I recently watched a BBC program called "Alcohol more dangerous than ecstacy?" which was very interesting. In it they ranked the top 20 most dangerous drugs, they did this based on three factors: the effect it has on the body, the addictiveness of the drug, and the effect it has on society. The results were very shocking when they showed the numbers. And indeed alcohol was more dangerous than ecstacy. here is the chart ranking these drugs and their danger.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-illness/treatment/medicine/medications/drug-ranking.htm



ecstacy ranked 18,LSD 14, marijuana 11, tobacco 9, alcohol 5, cocaine 2, and heroin number 1.

I suggest that everyone watch this program if you get a chance. Its very eye opening. It shows that even though a drug is socially and legally accepted, it can still be more harmful than those that arent legal.

It also makes me think that if tobacco and alcohol were invented today, there would be no way that it would be made legal.

heres a quote from the article
---"According to the authors of the study, 'Tobacco and alcohol together account for about 90 percent of all drug-related deaths in the U.K.' Yet both of those substances are legal. In the United States, a study published in the journal of the American Medical Association in 2000 shows that 95 percent of drug-related deaths in the United States are from alcohol and tobacco use."


so what do you guys think? is it time to rethink drug laws?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2009 01:52AM by Kenny_Powers.

Kenny_Powers Wrote:
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> so what do you guys think? is it time to rethink
> drug laws?

I've been saying that for years.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

Kenny_Powers Wrote:
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> In it they ranked the top 20 most
> dangerous drugs, they did this based on three
> factors: the effect it has on the body, the
> addictiveness of the drug, and the effect it has
> on society. The results were very shocking when
> they showed the numbers.

the long term effect of regular alcohol consumption is rather benign to that of many other drugs, especially MDMA aka "ecstasy."

additionally, i would like to point out that the system they are using to score the danger is based on the current imposed restrictions. it's far from empirical science, thus the resulting ranking is a non-universal interpretation.

anyway, this is how drugs are scheduled(classified) in the US:
official: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html

unofficial - Schedule I: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedule_I_controlled_substances
unofficial - Schedule II: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedule_II_controlled_substances
unofficial - Schedule III: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedule_III_controlled_substances
unofficial - Schedule VI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedule_IV_controlled_substances
unofficial - Schedule V: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedule_V_controlled_substances


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

As soon as they put "ill effects on society" as one of the criteria used, it makes the "study" worthless. Of course alcohol and tobacco are going to have much higher placement on the list as a result. The study is more of an argument for making alcohol and tobacco illegal than it is for legalizing any of the other ones. That, of course, will never happen.

s



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2010 10:53PM by inkahootz.

inkahootz Wrote:
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> Alcohol kills around 150,000 people in the US and 1,800,000 world wide every year.
> Smoking kills around 400,000 people in the US and 5,000,000 world wide every year.
>
> Legal Pharmaceutical deaths in the US hover around 100,000.
> Data for deaths attributed to illegal drug use vary from 10,000 to 20,000.

in Africa, approximately 3,000,000 people die each year as a result of HIV infection aka infidelity.
globally, approximately 1,000,000 people die each year from suicide aka depression.
globally, approximately 500,000 people die from homicide.
globally, approximately 230,000 people die from war.

anyway, one could argue that it's the restrictions in place that keep the illegal drugs from killing more people. im not saying it is, im just pointing out that an argument either way is a moot point.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Alcohol Impaired Driving Statistics

Total Fatalities / Fatality Rates

250,000 people have died in alcohol related accidents in the past 10 years.
Presently 25,000 people are killed each year in alcohol related accidents.
500 people are killed each week in alcohol related accidents.
71 people are killed each day in alcohol related accidents.
One American life is lost every 20 minutes in alcohol related auto crashes.
It is estimated that one out of every two Americans will be involved in an alcohol related accident in his or her lifetime.
In 1994, New Hampshire had 119 total highway fatalities, 42 were alcohol related (or 35.3% of the total). New Hampshire leads the nation with one of the lowest percentages of alcohol related fatalities.

Cause of Death

Alcohol related crashes are the leading cause of death for young Americans, between the ages of 16 and 24 years old.
For all Americans between 5 and 35 years of age, motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death. Over 50% of these accidents are caused by alcohol impaired drivers.

Recent Alcohol-Involvement

Over 50% of all fatal highway crashes involving two or more cars are alcohol related.
Over 65% of all fatal single car crashes are alcohol related.
Over 36% percent of all adult pedestrian accidents are alcohol related.
80% of all fatal alcohol related auto crashes occur between 8 pm and 8 am.
36% of all adult pedestrian accidents involve an intoxicated pedestrian.

