by Teazer on Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:57 pm
aha here's the new one:
The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9752, Pages 1558 - 1565, 6 November 2010
The only difference is now it's 8 pages long and the panel of experts was "Members of the Independent Scientifi c Committee on Drugs, including two invited specialists", and a more precise set of variables. Looking at the new list (which I've added below), there are even greater issues regarding weighting these, particularly combined with a scale for each going from 0-100 making it even more crucial that he use some kind of significance tests or methods to reduce the effects of outliers.
The variables were:
Drug-specific mortality: Intrinsic lethality of the drug expressed as ratio of lethal dose and standard dose (for adults)
Drug-related mortality: The extent to which life is shortened by the use of the drug(excludes drug-specifi c mortality)—eg, road traffi c accidents,lung cancers, HIV, suicide
Drug-specifi c damage: Drug-specifi c damage to physical health—eg, cirrhosis, seizures, strokes, cardiomyopathy, stomach ulcers
Drug-related damage: Drug-related damage to physical health, including consequences of, for example, sexual unwanted activities and self-harm, blood-borne viruses, emphysema, and damage from cutting agents
Dependence: The extent to which a drug creates a propensity or urge to continue to use despite adverse consequences (ICD 10 or DSM IV)
Drug-specifi c impairment of mental functioning: Drug-specifi c impairment of mental functioning—eg, amfetamine-induced psychosis, ketamine intoxication
Drug-related impairment of mental functioning:—eg, mood disorders secondary to drug-user’s lifestyle or drug use
Loss of tangibles:Extent of loss of tangible things (eg, income, housing, job,educational achievements, criminal record, imprisonment)
Loss of relationships: Extent of loss of relationship with family and friends
Injury: Extent to which the use of a drug increases the chance of injuries to others both directly and indirectly—eg, violence (including domestic violence), traffi c accident, fetal harm,drug waste, secondary transmission of blood-borne viruses
Crime: Extent to which the use of a drug involves or leads to an increase in volume of acquisitive crime (beyond the use-ofdrug act) directly or indirectly (at the population level, not the individual level)
Environmental damage: Extent to which the use and production of a drug causes environmental damage locally—eg, toxic waste from amfetamine factories, discarded needles
Family adversities: Extent to which the use of a drug causes family adversities— eg, family breakdown, economic wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, future prospects of children, child neglect
International damage :Extent to which the use of a drug in the UK contributes to damage internationally—eg, deforestation, destabilisation of countries, international crime, new markets
Economic cost: Extent to which the use of a drug causes direct costs to the country (eg, health care, police, prisons, social services, customs, insurance, crime) and indirect costs (eg, loss of productivity, absenteeism)
Community:Extent to which the use of a drug creates decline in social cohesion and decline in the reputation of the community
Why does man Kill? He kills for food.
And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.