Myth #1: “Marijuana is a (more) Dangerous Drug”
Assessment of harm
The assessment matrix designed included nine “parameters of risk”, which were created by dividing each main factor into three sub-groups:
Physical Harm
- Acute
- Chronic
- Intravenous Harm
Dependence
- Intensity of pleasure
- Psychological dependence
- Physical dependence
Social Harms
- Intoxication
- Other social harms
- Health-care costs
Participants were asked to score each substance for each of these nine parameters, using a four-point scale, with 0 being no risk, 1 some, 2 moderate, and 3 extreme risk. For some analysis, the scores for the three parameters for each category were averaged to give a mean score for that category. For the sake of discussion, an overall harm rating was obtained by taking the mean of all nine scores.
Members of the panel of Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act were chosen to pilot the scoring procedure. There were two independent, expert groups which were asked to do the ratings. The first group was the “national group of consultant psychiatrists who were on the Royal College of Psychiatrists‘ register as specialists in addiction.”
Replies were received and analyzed from 29 of the 77 registered doctors who were asked to assess 14 compounds–heroin, cocaine, alcohol, arbiturates, buprenorphine, tobacco, ecstasy, cannabis, LSD, and steroids.
The second group consisted of “experts with a wider spread of expertise”. Specifically, they had experience in “one of the many areas of addiction, ranging from chemistry, pharmacology, and forensic science, through psychiatry and other medical specialties, including epidemiology, as well as the legal and police services.”
