Drug Harmfulness Comparison

Different drugs vary widely in their properties, and harmfulness. The chart below plots plots various drugs on a scale of addictiveness and potential for physical harm. The chart below was derived from a Lancet article on drug harm assessment and is published on Wikipedia, among other places.

Drug addictiveness/harmfulness scale
A categorization of hard (red), soft (yellow) and borderline drugs (orange).

No drug is completely safe, and critics argue the term “soft drug” shouldn’t be used, as it may imply that some drugs are almost harmless.