The farther a line is from the center, the worse the drug (generally) is.

Edit: People have pointed out numerous times that some displayed stimulants, though ranking fairly low here, have a large potential for accidental overdosage. Don't take it as gospel, everything has risks that can't be easily plotted.

The chart was made using data from this 2007 Lancet study. It's not perfect, as drug reactions vary wildly between people and the "social harm" green line incorporates the opinions of pigs. It's definitely one of the better risk assessment tools out there since it doesn't incorporate ridiculous drug policies. Here is an alternate mapping.

For many drugs, the "experimental" stage of use can rapidly enter dependency. Keep this in mind.

Made in reaction to this post where a comrade outlines family struggles with drug abuse, and how it's irresponsible to glorify drugs and alcohol. Use this chart to determine which drugs to glorify instead.

  • Melon [she/her,they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Many drugs cause major damage to the family, either because of the ef f ect of intoxication or because they distort the motivations of users, taking them away from their families and into drug-related activities, including crime. Societal damage also occurs through the immense health-care costs of some drugs. Tobacco is estimated to cause up to 40% of all hospital illness and 60% of drug-related fatalities. Alcohol is involved in over half of all visits to accident and emergency departments and orthopaedic admissions.

    To some degree, it seems like a popularity contest. It also mentioned how intravenously distributed drugs, like heroin, contribute to the AIDS epidemic (and thus is a social harm).

    So, to answer your question, it defines social harms rather sloppily by combining measurable public health effects with criminality in a single statistic.

    • Awoo [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Mmm that's what I thought, sloppy definition. The difference between solvents dependence and physical harm vs social harm made me think it was probably a messy definition.