Alcohol is the most harmful drug in New Zealand, outranking illegal illicit substances, according to the latest research from the University of Otago.
A panel of 23 experts ranked alcohol as the most harmful overall, with methamphetamine coming in second, synthetic cannabinoids ranked third, and tobacco fourth, based on 17 different harm criteria.
The study, funded by the Health Research Council, involved the panel assigning a score to 23 drugs based on the harm caused to the user, harm caused to others as well as societal harm.
The criteria included drug-related mortality, drug-related damage, dependence, injury to others, crime, community damage and economic cost.
Overall, alcohol was ranked as the most harmful to the user, and most harmful to others, driven by high scores in drug-related mortality and community damage.
Co-author Dr Rose Crossin said some may be surprised by alcohol outranking several other illegal drugs.
"It might challenge people to learn this, but alcohol isn’t the most harmful because it’s the most widely used drug in Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s rated the most harmful because of its association with a huge number of diseases, cancers, psychological disorders and other medical conditions," she said.
"Alcohol also causes more harm to others than to those who use it, including families, friends, communities and wider society."
Alcohol has the dubious honour of being in the top spot in an Otago University study. (Source: 1News)
Most of the criteria in this study were drawn from a widely cited 2010 drug harm study carried out in the United Kingdom. For the New Zealand study, the authors incorporated a Māori worldview by also assessing the intergenerational and spiritual harm caused by the drug.
Our two most widely used legal drugs - alcohol and tobacco - were found to cause the first and fourth-largest amount of harm overall.
Meanwhile, nitrous oxide, kava and hallucinogens such as LSD had the lowest overall harm scores.
Rose Crossin was co-author of the New Zealand drug harms ranking study. Jordan, sweet as (Source: Breakfast)
Co-author Professor Joe Boden said the findings reflected a "mismatch" between harmfulness and legality for many drugs.
“We found a spread of harmfulness amongst a number of illegal Class A drugs, with some causing a lot of harm, and others very little. In some cases, the criminal penalties for using these drugs don’t match the level of societal harm they actually cause," he said.
The panel was made up of experts across several fields such as law enforcement, addiction research, pharmacology, toxicology, Māori health and advocacy and youth justice.
The research is believed to be the first to rank the harm caused by psychoactive drugs to youth, aged 12-17.
The panel ranked alcohol, meth and synthetic cannabinoids as the most harmful, consistent with the general population, but solvents and fuels were found to be much more harmful among young people.
Cannabis was also considered more harmful to youth, ranking sixth, compared with ninth for the overall population.
The results also show our current drug policies are causing harm themselves, Professor Boden said.
"Our study has identified that a significant proportion of drug harm arises from the legal status of the drug, rather from the drug itself. This includes harms to the drug user such as loss of employment and relationships, along with harms to others relating to crime and family adversities.
"This suggests we need to reconsider our policy settings to reduce overall drug harm, and consider how best to support family, friends and communities – not just the actual individual using the drug," he said.
NZ Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm agreed with the study's conclusions, saying the New Zealand focus of the research is "extremely valuable".
"When you rank drugs by harm, the evidence supporting drug law reform is compelling. This research makes clear that there’s no relationship between legality and lower harm, in fact our laws are causing a lot of the harm.
"We need to shift towards regulation of substances based on the actual harm they cause."
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