SAVING US FROM OURSELVES

A British study released last Friday about the dangers to human health
of tobacco and alcohol and illegal drugs like marijuana and ecstasy
raises some interesting questions on how legislators make decisions
about substances we can legally obtain and those we can't.

The research by Prof. David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and
colleagues, published in The Lancet, proposed a new framework for the
classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed
to society. Their findings ranked alcohol and tobacco among the top 10
most dangerous substances, based on three factors: 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.

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.

It is, therefore, very interesting that in Canada, what the study
found to be the fifth and ninth most harmful drugs are perfectly legal
while marijuana, which didn't even make it into the top 10, at least
by the design of this study, is illegal.

So while anyone selling, growing or possessing pot can look forward to
appearing in front of a judge and possibly spending some time behind
bars, the agency responsible for controlling the distribution and sale
of liquor in this province, for example, spends millions advertising
its potentially dangerous product to the buying public.

Gone are the days of walking furtively into a non-descript building
and filling out a form to obtain your booze. The LCBO is now a glitzy,
enticing operation, with beautifully appointed stores, a glossy
magazine, Air Miles, product consultants and contest giveaways for
Smart cars.

One wonders why a monopoly needs to spend money on such things, but
that's not the point we're trying to make here.

For the province, the sale of liquor is a very lucrative proposition.
And like its addiction to gambling revenue, the government is not
about to forego the $1.5 billion in profits the LCBO raked in last
year.

And the province will need that money to pay for the billions in
health-care and social costs associated with abuse of this readily
available drug, not to mention what is spent policing illegal drugs.

It's highly unlikely that alcohol (or tobacco for that matter) will
ever become illegal in Canada, nor should it. But if harm is indeed a
factor in regulating substances - and maybe it's not - Prof. Nutt's
research will certainly give all those advocating for the legalization
of marijuana more ammunition and perhaps will inspire legislators to
rethink how we treat potentially harmful substances, whether they are
currently legal or not.