Pete Robinson: Is Alcohol Worse than Ecstasy?

During 50 minutes of absolute twaddle the episode entitled "Is Alcohol Worse than Ecstasy?" gave a count-down of the Top 20 Most Dangerous Drugs in Britain.

From the start it clearly aimed to be controversial with a scathing critique of Britain's 37 year old system for categorising drugs into three classes, A, B and C. Horizon then sought to replace this with a wiser system dreamt up by their assembled gaggle of half a dozen crackpot scientists.

From then on it became sadly predictable. Especially when you consider the aforesaid scientists were described as "experts in their field", some directly on the payroll of HM Government as medical advisors.

Smoking antis must have been cock-a-hoop to see Tobacco ranked at Number 9 in the dangerous drug charts. Ahead of Anabolic Steroids at 15, Cannabis at 11 and alarmingly LSD taking an innocuous 14th position.

Ecstasy barely made it into the list in a lowly 18th place despite currently being a class A drug.

However the eggheads' true wrath was reserved for the demon drink which at an incredible Number 5 nudged in just behind Methadone - naturally accompanied by video footage of pubs, bars and well-sozzled night revelers falling, fighting and vomiting in the street.

One could almost hear tambourines rattling as the usual scares and dodgy stats were trotted out with merciless monotony.

Forty million "users" nationwide. Binge drinking, binge drinking, and drinking in binges. Damage to the heart, liver and stomach. Mental problems and brain damage. 40,000 deaths annually. 180,000 hospital cases costing £1.7bn, 40% of all A & E admissions, "If alcohol was invented today it would be illegal, no question".

Nothing new here - you've heard it all before. Their main criticism was that because we, the public, find drinking both acceptable and enjoyable then we are all collectively guilty of promoting it's excessive use with publicans being little more than pushers.

The entire sorry episode was in reality just an excuse to knock the drinking and smoking habits of the masses. At times it appeared the 'street' drugs were only mentioned to drive that message home. If you enjoy a pint or a fag you are as bad or worse than the junkie 'shooting up' in some squalid squat.

For a programme that presented itself as a well-researched document it had more holes than my old man's string vest. For example the 'date-rape' drug GHB gets a clean bill of health at number 17, with no apparent consideration given to the obvious consequences of it's administration.

Also Tobacco was grimly stated to be "Britain's deadliest drug". Yet it still only made ninth place. My guess is that they'd have loved to have placed smoking at number one followed by booze as a close second. But even the antis would have rumbled 'em had they been so obvious, then their game would be up.

So they slotted them in at the borders of feasibility and logical argument. "We've already got the smoking ban so we may as well stick tobacco somewhere behind alcohol for now... say ninth? All agreed? Lov-er-ly". But the most chilling aspect of this entire fiasco came near the programme's end, when their group leader, Professor David Nutt, discussed how they would persuade the Government to put their findings into a legal framework.

What findings? It seems they've collectively written a paper on this but there's been no new research whatsoever. It's merely the personal prejudices and agendas of a handful of professional antis who have reworked the same tired old statistics.

And therein lies the fatal flaw. The statistics are not in the least reliable, being at best poorly compiled and at worst flagrantly fraudulent.

These are statistics that record the death of a 90-year-old who smoked a few packets of cigarettes back in the 60's as "smoking related". Or a young chap knocked down by a speeding police car as "alcohol related".

What really pisses me off is the way their conclusions are considered as beyond question. 'Science has spoken'. Society doesn't belong to the State or it's scientists. It belongs to us, we the people. Must 'we' continually change our opinions, behaviour and traditions simply because we fail to satisfy the dictat of a pious few?

According to these learned gentlemen alcohol must be reclassified as a Class A drug which should be enough to close every pub in Britain - or at least arm the Treasury with enough ammo to tax them out of existence.

Unless of course you convert to selling harmless alternatives such as Ecstasy and LSD instead of beer.