Is Heroin the Worst Drug? Implications for Drug Policy

Abstract

There is general agreement on what drug policy should do protect the population from drugs that permanently damage their health, are life threatening, or that lead to behavior that threatens others. Drug policies should be based on properties of the drugs themselves, not on the public's attitudes toward or beliefs about the drug, which in part is determined by a drug's legal status and the number and kinds of users, and so are subject to modification should an illegal drug be found not to be so dangerous that its use as a prescribed drug should be prohibited.