home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- From: harelb@magrathea.uchicago.edu (Harel Barzilai)
- Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,misc.headlines,alt.activism,alt.conspiracy,alt.drugs,alt.censorship,soc.culture.african.american
- Subject: Tobacco facts, part (2) -- (was Re: U.S. Corporate Drug-Lords)
- Date: 28 Oct 90 04:16:49 GMT
-
- "To rank today's commonly used drugs by their addictiveness, we asked
- experts to consider two questions: How easy is it to get hooked on
- these substances and how hard is it to stop using them? Although a
- person's vulnerability to drug also depends on individual traits --
- physiology, psychology, and social and economic pressures -- these
- rankings reflect only the addictive potential inherent in the drug.
- The numbers below are relative rankings, based on the experts' scores
- for each substance:
-
- Nicotine 100
- Ice, Glass (Methamphetamine smoked) 99
- Crack 98
- Crystal Meth (Methamphetamine injected) 93
- Valium (Diazepam) 85
- Quaalude (Methaqualone) 83
- Seconal (Secobarbital) 82
- Alcohol 81
- Heroin 80
- Crank (Amphetamine taken nasally) 78
- Cocaine 72
- Caffeine 68
- PCP (Phencyclidine) 57
- Marijuana 21
- Ecstasy (MDMA) 20
- Psilocybin Mushrooms 18
- LSD 18
- Mescaline 18
-
- [Research by John Hastings]
-
- [From: _In Health_, Nov/Dec 1990; eye-balling by Harel Barzilai;
- relative rankings are definite, numbers given are (+/-)1%]
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- "`There's some abuse potential with marijuana,' Koob [sic] says. `For
- example, it's probably at least as dangerous for someone to drive
- while high on marijuana as to drive while drunk. But on my list of
- drugs likely to produce dependency -- people who are out of control of
- their use and want to quit, but can't -- it's pretty far down the
- line.'
-
- "By the same token, LSD may be dangerous if it makes you think you can
- fly and your dive out a window, but it's unlikely to produce
- addiction. `It is just not a drug that people take in a compulsive
- way,' Koob says. Some people scoffed when the Surgeon General four
- year ago called nicotine the most addictive drug known. But survey
- figures indicate that nine of every ten people who light up a
- cigarette will one day have trouble quitting, compared with perhaps
- two first-time cocaine users."
-
- ("Dr. George Koob is a leading neurobiologist at the Research
- Institute of Scripps Clinic (San Diego)")
-
- [From: _In Health_, Nov/Dec 1990]
-
- ##################################################################
- # Harel Barzilai for Activists Mailing List (AML) #
- ##################################################################
-
- To join AML, just send the message "SUB ACTIV-L <your full name>" to
- the address: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET; you should then receive a message
- confirming that your name has been added to the list. Other addresses
- to try (only) if the above fails are: "LISTSERV@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU"
- or "ucscc!umcvmb.missouri.edu!LISTSERV"]
-
- If you have problems/questions, contact the list administrator: Rich
- Winkel at MATHRICH@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU or MATHRICH%UMCVMB.BITNET
-
-