DRUG 'CLASSES' HAVE LITTLE LINK TO THE DANGERS

Britain's antiquated drugs laws stand accused of failing millions of
people because they bear little or no relationship to the harm caused
by everything from a hit of heroin to a seemingly harmless pint of lager.

The Home Office has been warned by its own senior advisers that
alcohol and tobacco are more harmful to the nation's health than the
Class A drugs LSD and ecstasy.

Research by medical experts, who analysed 20 substances for their
addictive qualities, social harm and physical damage, produced
strikingly different results from the Government's drug classification system.

Heroin and cocaine, both Class A drugs, topped the league table of
harm, but alcohol was ranked fifth, ahead of prescription
tranquillisers and amphetamines.

Tobacco was placed ninth, ahead of cannabis, which has recently been
downgraded from a Class B to Class C drug, at 11th.

Alcohol and tobacco, and solvents, which can also be bought legally,
were judged more damaging than LSD (14th) and ecstasy (18th).

The warning on alcohol comes amid growing alarm among ministers over
a surge of "binge drinking" over the last decade. They fear it is
fuelling rising levels of violent crime and creating long-term health
problems for the nation.

Methadone, used to wean heroin addicts off the drug, also scored
highly, being judged more dangerous other Class A substances.

The research will put more pressure on the Home Office to a rethink
the 35-year-old system for classifying illegal drugs as Class A, B or
C substances. It reflects the penalties for possessing them or
dealing in them, but that means heroin is categorised alongside drugs
such as ecstasy.

The analysis was carried out by David Nutt, a senior member of the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and Colin Blakemore, the
chief executive of the Medical Research Council. Copies of the report
have been submitted to the Home Office, which has failed to act on
the conclusions.

Professor Blakemore told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Alcohol,
on our classification, is the fifth most harmful drug - more harmful
than LSD and by a long way than ecstasy and cannabis and a whole
range of illegal drugs.

"That's not to say there's any argument that alcohol should be made
illegal, but it does give one a feel for the relative harm potential
from any drug."

Strongly influenced by the research, MPs on the Commons science and
technology select committee demanded an overhaul of the system to
give the public a "better sense of the relative harms involved".

They called for a new scale to be introduced, rating substances on
the basis of health and social risks and not linked to legality or
potential punishments.

They questioned whether ecstasy and magic mushrooms should remain in
Class A and called on the Government's drug adviser, the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), to look at the issue.

Phil Willis, who chairs the committee, said the current
classifications were "riddled with anomalies" and were "clearly not
fit for purpose".

"This research shows why we need a radical overhaul of the current
law and a radical review of the classification system," he said.

"It's clearly not fit for purpose in the 21st century, neither for
informing drug-users or providing public information."

One committee member, the Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris, said that
putting drugs in the wrong category "undermined the whole system".
"Lots of young people know that there's a difference between ecstasy
and heroin," he said.

Martin Barnes, chief executive of the drugs charity DrugScope, said:
"With ecstasy, although it is a harmful substance and has led to
deaths, if you look at its harmfulness with other Class A drugs, it
is much less harmful in terms of links to criminality, mortality and
poor health.

"But one of the difficulties, if the classification of a drug is
changed, is that that then becomes a key issue in terms of
politically how it is received."

Cannabis was reclassified from Class B to Class C in 2004 on the
advice of the ACMD. The move prompted fierce criticism in some
quarters and was later reassessed in light of new scientific data.

Critics said the change sent out a message that cannabis was not
harmful, and downgrading it had caused confusion over whether the
drug was still banned.

But in January, the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced that
after an ACMD review of evidence, the decision to downgrade cannabis
would stand. His successor, John Reid, has so far made no
pronouncements on drugs policy.

Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive of the social care
organisation Turning Point, said: "Our work across the country with
people affected by drugs and alcohol tells us that a classification
system should take into account the health, social and economic costs
of substance misuse."