Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Police chief defends ‘safe’ Ecstasy Ecstasy is safer than aspirin, Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales Police, has said. Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, Mr Brunstrom repeated his call for the legalisation of drugs. “There’s a lot of scaremongering and rumour-mongering about Ecstasy in particular,” he said. “It isn’t borne out by the evidence. Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin. It is far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol.” He added: “The prohibition regime does not work. It transfers billions of pounds of our money into the hands of organised criminals.” The Government rejected a formal submission to the Home Office last year by Mr Brunstrom in which he called for proscribed drugs to be legalised. Annual number of deaths from aspirin (or aspirin like drugs) in the US :7,600 Number of ecstasy related deaths in the UK: 46 Which is more deadly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2008 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2008 I will say that your thread title and your poll question completely contradict and may distort your poll result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 I will say that your thread title and your poll question completely contradict and may distort your poll result.Amended Sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinity-Tom Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Good point Brian. To be perfectly honest though, I was not aware of any of the issues relating to aspirin but I never take it, it makes my left eye swell up for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Good point Brian. To be perfectly honest though, I was not aware of any of the issues relating to aspirin but I never take it, it makes my left eye swell up for some reason.In which case, stick to ecstasy, obviously safer for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Annual number of deaths from aspirin (or aspirin like drugs) in the US :7,600 Number of ecstasy related deaths in the UK: 46 Which is more deadly? Can we compare eggs with eggs, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Sorry, couldn't find any eggs to compare - no obvious stats for UK deaths from aspirin related drugs or US stats for ecstasty related drugs. As a stockbroker might say - DYOR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2008 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2008 I'm not familiar with the pros and cons of ecstasy BUT the very fact that it is produced underground means by definition that you can never be sure you are taking ecstasy. That to me is Russian roulette. Ecstasy may be fine, but what if you're about to swallow a cocktail of rat poison and ecstasy :? Sorry, I voted ecstasy as more deadly. If it was legalised and produecd by a reputable drug company then I'd do the research, but even at that I've no interest in mind-altering drugs and thankfully never have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahamaad Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Most of the aspirin related deaths are due to deliberate overdose. How about asking if taking one 75mg aspirin tablet is the same as taking one ecstasy tablet. Police talking shite as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Most of the aspirin related deaths are due to deliberate overdose. How about asking if taking one 75mg aspirin tablet is the same as taking one ecstasy tablet. Police talking shite as usual. So most aspirin related deaths are as a result of people abusing drugs, whereas most ecstasy related drugs are as a result of people abusing drugs. Chalk and cheese I wouldn't conclude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2008 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2008 Another point on this. I've no doubt that there is a certain amount of scaremongering in many things other than ecstasy. Fact is the public WANT scaremongering because they don't want a perceived public tolerance towards something that could potentially kill an impressionable child/teenager. Best to keep them scared of the boogy man, that way they don't tempt fate. On a related topic, there have been a spate of cocaine-related deaths over here recently, attributed to a 'bad batch'. One high profile victim was a socialite model called Katy French. Now there's a public outcry about it and people are talking tentatively about some kind of 'education' rather than the up-to-now outright 'no no no' approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Gee, thanks! I'm assuming that DYOR means do your own research? Also, what are the stats on the ratio of deaths to users and whether the deaths are accidental? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 I'm not familiar with the pros and cons of ecstasy BUT the very fact that it is produced underground means by definition that you can never be sure you are taking ecstasy. That to me is Russian roulette. Ecstasy may be fine, but what if you're about to swallow a cocktail of rat poison and ecstasy :? Sorry, I voted ecstasy as more deadly. If it was legalised and produecd by a reputable drug company then I'd do the research, but even at that I've no interest in mind-altering drugs and thankfully never have done.But with a regulated and monitored production facility is it not likely that those 46 deaths per annum would be reduced to near zero? Regardless of your personal interest in such party poppers, would it not be a move towards reducing fatalities and reducing the hold the druglords have over the party scene? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahamaad Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Most of the aspirin related deaths are due to deliberate overdose. How about asking if taking one 75mg aspirin tablet is the same as taking one ecstasy tablet. Police talking shite as usual. So most aspirin related deaths are as a result of people abusing drugs, whereas most ecstasy related drugs are as a result of people abusing drugs. Chalk and cheese I wouldn't conclude. Mlost aspirin related deaths are due to people taking 100 of them to top themselves, while the ecstasy ones are due to people taking one and having a cardiac arrhythmia or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Mlost aspirin related deaths are due to people taking 100 of them to top themselves, while the ecstasy ones are due to people taking one and having a cardiac arrhythmia or something similar. Good point. Most - interesting term. If we just abuse stats and divide the US stats by 5 to make them comparable to the UK, that would give roughly 1,500 deaths by aspirin, to 46 deaths by ecstasy. If we are talking about "most" would that mean that some of the 1,500 UK deaths by aspirin are not caused by overdose? And may there be a reasonable amount, ie more than 4% (ie 60 > 46) that could be caused by the users own reaction to aspirin? I ain't taken a tab for years - just stoking the debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2008 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2008 Have to agree with Ali there Gringo. I don't have the figures but I would safely guess that the majority of aspirin-related deaths are intentional. Whereas ecstasy is taken as a party drug and it goes wrong i.e. accidental death. A huge difference there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahamaad Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Add into that aspirin is easily available as over the counter whilst esctasy isn't which further distorts facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Most ecstacy related deaths occur when people drik too much water, Leah Betts died because of this I believe. Can anyone find any cases where someone has simply died from taking an ecstacy tablet and nothing else? Its not the most sensible thing to do but its really not that dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Distorts which facts? More people use asprin, so more people die of it? Ali, you are the Doc - any stats you could call upon? Lots of people use ecstasy. Some die. Lots of people use aspirin some die. Without some real comparative stats, we are forever comparing chalk with cheese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Aspirin or Andy Partridge. What a strange poll... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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