Science and Drug Policy

There was a study published last month in the lancet that I think is a step in the right direction for policy making. Science is the only tool we know of to gain knowledge about our world shouldn't it be a bigger part of policy making?

This study created a metric for comparing how harmful different drugs are. We should expect that as with all scientific endeavors, it will be disputed, found to be inaccurate and insufficient for many things, but then it will be improved on. This is a first step in the best we can hope to do. Its science and its awesome, and it will improve our lives.

Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse
Nutt D, King LA, Saulsbury W, Blakemore C
The Lancet - Vol. 369, Issue 9566, 24 March 2007, Pages 1047-1053

The most interesting part of this study is alcohol at 5th most harmful, Amphetamine at 8, tobacco at 9, Cannibis at 11, and exstacy at 18. Heroin was the number 1 most harmful.