Alcohol and Tobacco Worse Than Drugs

Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs
By MARIA CHENG
The Associated Press
Friday, March 23, 2007; 3:41 AM

LONDON — New “landmark” research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study.

In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain’s Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.

Nutt and colleagues used three factors to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug’s potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. The researchers asked two groups of experts psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise to assign scores to 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines, and LSD.

Nutt and his colleagues then calculated the drugs’ overall rankings. In the end, the experts agreed with each other but not with the existing British classification of dangerous substances.

Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

According to existing British and U.S. drug policy, alcohol and tobacco are legal, while cannabis and Ecstasy are both illegal. Previous reports, including a study from a parliamentary committee last year, have questioned the scientific rationale for Britain’s drug classification system.

“The current drug system is ill thought-out and arbitrary,” said Nutt, referring to the United Kingdom’s practice of assigning drugs to three distinct divisions, ostensibly based on the drugs’ potential for harm. “The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary,” write Nutt and his colleagues in The Lancet.

Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.

Nutt hopes that the research will provoke debate within the UK and beyond about how drugs including socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol should be regulated. While different countries use different markers to classify dangerous drugs, none use a system like the one proposed by Nutt’s study, which he hopes could serve as a framework for international authorities.

“This is a landmark paper,” said Dr. Leslie Iversen, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University. Iversen was not connected to the research. “It is the first real step towards an evidence-based classification of drugs.” He added that based on the paper’s results, alcohol and tobacco could not reasonably be excluded.

“The rankings also suggest the need for better regulation of the more harmful drugs that are currently legal, i.e. tobacco and alcohol,” wrote Wayne Hall, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, in an accompanying Lancet commentary. Hall was not involved with Nutt’s paper.

While experts agreed that criminalizing alcohol and tobacco would be challenging, they said that governments should review the penalties imposed for drug abuse and try to make them more reflective of the actual risks and damages involved.

Nutt called for more education so that people were aware of the risks of various drugs. “All drugs are dangerous,” he said. “Even the ones people know and love and use every day.”

————————–

This article was sent to me by my Dad and it is extremely interesting and thought provoking. I doubt that it will change much in our society because social drinking is so much a part of big business and socializing. However, smoking has seemed to lose it’s appeal, so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. (No comments on Professor Nutt’s ironic name!)

Read More

For Uncle Jed and Cousin Scott

Hannah is flossing! She emptied the whole container to do it, but she loves to floss her teeth. This isn’t the first time she has done this, but it is the first time she looked this cute when she did. I thought you two dentists would appreciate this picture the most.

 

 

Read More

But That’s Not Fun!

Recently it has come to my attention that our older children have little concept of what it means to work. On Saturday, they were asking what fun thing we would do that day, and when I answered that today we were catching up on work around the house- I was met with moans and whines, “but Mom, Saturday is supposed to be a fun family day!” How did this happen? How is it that my children are expecting to be entertained all of the time, and have to be lectured and prodded and bribed every time there is work to be done? I suppose a certain amount of that is typical, and don’t get me wrong, they are good kids, but I had reached a point of serious frustration. How are these kids going to grow up and make their own way in the world? Isn’t that one of my principle jobs as a parent? I tried to explain that my job is to teach them how to work so they can grow up and live on their own. To which I get the answer: “you’re mean.”

Shortly after this conversation with the kids I went and vented to my sweet husband. He told me he would take care of things and I went to take a shower. As I was gathering my things I heard him sit the kids down and start logically explaining why it’s important to help out and that today would be a work day. He was about twenty seconds in when one child, who shall remain nameless, interrupted and said with a sigh, “Is your speech over yet?” Well, that was the end of nice, logical Daddy, and I had to laugh because he was taking over so I wouldn’t lose my temper. I heard in a very loud voice, “Your day is over!” followed by tears from all of the kids. And then it really became a workday. They did one job after another all day long until dinner time.

I tried to start a chore chart and it hasn’t gone well. After school there just isn’t much time after homework and classes to do much else. I feel a little guilty too because I want them to have some free time to just play. I have found myself being more of a nag than before, and the kids are still resisting. Please, if you have any ideas for chore solutions tell me! I want them to have regular responsibilities and feel that they not only contribute, but are a necessary part of the family.

Read More

Favorite Shopping Spots

Kohl’s: They always have something on sale, and it’s so fun to find a great deal on their clearance racks.

Trader Joes: An upscale feeling grocery store that offers lots of unique foods and many organic choices. I hate grocery shopping, but it’s actually fun to go here- if only for the atmosphere. Their prices are surprisingly similar to the local grocery store too.

