug penalties according to the tree types A, B, and C. It's hard to read, so here are the drugs in order of harm, according to scientific studies, revealing how some drugs are categorized according to social attitudes rather than reality:
1. Heroin (Class A)
2. Cocaine (Class A)
3. Barbiturates (Class B)
4. Street methadone (Class A)
5. Alcohol (Not controlled)
6. Ketamine (Class C)
7. Benzodiazepine (Class B)
8. Amphetamine (Class B)
9. Tobacco (No class)
10. Bupranorphine (Class C)
11. Cannabis (Class B)