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Do our drug laws focus on the truly dangerous drugs? This PSA first appeared in The New Republic on September 13, 1999. The PSA compares the danger of various popular drugs - based on data developed by Dr. Jack Henningfield for NIDA.

This advertisement appeared in New Republic, the National Review, NewsMax, the American Prospect, Reason, the Progressive and The Nation in winter 2005.

Available in printer-ready Portable Document Format (PDF).
Do Our Drug Laws
Focus on the
Truly Dangerous Drugs?
Comparing Dangers of Popular Drugs
     Source: Dr. Jack E. Henningfield, Ph.D. for NIDA. Reported by: Philip J. Hilts, New York Times, Aug. 2, 1994
     "Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria You Use."
Does Jailing Marijuana Users Make More Sense
than Jailing Coffee Drinkers?
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Mike Gray, Chair -- Robert Field, Co-Chair
717-299-0600 info@csdp.org, www.csdp.org -- www.DrugWarFacts.org

Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.

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https://www.csdp.org/publicservice/compare2.pdf