2010 DrugHarmsintheUKaMulticriteriaD
- (Nutt et al., 2010) ⇒ David J. Nutt, Leslie A. King, and Lawrence D. Phillips. (2010). “Drug Harms in the UK: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis.” In: The Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6
Subject Headings: LSD, THC, MDMA
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=== Abstract ===
Background Proper assessment of the harms caused by the misuse of drugs can inform policy makers in health, policing, and social care. We aimed to apply multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) modelling to a range of drug harms in the UK.
Findings Members of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, including two invited specialists, met in a 1-day interactive workshop to score 20 drugs on 16 criteria: nine related to the harms that a drug produces in the individual and seven to the harms to others. Drugs were scored out of 100 points, and the criteria were weighted to indicate their relative importance.
Findings MCDA modelling showed that heroin, crack cocaine, and metamfetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals (part scores 34, 37, and 32, respectively), whereas alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others (46, 21, and 17, respectively). Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug (overall harm score 72), with heroin (55) and crack cocaine (54) in second and third places.
Interpretation These findings lend support to previous work assessing drug harms, and show how the improved scoring and weighting approach of MCDA increases the differentiation between the most and least harmful drugs. However, the findings correlate poorly with present UK drug classification, which is not based simply on considerations of harm.
- Figure 2
Drugs ordered by their overall harm scores, showing the separate contributions to the overall scores of harms to users and harm to others. The weights after normalisation (0–100) are shown in the key (cumulative in the sense of the sum of all the normalised weights for all the criteria to users, 46; and for all the criteria to others, 54). CW=cumulative weight. GHB=γ hydroxybutyric acid. LSD=lysergic acid diethylamide. File:2010 DrugHarmsintheUKaMulticriteriaD-Figure2.jpg.
References
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| Author | volume | Date Value | title | type | journal | titleUrl | doi | note | year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 DrugHarmsintheUKaMulticriteriaD | David J. Nutt Leslie A. King Lawrence D. Phillips | Drug Harms in the UK: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis | 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6 | 2010 |