ALCOHOL and tobacco could be ranked as more damaging than the class-A drug ecstasy if the government adopts recommendations to reclassify drugs according to the harm they do.

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA) will recommend in a new report that alcohol should be moved higher up the harm scale because of its links to violence and car accidents. Tobacco is also in the top 10 most harmful drugs because it is estimated to cause 40% of all hospital illnesses.

The report from the RSA’s commission on illegal drugs is intended to provide a clear message of the risks of taking drugs. It examines “a serious misfit between the law relating to drugs and the way in which drugs are actually used by members of society”.

The RSA’s chief executive, Matthew Taylor, said, “Our report will include recommendations that we should look at the legislative framework so it is easier to classify drugs easily according to a harm index.

“This would not just take into account the harm to the user, but also to society — for example the cost to health budgets.”

The report will highlight a study carried out by the Medical Research Council chief executive, Colin Blakemore, to assess the physical harm and relative addictiveness of 20 illegal and legal drugs.

The most dangerous are heroin and cocaine, which came first and second with barbiturates third. Cannabis was 11th, ecstasy 18th while alcohol came fifth and tobacco ninth.

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