Drugs - without the hot air: Minimising the harms of legal and illegal drugs by Nutt David

Author:Nutt, David [Nutt, David]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781906860400
Publisher: UIT Cambridge Ltd.
Published: 2012-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 10.1: How the route of use affects the speed and intensity of a drug’s effect.

Figure 10.1 shows schematically the relative speeds of the most common routes of use.

Why are drugs used in different forms?

There are a number of different factors that determine how successful or harmful a particular form of drug will be. Within the industries, both legal and illegal, there are economic pressures to deliver the biggest hit of a drug per unit weight. This is particularly so for illegal drugs, which must be smuggled large distances around the world, but the drinks industry has also been gradually increasing the alcohol content of beers, ciders and wine. Ensuring that people consume more of the drug with every sip will almost certainly make these alcoholic drinks more addictive, guaranteeing a very reliable market.

Drugs are usually consumed within a social context, and some forms are seen as more sociable because they are easier to share. Cannabis is an obvious example because it is passed from person to person when it is being smoked; however it’s much harder to share cannabis this way when it is being eaten. (Similarly, tobacco smokers are unlikely to ask if they could share a nicotine patch, but will often ask each other for cigarettes.) On the other hand, it’s much harder to be discreet when smoking, and in many contexts drugs are unacceptable even if they’re legal. A cannabis cookie is more discreet than a spliff, and spirits are easier to drink surreptitiously than beer – the hip-flask for spirits being popular for precisely this reason.

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