Alcohol and tobacco cause far more harms to people who consume them, and to society overall, than marijuana does, according to a new government-funded study.
A panel of 20 experts with professional experience with substance use issues from across Canada were asked to evaluate 16 different drugs on 10 dimensions of harm to consumers, as well as six dimensions of harm to others, scoring each on a scale of 0 to 100.
“Alcohol causes the most harm overall, with a cumulative weighted score of 79,” the study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found. “It was followed by tobacco (45), nonprescription opioids (33), cocaine (19), methamphetamine (19), and cannabis (15).”
The analysis, which was supported with Canadian Institutes for Health Research grant funds, concluded that marijuana’s biggest harm comes not from its effect on consumers but instead is related to the illegal market.
“Cannabis’s highest weighted score was for organized criminal activity,” the paper, authored by a large team of academics affiliated with various research institutions throughout Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, says. “Though more than 70 percent of Canadians who purchase cannabis now do so through legal sources, organized criminal groups are heavily involved in the remaining
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