PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mark Taylor
AU  - Kirsty Mackay
AU  - Jen Murphy
AU  - Andrew McIntosh
AU  - Claire McIntosh
AU  - Seonaid Anderson
AU  - Killian Welch
TI  - Quantifying the RR of harm to self and others from substance misuse: results from a survey of clinical experts across Scotland
AID  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000774
DP  - 2012 Jan 01
TA  - BMJ Open
PG  - e000774
VI  - 2
IP  - 4
4099  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000774.short
4100  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000774.full
SO  - BMJ Open2012 Jan 01; 2
AB  - Objective To produce an expert consensus hierarchy of harm to self and others from legal and illegal substance use. Design Structured questionnaire with nine scored categories of harm for 19 different commonly used substances. Setting/participants 292 clinical experts from across Scotland. Results There was no stepped categorical distinction in harm between the different legal and illegal substances. Heroin was viewed as the most harmful, and cannabis the least harmful of the substances studied. Alcohol was ranked as the fourth most harmful substance, with alcohol, nicotine and volatile solvents being viewed as more harmful than some class A drugs. Conclusions The harm rankings of 19 commonly used substances did not match the A, B, C classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The legality of a substance of misuse is not correlated with its perceived harm. These results could inform any legal review of drug misuse and help shape public health policy and practice.