An official study has re-ranked the illegal drugs in Britain, and it actually shows alcohol and tobacco to be more dangerous than marijuana or ecstasy. The ill-named Dr. Nutt of the U.K. Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has ranked the worst drugs in Britain based on the drug’s damage to the user, potential for addiction and damage to society. Nutt’s widely renowned team of experts found British drug policy way out of sync with the actual damage done by each drug.

Heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and street methadone topped the list, with alcohol coming in fifth and tobacco ninth. Marijuana came in eleventh, and ecstasy was near the bottom of the list.

This disagrees with current drug policy in the U.S.A. and U.K., but, given the parameters of the study, the results make sense. Alcohol is used by far more people than ecstasy, and tobacco-related illness accounts for an estimated 40 percent of visits to English hospitals.

Tobacco and alcohol also have multibillion-dollar corporations with legal chains of distribution, lawyers, lobbyists and advertising backing up their addictive products, whereas the average crack dealer likely doesn’t even vote.

But it could be dangerous to apply this data to North Carolina, so don’t go buying a “Legalize it” T-shirt just yet. “Danger to society” is a key factor in this ranking; the danger to your health remains the same as before. For a drug to be dangerous to society, society has to use it, and drug culture changes by the county, let alone the country. Applying the culture of North Carolina to Dr. Nutt’s study would dramatically change the results.

Alcohol and tobacco might be more of a threat on Tobacco Road, in a state with such a huge illegal liquor market that the act of running moonshine in a souped-up Dodge has become a professional sport (it’s called NASCAR). Barbiturates seem to have gone out with Elvis and LSD around here and are less a threat along with methadone.

While meth isn’t topping the list in England, it damn well is here. North Carolina’s crystal methamphetamine problem has gotten so bad that pharmacists are required to give the name and dosage of anyone buying the meth ingredient, Sudafed, to the SBI.

Parents addicted to meth are so prone to abuse – and relapse after they get clean – that anyone caught dealing has his or her children adopted by the state and can never apply for custody or visitation rights. The Asheville branch of the SBI had 351 meth production busts in 365 days in 2005.

Misconceptions about drug culture have kept law enforcement from being effective in the War on Drugs from its inception. Richard Nixon actually made Elvis Presley an official DEA agent, and Nancy Reagan thought that Gary Coleman would be a good DARE spokesman. Recent studies show U.S. anti-drug advertising has resulted in more children being addicted to drugs than if the ads were never run.

North Carolina’s recent dramatic increase (estimated 20 percent in the 2002 census) in drug-related crime and convictions has forced the state to start building six new state prisons, but estimates still predict that there won’t be cells for 16 percent of inmates in 2013. We need a new plan that’s effective in dealing with our drug problem, and we need it now. Dr. Nutt’s study could lead that change in strategy.