Alcohol and drug use--is there a 'safe' amount?

Abstract

All human endeavors are associated with quantifiable risks. Knowledge of the risk is essential for personal health maintenance. Nontherapeutic use of psychoactive drugs poses an important danger to individual persons and society. What are the quantitative estimates of these risks? Are they acceptable?Because the basic mechanism of the toxic effect of alcohol or other drugs is unknown, deciding on acceptable risks is difficult. Based on current information, the recreational abuse of inhalants, hallucinogens, stimulants, narcotics and sedative-hypnotic drugs poses unacceptable individual and societal risks. Groups at special risk should not consume alcohol or any drug unless they are under medical supervision. The threshold for increased morbidity from the regular use of alcohol in adults is in the range of three to five drinks per day; this rises sharply after six drinks per day. The apparent "safe" level of alcohol consumption appears to be one to two drinks per day. Further basic studies are required to refine these risk estimates.