computers putin'
Member
It depends on which metrics you want to determine safety with.
Alcohol has a pretty awful LD50 compared to typical recreational dose, leading to frequent cases of alcohol poisoning and death. Worse LD50 than cocaine. It also has extremely dangerous synergy with many other substances. It impairs motor skills and inhibition at the same time, leading to many thousands of drunk driving deaths, fights, and instances of domestic abuse. The short and medium term consequences include rapid weight gain, and long-term you're looking at cirrhosis, cancer, etc.
I would rank crack cocaine more harmful to its individual users and society than alcohol on the basis of its addiction potential and the rate of physical wasting involved with its chronic users, pretty clearly, but make no mistake, alcohol is a hard drug and among the most dangerous. It's just culturally entrenched. Crack is also known for being cut with all manner of really terrible toxic chemicals, which is its main problem beyond cocaine's long-term effects on the heart.
That doesn't mean that I necessarily want coke and heroin for sale at Walgreens to "even it out," or that I would like to see alcohol banned either, but I do believe these data are relevant in discussions about significantly less dangerous substances like marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA, all heavily regulated and demonized.
The bolded I did not know at all, that's really surprising . I wasn't trying to downplay the dangers of Alcohol and heavy drinking, and everything you've said about is undeniably true,( I've had people who've been close to me who've been addicted to both,and I've seen the fallout from both, so I know the side effects) but I was just considering addiction rate and the direct harm each drug causes to the user. Getting drunk can have dire consequences and can be just as deadly no doubt about it, moreso than any other drug out there, but when it comes to quality of life, crack seemingly has more adverse and far reaching effects than alcohol and alcohol addiction.