ALCOHOL MORE HARMFUL THAN HEROIN, CRACK COCAINE

STUDY: ALCOHOL “MOST HARMFUL DRUG”
FOLLOWED BY CRACK, HEROIN AND TOBACCO

LONDON - Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said on Monday. Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco. According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs. Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all. The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54. Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that “aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy”. He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm. Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences. The World Health Organisation estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer - accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths. Alcohol is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published last week. Beyond any doubt, alcoholism brings misery to many families - especially in poor countries - and besides being very detrimental to consumer's own health, it causes a person to harm others and commit any criminal acts. Instead of intoxicate our conscious by drinking so many alcoholic beverages, one should try to always chant the maha mantra Hare Krishna and engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

During the course of the gambling, Vidura could see that the Pandavas were about to lose everything. He, therefore, tried to advise Dhritarastra ... As stated by Vidura, gambling is the root of all evil. There are four pillars of sinful life: illicit sex, gambling, meat eating and intoxication. When living beings take shelter of these four sinful activities, they are under the influence of Kali yuga. At the time of Maharaja Yudhisthira, there was no adultery, no gambling casinos, no slaughter houses and no LSD, cocaine, crack, whiskey, beer or other forms of intoxication. These types of sinful activities are indulged in by persons in the modes of passion and ignorance, but were unknown in Maharaja Yudhisthira’s kingdom. When Vidura heard of the plan for the gambling match, he knew that Kali yuga had begun. ... We are only 5,000 years into the Kali yuga and already the four sinful pillars are taken for granted and are in full swing. No one is shocked by them. Practically every corner has a bar; adultery is no longer looked upon as sinful; 99% of the population eats meat; and a vast majority of people drink intoxicating beverages.

Commentary of the “Mahabharata Summation”
to the Ninth Chapter of the Sabha Parva,
Entitled: “The Gambling Match”.
New Vrindavana Community - June, 1985.
http://philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/itihasa/mahabharata/eng/