BF2S Forums Official Beer Thread

Background/Aim:
The aim of the current study was to review drug harms as they occur in Australia using the Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology adopted in earlier studies in other jurisdictions.

Method:
A facilitated workshop with 25 experts from across Australia, was held to score 22 drugs on 16 criteria: 9 related to harms that a drug produces in the individual and 7 to harms to others. Participants were guided by facilitators through the methodology and principles of MCDA. In open discussion, each drug was scored on each criterion. The criteria were then weighted using a process of swing weighting. Scoring was captured in MCDA software tool.

Results:
MCDA modelling showed the most harmful substances to users were fentanyls (part score 50), heroin (part score 45) and crystal methamphetamine (part score 42). The most harmful substances to others were alcohol (part score 41), crystal methamphetamine (part score 24) and cigarettes/tobacco (part score 14). Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug when harm to users and harm to others was combined. A supplementary analysis took into consideration the prevalence of each substance in Australia. Alcohol was again ranked the most harmful substance overall, followed by cigarettes, crystal methamphetamine, cannabis, heroin and pharmaceutical opioids.

Conclusions:
The results of this study make an important contribution to the emerging international picture of drug harms. They highlight the persistent and pervasive harms caused by alcohol. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed. Policies to reduce harm from alcohol and methamphetamine should be a priority.

Still, drugs aren't zero-harm and many of the issues are as yet unknown, there's still no case for legalising something harmful.

Last edited by uziq (2020-01-02 17:30:59)

No safe level of drinking

While there is no safe level of drinking, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed some guidelines to help us understand the impact of drinking on our health, wellbeing and safety.

Last edited by uziq (2020-01-02 18:12:18)

Even the occasional drink is harmful to health, according to the largest and most detailed research carried out on the effects of alcohol, which suggests governments should think of advising people to abstain completely.

The uncompromising message comes from the authors of the Global Burden of Diseases study, a rolling project based at the University of Washington, in Seattle, which produces the most comprehensive data on the causes of illness and death in the world.

Alcohol, says their report published in the Lancet medical journal, led to 2.8 million deaths in 2016. It was the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability in the 15 to 49 age group, accounting for 20% of deaths.

[...]
Moderate drinking has been condoned for years on the assumption that there are some health benefits. A glass of red wine a day has long been said to be good for the heart. But although the researchers did find low levels of drinking offered some protection from heart disease, and possibly from diabetes and stroke, the benefits were far outweighed by alcohol’s harmful effects, they said.
[...]

Dr Robyn Burton, of King’s College London, said in a commentary in the Lancet that the conclusions of the study were clear and unambiguous. “Alcohol is a colossal global health issue and small reductions in health-related harms at low levels of alcohol intake are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer,” she wrote.

“There is strong support here for the guideline published by the Chief Medical Officer of the UK who found that there is ‘no safe level of alcohol consumption’.”

Last edited by uziq (2020-01-02 21:52:29)

Last edited by uziq (2020-01-02 22:13:58)

uziq wrote:

drinking alone must be a blast.

uziq wrote:

crystal meth is not that much of a global health issue. evidently bogans are losing their teeth to chemicals manufactured in SE asia rather than taking hugely expensive cocaine imported from south america. it's almost like you don't understand very simple drug trends.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2020-01-02 22:37:09)

'75% of people' weren't excluded in that study at all, you just pulled that figure out of your arse, and besides it was an australia-specific study that took some (arguably outdated) australian government guidelines on 'low-risk' consumption as a noise filter. where are you getting it from that 75% of people's alcohol consumption is under 4.5 pints a week? and besides, plenty of governments and health ministers now advise that any amount is harmful, so even that 'low-risk' claim is spurious and up for debate.

Dilbert_X wrote:

So they factored out all the harmless alcohol consumption and only included the harmful alcohol consumption

Dilbert_X wrote:

A major study by the Foundation of Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), which surveyed 1820 Australians, found that most of us are “moderate drinkers” — that is, we have nine or fewer standard drinks per week.

While the percentage of drinkers has increased from 77 to 82 per cent since last year, more than three-quarters do so no more than two days a week."

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2020-01-03 04:52:41)