TAKING the synthetic drug ecstasy, which is derived from amphetamine, is no more dangerous than horse riding, Britain's top drug adviser said today. According to Professor David Nutt, chairman of the Home Office's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), "equasy" - addiction to horse riding - causes 10 deaths and more than 100 road traffic deaths annually. Fatalities linked to ecstasy use total around 30 per year. The ACMD, however, insisted that his remarks were made as an academic and not in his position as head of the interior ministry's drug advisory group. Prof Nutt's remarks come ahead of an expected decision by the ACMD to recommend that ecstasy be downgraded in Britain from Class A, representing the most harmful drugs, to the less dangerous Class B rating, a move the government opposes. "The point was to get people to understand that drug harm can be equal to harms in other parts of life," Prof Nutt wrote in an article in the latest edition of the Journal of Psychopharmacology. "There is not much difference between horse riding and ecstasy."
Prof Nutt added: "This attitude raises the critical question of why society tolerates - indeed encourages - certain forms of potentially harmful behaviour but not others such as drug use." A spokesman for the ACMD, meanwhile, said: "The recent article by Professor David Nutt published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology was done in respect of his academic work and not as chair of the ACMD. "Professor Nutt's academic work does not prejudice that which he conducts as chair of the ACMD."
Ecstasy 'no worse than horse riding' | World News | News.com.au
Its long been known Ecstasy itself is relatively harmless and the worst problem comes from either what it's cut with by dodgy dealers or forgetting to drink/over drinking because it suppresses the urge of thirst. The only other problem is overheating which relates to the thirst suppression.
It's purely principle that it's classed as illegal.
couldnt have said it better myself wrathlon. falling coconuts kill about 150 people a year. so imo your safe taking 3 pills a night then hanging out on a topical island.
Just to be clear I dont and will never take ecstasy or any other recreational drug but I do believe banning shit for the sake of it when its KNOWN to be harmless is retarded.
I wouldn't say Es are harmless, and like anything if you abuse them you can get into a lot of trouble.
Erm. I wouldn't say they're safer than horse riding... At least there's a certain amount of skill involved in horse riding - which governs the likelihood of you having an accident. There's no skill in taking drugs apart from being armed with the right knowledge. For example I'd say an inexperienced horse rider has less change of coming to harm than a teenager going to the Big Day Out in 40+ degree hit and eating Ecs like f*cking cough lollies (see latest example in Perth).
At the end of the day A can be safer than B, but it doesn't necessarily make A either safe or harmless.
just because a drug is physically harmless doesnt mean it shouldn't be concidered dangerous.
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the LEAST known toxic substance known to man and its still extremely dangerous and its virtually impossible to overdose..
most drugs are drugs because of their ADDICTIVE and socially damaging properties rather than their harmfull ones. Which is why a relatively new drug Salvia is legal in almost every country cept here and a few in europe, because we ban drugs as soon as they can be found to be abusive or addiciting.
Quote: Erm. I wouldn't say they're safer than horse riding... At least there's a certain amount of skill involved in horse riding - which governs the likelihood of you having an accident.
I'd say it's safer. Riding is killing more people in total. And I'd put down hard money that more people take disco vitamins than ride horses.
I'd go one step further and say everything is harmful, especially in excess.
Virtually everything you consume and are exposed to can have a positive and a negative. There are exceptions of course, like heavy amounts of radiation ;) ... but I expect people would keep what I'm saying in context.
Life's golden rule is moderation. Plain and simple.
Quote from rec;361134: I'd go one step further and say everything is harmful, especially in excess.
Virtually everything you consume and are exposed to can have a positive and a negative. There are exceptions of course, like heavy amounts of radiation ;) ... but I expect people would keep what I'm saying in context.
Life's golden rule is moderation. Plain and simple.
To go even one more step further and say homosapiens are harmful in excess! They should be banned! I say we kill most of them then the world we live in will be more safer! :p The earth and its animals will be more better off!
Quote from radav;361141: To go even one more step further and say homosapiens are harmful in excess! They should be banned! I say we kill most of them then the world we live in will be more safer! :p The earth and its animals will be more better off!
I take it you're the only person who liked The Day the Earth Stood Still While Bill S Preston Became Even More Tedious.
Otherwise put: if a tree falls in a wood and nobody hears it, who gives a shit?