Did you see this story? Alcohol is statistically more harmful than heroin.

Just thought this was interesting:

Heroin, crack and crystal meth were deemed worst for individuals, with alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine worst for society, and alcohol worst overall.

The study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs also said tobacco and cocaine were judged to be equally harmful, while ecstasy and LSD were among the least damaging.

…

The study involved 16 criteria, including a drug’s affects on users’ physical and mental health, social harms including crime, “family adversities” and environmental damage, economic costs and “international damage”.

As a practice, I don’t drink.  But the older I get the more I find myself tempted to start since I’m at the point in my life where I’m really not likely to drink recklessly.  That said, I still generally stay away from alcohol and always have.  Nice to see my lifelong choice supported by science.

Science is cool. :)