A study by the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies has ranked Alcohol as "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs, beating out crack and heroin when assessed for its potential harm to the individual imbibing and harm to others, according to study results released by a British medical journal.

A panel of experts from the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs weighed the physical, psychological, and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall.

Alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100. It was compared to 19 other drugs using 16 criteria: nine related to the adverse effects the drug has on an individual and seven on its harm against others.

That makes it almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco. Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, while alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others.

Panelists also noted that the rankings confirm other studies that say that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

In the article released by The Lancet on Sunday, ecstasy's harmfulness ranking -- 9 -- indicates it is only one-eighth as harmful as alcohol.

*** Now I know that Alcohol is a good time choice for most of my close friends but It's indeed a drug after all and we all have being informed on it's harm. Also there are those who say it's okay as long as you drink socially and not all the time, but does that mean we can do heroin and crack socially?? just to think about it... ***