Injury Crashes / Collisions

Every year, 708,000 persons are injured in alcohol related crashes; 74, 000 of those people suffer serious injuries.
About 2,000 people are hurt each day in alcohol related accidents.
Two million alcohol impaired driving collisions occur each year.
Arrest / Characteristics of Alcohol Impaired Drivers
Of every 200 to 2,000 alcohol impaired drivers on the road, only one is arrested. Therefore, the probability of getting caught is slim. Of those who are caught, very few receive a serious penalty.
The average alcohol impaired driver arrested on the highway has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .20%, double the level for presumed intoxication in most states; that is 14 drinks of 86% proof liquor (or 14 beers) in 4 hours for a 180 lb. man.
Between 7 pm and 3 am on weekends, 10% of all drivers are legally impaired, in some parts of the country.Most Americans drink alcohol. Over 80% admit to driving after drinking.
Relatively few problem drinkers, about 7% of the driving population, account for over 66% of all alcohol related fatal accidents.
When drinkers are at the presumed level of intoxication, the risk of causing an accident is six times greater than for non-drinking drivers.

Youth
Although persons between 16 and 24 years old comprise only 20% of the total licensed population, and 20% of the total vehicle miles traveled in this country by all licensed drivers, they cause 42 percent of all fatal atcohol related crashes.

Economic / Societal Cost
According to a recent Allstate Insurance Company study, alcohol impaired drivers are estimated to cost American taxpayers $21 - $24 billion dollars per year.
National Geographic recently stated that alcohol abuse costs American society $136 billion and 65,000 lives annually.

Miscellaneous
Admittedly, the United States has one of the safest highway systems in the world, due in part to design characteristics, guard rails, highway markings and signs. We have relatively few fatalities per 100-million miles driven. But the portion of our accidents involving alcohol is among the highest in the world.

An accident by an alcohol impaired driver is the most frequently committed violent crime in the United States today. Other alcohol-related statistics show the involvement of alcohol in many non-driving aspects: 40% of all suicide attempts are alcohol-related 54% of all violent crimes are alcohol-related 60% of all emergency room admissions are alcohol-related 80% of all domestic disputes are alcohol-related
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The real lesson from our history with alcohol is how prohibition is an ineffective way to control or limit a substances abuse. Virtually all drug usgae should be decriminalized for the consumer. Some drugs should be provided by the government...taxed...quality assurance provided. All money previously spent on drug enforcement should be spent on career education and rehabilitation.

As soon a s this country gets it's head out of it's ass it might do this....but as long as drug use is mainmly a "black" and hispanic problem we'll go on ignoring it.

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> As soon a s this country gets it's head out of
> it's ass it might do this....but as long as drug
> use is mainmly a "black" and hispanic problem
> we'll go on ignoring it.

so if the blacks and hispanics stop doing so many drugs we could get some shit done! why does the hispanic black man always gotta keep me down?


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Gravis Wrote:
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> Vince(1) Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > As soon a s this country gets it's head out of
> > it's ass it might do this....but as long as
> drug
> > use is mainmly a "black" and hispanic problem
> > we'll go on ignoring it.
>
> so if the blacks and hispanics stop doing so many
> drugs we could get some shit done! why does the
> hispanic black man always gotta keep me down?


As soon as I can figure out what your question is....maybe I'll try to answer it.

Vince(1) Wrote:
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>
> As soon as I can figure out what your question
> is....maybe I'll try to answer it.

Are you retarded, or just bored?

Melissa Wrote:
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> Vince(1) Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > As soon as I can figure out what your question
> > is....maybe I'll try to answer it.
>
> Are you retarded, or just bored?


Feel free to explain to me what the hell his question is.

I need to explain that he was not asking you a question? REALLY?

-SBS- Wrote:
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> As soon as they put "ill effects on society" as
> one of the criteria used, it makes the "study"
> worthless. Of course alcohol and tobacco are
> going to have much higher placement on the list as
> a result. The study is more of an argument for
> making alcohol and tobacco illegal than it is for
> legalizing any of the other ones. That, of
> course, will never happen.

you should actually watch this special instead of drawing conclusions just based on the ranking system. Like I said before, it was very eye opening. At the very least we should further study the data thats been proposed by this program.

Generally Im not sure if legalization of drugs would be a good or a bad thing. But, I do know that if we made them legal, we would see a dramatic drop in crime. Drug dealers would stop making money, and thus their power and influence would drop. Not to mention that we would cut out millions of non violent drug offenders in our jails. The savings in our prison system, along with the money we would get from taxation of these drugs would net us billions each year in taxes. I think this is a good alternative to putting money back into the streets and into the criminals hands.

This would also probably help to solve our immigration problem. Or atleast where the problem stems from- poverty and corruption in mexico. The drug trade has done nothing but make Mexico (especially border towns) more dangerous.

Melissa Wrote:
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> I need to explain that he was not asking you a
> question? REALLY?

