Scientists put nine recreational drugs in order from least dangerous to most dangerous
Based on how many hospital visits they cause, the 2017 Global Drug Survey (GDS), which included hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world, ranked recreational drugs from safest to most dangerous.
It turns out that “magic” mushrooms cause the least number of visits to the emergency room. Cannabis comes in second, and LSD and cocaine tie for third.
At the other end of the chart, methamphetamine, synthetic cannabis, and alcohol caused the most trips to the local emergency room. MDMA (ecstasy) and amphetamines were in the middle of the drug safety table.
More than 115,523 people from more than 50 countries filled out the survey. Nearly 10,000 people said they had tried magic mushrooms in the past year, and only 0.2% of those people needed to go to the hospital after their trip.
That was by far the lowest percentage in the survey, but researchers are quick to point out that no drug use is completely safe, and there are plenty of other risks that don’t always end up in the hospital.
Adam Winstock, the founder of the Global Drug Survey and an addiction psychiatrist, told Olivia Solon at The Guardian that the risk of harm goes up when mushrooms are used with alcohol or in dangerous or unfamiliar places.
Winstock says that the most common reasons magic mushroom users go to the hospital are an accident, panic, short-term confusion, feeling lost, or fear of going crazy.
In fact, the biggest risk of taking mushrooms is picking the wrong kind and getting poisoned, said Winstock. If you still want to try it, he said, choose a safe place with people you trust and mushrooms you know aren’t dangerous.
In general, this is how the hospital visit score card looks:
- Mushrooms: 0.2%
- Cannabis: 0.6%
- LSD: 1.0%
- Cocaine: 1.0%
- Amphetamine: 1.1%
- MDMA: 1.2%
- Alcohol: 1.3%
- Synthetic cannabis: 3.2%
- Methamphetamine: 4.8%
The numbers for both men and women were averaged, but most of the time, women were found to be more at risk.
The goal of the Global Drug Survey, which has been going on since 1999, is to “make drug use safer, no matter how legal it is.” This means keeping drug users, medical professionals, and policymakers informed about what these substances might do to them.
If you’re going to take one of these drugs, it’s important to know what you’re getting into. Even with relatively safe recreational drugs, says the GDS team, you can’t be careless.
As part of being aware, you should know how long the effects can last. The effects of LSD can last up to 12 hours, but the effects of cannabis only last a few hours.
The people who wrote the report don’t support the use of illegal drugs, but they say they want to spread the word about what to do and what not to do with each type of drug so that fewer people end up in the hospital.
Winstock told The Guardian, “People don’t tend to abuse psychedelics, they don’t become dependent on them, they don’t rot every organ from head to toe, and many would say they had a profound and positive effect on their lives.”
