“Drugs are bad m’kay.”👴🏻 Thanks Mr. Mackey, but drugs are not equally bad. Current legislation does a poor job at telling us which drugs are worse. And we can blame the US for that.
The War on Drugs
In 1971, President Nixon officially declared the ‘war on drugs’, which led to an important piece of legislation: Controlled Substance Act (CSA). The CSA regulates the manufacturing, import, possession, use and distribution of a bunch of substances. Illegal substances were categorized into five Schedules (aka classifications), based on three factors:
1. Potential for abuse
2. Accepted medical use
3. Safety and potential for addiction
Sounds promising, but in reality many drugs were categorized incorrectly, because decisions were not only based on research, but also politics.
Classifications in the Controlled Substance Act
SCHEDULE 1:
Drug is not safe to use, not even under medical supervision. Examples: DMT, GHB, Heroin, LSD, Marijuana, MDMA, Psilocybin and Psilocin (compounds found in Shroomz)
SCHEDULE 2:
Abusing the drug can cause severe physical and mental addiction Examples: Amphetamine (Adderall), Cocaine, Methadone, Morphine, Oxycodone, Angel Dust
SCHEDULE 3:
Abusing the drug can cause severe mental addiction, or moderate physical addiction Examples: Anabolic Steroids, Ketamine
SCHEDULE 4:
Abusing the drug may lead to mild mental or physical addiction Examples: Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium)
SCHEDULE 5:
Abusing the drug may lead to mild mental or physical addiction
Examples: Cough Suppressants containing Codeine, Cannabidiol (only Epidolex)
Failing Drug Policy
So according to this list, marijuana would be worse than cocaine, ketamine or valium. And alcohol and tobacco were conveniently left out…
*cough* tax money *cough*
Many countries adopted similar drug policies, with mass incarcination, increased street crime and military interventions as a result.
So that’s why I want to share with you a scale of drug harmfulness that is actually based on research:
src: “Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse” by Nutt, King, Saulsbury & Blakemore in The Lancet (2007)
