classification of harm

"The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary," write Nutt and his colleagues in The Lancet.
from: washington post

a study, published in the Lancet (a very respected medical journal out of UK - ie its not the national enquirer!) proposes to replace the ancient and ridiculous (and quite class-driven, really) existing classification of 'harmful' substances with one that has scientific backing. interesting, huh? essentially, the researchers designed a ranking of drug harmfulness (20 drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, etc) based on input from psychiatric, medical, legal experts. researchers considered three dimensions of drug harmfulness:

1. the physical harm to the user
2. the drug's potential for addiction
   
3. the impact on society of drug use.

the results?

heroin and cocaine came in 1st and 2nd, respectively. following this - barbituates and street methadone. then alcohol (coming in 5th). tobacco came in 9th on the most harmful list. cannabis? 11th. somewhere near the bottom (not specified in the article) - ecstacy.

just an FYI sorta post.

**a note about cocaine and heroin. ok. i put my 'former nurse's hat' on for this one - bear with me. personally, i think cocaine should be listed as the most dangerous drug. i think the experts have underestimated its harmfulness in society and to the health of users, who likely underreport. lemme demonstrate why with a little parable.

PART 1. dude does heroin. dude ODs. dude stops breathing. dude's heart stops. dude gets revived by paramedics with oxygen and stimulant drugs - ie narcan to reverse the opiate and then others stimulants, if needed to restart the heart.

PART 2. dude does cocaine. dude ODs. dude's heart stops. dude dies. nothing will revive dude, since the cocaine has overstimulated his heart to death, and stimulants are what we use to revive asystole (ie non beating) hearts. meaning - the heart that has stopped d/t cocaine use cannot be restarted. we did not just have a power failure here. we are talking the circuitry is fried. and cannot regenerate itself. read: THE END.

so .... NOW do you get why cocaine is soooo dangerous? lol. like you knew, intuitively before. but - seriously, its more deadly that most realize. (pssst - this here's one of the few little useful facts i have retained in my brain cells from taking that $400 TNCC course a couple years ago!) **

i will have this weekend to visit blogs that i have missed visiting this past week.
see ya soon!

psssst - i have a wet mangey little pigeon friend. her pics are posted in the montage blog. take a look. i write a more detailed story maybe tonight or tomorrow.

menses and injury?

a recent study, conducted by london's portland hospital, suggests that women's risk of injury is closely tied to their fluctuating menstrual/cyclical hormones. A survey of 1,000 osteopaths and 17 women with regular menses yielded the following conclusions.

Both tissues appear to be vulnerable midway through the menstrual cycle, while
the ligaments are at greater risk at the end.

Midway through the cycle, the level of the female sex hormone oestrogen, which gives strength to muscles and ligaments, drops dramatically, resulting in sudden weakness.

At the end of the cycle levels of another hormone, relaxin, rise.

This is to allow the cervix to open so that menstruation can occur, but it also means the ligaments in general are softened. (from BBC.com)

interesting .... ain't it? well, i - being a menstruating female myself -am not really surprised by this. and i wonder ... what woman would be? surely we should tune in to our bodies closely enough to figure this out? or do we really need a bunch of upper class men that wear Harry Rosen suits and drive BMWs and Mercs to tell us about our bodies?