The National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM) has performed a risk assessment to the harm of 17 drugs plus tobacco and alcohol (19 ‘drugs’). RIVM was charged by the ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports to rank these drugs according to harm in a way which was comparable with the previous evaluation that was made by the group of Nutt in the United Kingdom.
In fact, the assessment of the drugs was performed by a panel of 19 experts, who based their judgment on their own expertise and the scientific information documents about the drugs, which were prepared
by the RIVM and the Trimbos Institute. As such, the transparency of the assessment process was increased. The expert panel, which consisted of 7 toxicologists, 8 clinician and 4 remaining experts, gave a judgment about three different categories of the drugs i.e.: (1) toxicity (acute toxicity and chronic toxicity), (2) dependence potential and (3) social harm (at individual and population level). This report, however, merely describes the ranking of the hazard of the 19 drugs, so that the denoted
scores only give some indication about the intensity (or absolute level) of the harmfulness of the different drugs. The most important conclusions of the assessment are that:
(1) alcohol, tobacco, heroin and crack relatively scored high on the scale of Total harm, whereas magic mushrooms, LSD and khat score don this scale relatively low;
(2) the scores of the Dutch expert panel corroborate well with the previous findings of the British experts and previous advises of the CAM (Dutch Coordination point Assessment en Monitoring new drugs);
(3) the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco have been judged by the experts as more harmful than many of the presently assessed illegal drugs (except for heroin and crack). This accounts for the Total harm on
individual as well as on population level;
(4) regarding Total harm at individual level, cannabis and ecstasy are assessed by the experts as
moderately harmful.
Pink = physical damage
Orange = social damage to the user (isolation, stigma, etc.)
Green = damage to society (crime, welfare, healthcare, etc.)
DUTCH:
Alcohol en tabak zijn net zo slecht voor de volksgezondheid als heroïne en crack. Ze staan bovenaan een lijst met negentien genotsmiddelen die het Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu heeft gerangschikt naar schadelijkheid.
http://www.nu.nl/gezondheid/2034518/alcohol-en-tabak-net-zo-slecht-als-heroine.html
Zou Klink ook iets met deze kennis gaan doen?
In fact, the assessment of the drugs was performed by a panel of 19 experts, who based their judgment on their own expertise and the scientific information documents about the drugs, which were prepared
by the RIVM and the Trimbos Institute. As such, the transparency of the assessment process was increased. The expert panel, which consisted of 7 toxicologists, 8 clinician and 4 remaining experts, gave a judgment about three different categories of the drugs i.e.: (1) toxicity (acute toxicity and chronic toxicity), (2) dependence potential and (3) social harm (at individual and population level). This report, however, merely describes the ranking of the hazard of the 19 drugs, so that the denoted
scores only give some indication about the intensity (or absolute level) of the harmfulness of the different drugs. The most important conclusions of the assessment are that:
(1) alcohol, tobacco, heroin and crack relatively scored high on the scale of Total harm, whereas magic mushrooms, LSD and khat score don this scale relatively low;
(2) the scores of the Dutch expert panel corroborate well with the previous findings of the British experts and previous advises of the CAM (Dutch Coordination point Assessment en Monitoring new drugs);
(3) the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco have been judged by the experts as more harmful than many of the presently assessed illegal drugs (except for heroin and crack). This accounts for the Total harm on
individual as well as on population level;
(4) regarding Total harm at individual level, cannabis and ecstasy are assessed by the experts as
moderately harmful.
Pink = physical damage
Orange = social damage to the user (isolation, stigma, etc.)
Green = damage to society (crime, welfare, healthcare, etc.)
DUTCH:
Alcohol en tabak zijn net zo slecht voor de volksgezondheid als heroïne en crack. Ze staan bovenaan een lijst met negentien genotsmiddelen die het Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu heeft gerangschikt naar schadelijkheid.
http://www.nu.nl/gezondheid/2034518/alcohol-en-tabak-net-zo-slecht-als-heroine.html
Zou Klink ook iets met deze kennis gaan doen?