Target: Ours isn’t a supercenter, but they have a small grocery section so I can get some of the staples there and not have to stop someplace else. I love that I can find all of the basics here and they are usually clean and tidy.

World Market: So many fun and exotic things at this store. A great place to find decorative features for the house or a fun and interesting gift. I’ve noticed that Santa finds lots of fun trinkets here for Christmas stockings.

Home Goods/TJ Maxx: TJ Maxx is a great place to find reduced prices on name brand things like clothing and toys. I bring the kids here a lot to pick birthday gifts for their friends. They also have a lot of housewares too. Some stores are pretty ghetto and sometimes you have to dig through the piles to find a deal, but every once in a while there is a great steal. Home Goods is the housewares version of TJ Maxx. They have more big things like furniture. I used to love to go here in NC, and want to check out the one here, but haven’t had a chance yet.

Mervyns: They have super great clearance sales for the kids clothes. I go there and stock up at the big sales.

Joann’s: I have seen all sizes of these stores and the small ones don’t have much variety, but if you find a larger one it can be a crafter’s heaven. Anything you can think of sewing or crafting or framing, you will find it here.

IKEA: The BEST place to find inexpensive things for your home. They are all very affordable, and your home can look like you hired a decorator because things are designed to go together. The only downside is you have to assemble all of the furniture yourself, but it usually isn’t too difficult.

There are always other places I like to go, but these are the top of the list for now. I try to avoid malls because the prices are usually higher, and they are too spread out to trail the kids along. That’s why I haven’t mentioned any of those type of stores here. What are your hot spots?

Read More

My History With Photography

I went to a photography studio lighting class about a week ago. It was the first time I have taken any photography classes since my University days, and I thought I would use the local community class to learn some new things. As many of you already know, I worked as a darkroom technician in high school at the local newspaper. My job was developing film, printing halftones (the process of printing photos made up of tiny little dots for printing in the paper) and printing photos that the community members would buy if there was a picture in the paper they wanted for themselves.

I became very familiar with the solitary life of a photographer, spending my time in the complete darkness opening film canisters and winding film onto little metal reels and then loading several reels into a metal container with a heavy plastic lid. I could then turn on the lights and add the developing chemicals and stand and shake the container periodically as I watched the clock. Once the film was finished I would rinse it thoroughly and hang it to dry. I would then use the enlarging machine to make contact sheets from the negatives for the photographer, which they would use to pick the photos they wanted to use in the paper that week. (I already feel like a bit of a dinosaur because now with digital cameras, printing is done so much more efficiently. I’m barely into my thirties and already saying, “back in my day…”)

Once the photos were chosen I would print the photos on an enlarger using a special screen to create the little dots that made up the picture. I would then inspect the picture to make sure that none of the dots were too big or too little, too close together or too far apart. If they were, I would go back and use the dodge and burn technique to increase or decrease the amount of light hitting the paper until I would get it right and send it off for use by the printer. This is how I became interested in photography and decided to major in it at school.

I applied to the photography department and was accepted. I only made it through the first year though, before deciding that it wasn’t for me. Partly because I felt very out of place among the others in my classes. There is a certain amount of arrogance among the creative types, and a greater amount of competition. All of our projects were critiqued by the class, and having really no training in taking photos, I was just plain overwhelmed. I changed my major and decided that it would make a better hobby.

I have still kept an interest in photography, and although I also worked as a photographer’s assistant, I mostly did weddings which are a completely different genre than studio work. So this is why I signed up for the class last week. I went there expecting a bunch of novices and found myself feeling just as I did when I was a freshman— in over my head. These people all had their awesome cameras with the huge lenses and many were making their livings as photographers. I really enjoyed the class, and learned a lot about studio lighting and equipment. I would now know what to do in a studio if I ever get the chance to use one, and there are many lighting techniques that will be useful in the photos I’m taking now of the kids etc. I decided to play the role of the “clueless one” in class, and asked a lot of questions and observed. Of course there was that guy that thought he needed to tell me everything he knows about photography. I expect there is a guy, or girl, like that in every class. In many ways I miss being a student, but in so many other ways I don’t miss it at all!

I followed Banna’s guidelines for alternate headlines (it was hard!):

“Amateur Photographer Bores Many With History”, “Lighting, and Cameras, and Classes,…oh my!”, “Chicken Out And Blame it on Arrogant Artists”

Enjoy, you may not see this again 🙂

Read More