Sweetey..you are funny! Now pull your pants up and go to work.

Kenny_Powers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> -SBS- Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > As soon as they put "ill effects on society" as
> > one of the criteria used, it makes the "study"
> > worthless. Of course alcohol and tobacco are
> > going to have much higher placement on the list
> as
> > a result. The study is more of an argument for
> > making alcohol and tobacco illegal than it is
> for
> > legalizing any of the other ones. That, of
> > course, will never happen.
>
> you should actually watch this special instead of
> drawing conclusions just based on the ranking
> system. Like I said before, it was very eye
> opening. At the very least we should further study
> the data thats been proposed by this program.
>
> Generally Im not sure if legalization of drugs
> would be a good or a bad thing. But, I do know
> that if we made them legal, we would see a
> dramatic drop in crime. Drug dealers would stop
> making money, and thus their power and influence
> would drop. Not to mention that we would cut out
> millions of non violent drug offenders in our
> jails. The savings in our prison system, along
> with the money we would get from taxation of these
> drugs would net us billions each year in taxes. I
> think this is a good alternative to putting money
> back into the streets and into the criminals
> hands.
>
> This would also probably help to solve our
> immigration problem. Or atleast where the problem
> stems from- poverty and corruption in mexico. The
> drug trade has done nothing but make Mexico
> (especially border towns) more dangerous.

It wont help your cause...but +1.

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> Melissa Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I need to explain that he was not asking you a
> > question? REALLY?
>
> Sweetey..you are funny! Now pull your pants up
> and go to work.

it's interesting how everytime you are wrong about something you attack someone to avoid the issue.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Avoid the issue? F..k I have no gd idea what you were trying to say! It was not your best written sentence. The girl claimed to understand...but couldnt explain it either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2009 06:45PM by Vince(1).

Vinny...Vinny...Vinny..... Time to smoke some herb!! you need to chill out!

Gravis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vince(1) Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Melissa Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I need to explain that he was not asking you
> a
> > > question? REALLY?
> >
> > Sweetey..you are funny! Now pull your pants up
> > and go to work.
>
> it's interesting how everytime you are wrong about
> something you attack someone to avoid the issue.

+1

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> Melissa Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I need to explain that he was not asking you a
> > question? REALLY?
>
> Sweetey..you are funny! Now pull your pants up
> and go to work.


Wow, you're SUPER witty.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being vague is almost as fun as that other thing.
Attachments:

Vince(1) Wrote:
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>
> As soon as I can figure out what your question
> is....maybe I'll try to answer it.

This is what all those drugs do to your brain.

Thought process is impeded and it becomes more difficult to answer ... even simple questions.

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> Avoid the issue? F..k I have no gd idea what you
> were trying to say!

go back to ESL.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

enjoy
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Vince(1) Wrote:
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> enjoy

i hope you realize that it doesnt take any time for those to load as it literally takes less than five seconds to load (FU is fast! \o/) and my screen is set to 1920x1200 resolution. this may not make much sense to you but what im saying is that posting those pictures doesnt even annoy me, it's kinda funny. i get the mental image of a five year old hitting an adult screaming "i hate you! i hate you!" which i think is hilarious.

feel free to spend time uploading those images for all your posts if you like, it really doesnt bother me. :)


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

I will...how odd you think they are meant to annoy you..I just want to contribute to the pic fest! But if it did annoy you...so much the better.

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> I will...how odd you think they are meant to annoy
> you..I just want to contribute to the pic fest!
> But if it did annoy you...so much the better.


You labeled your pics as Gravis001, Gravis002, so I guess they were directed at him.

I was going to upload hello.jpg, but that might give Vince too many ideas.

In true Vince fashion, they were misspelled as GRUFUS. LOL.

.
Attachments:

Vince(1) Wrote:
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> I will...how odd you think they are meant to annoy
> you..

odd how you name picture files after me.


> I just want to contribute to the pic fest!

go for it


> But if it did annoy you...so much the better.

no such luck but if it takes a lot of time to post them repeatedly, please continue.



"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2009 06:28PM by Gravis.

yes it is a little odd....hope you all enjoy.
Attachments:

Stupid annoying race baiting aside, Vince is right about legalization and taxation. Work hard, play hard, follow 10 simple rules, and mind your own business. That's where it's at. Light up or leave it alone. And stop letting the black and hispanic man keeping you down Vince. LOL.

Really, what is the point of that? I mean, if it amuses you, go for it. The pictures don't make the page load slow, and isn't annoying... just not funny.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being vague is almost as fun as that other thing.

Perhaps the gianormous attachments are meant to be a graphical representation of Vince's ego. Vince is consistently given to race baiting, he got called out on it and started deflecting. That doesn't make him wrong about replacing the war on drugs with a ripe sin tax opportunity.