In an analysis of the relative harm of drugs in the UK, members of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs found the combined ratings of harm-to-others and to-the-user for alcohol the highest, making it the study's most destructive drug. Twenty categories were examined, including loss of family relationships, injury - accidental or otherwise - dependence rates, and healthcare system costs.

Fascinating chart. Even more surprising than alcohol being ranked as the most harmful drug, is the magnitude of this harm. The collective destructiveness of the two legal drugs on the list, Alcohol and Tobacco, is greater than that of Shrooms, LSD, Ecstasy, Mary Jane, Amphetamines, and Cocaine... combined. It's strange that our laws would be so skewed against health realities. It begs the question, whose interests are in fact being protected?
The US alcohol industry makes $43 billion annually.

Actually, I believe that is the true value of this study, from a societal perspective. The harm-to-environment is very much what should be dictating the drug laws of our government. While the consideration must be made that, because alcohol is legal, its societal detriment is naturally multiplied compared to the less used illicit drugs. However, given the current reality of our drug laws, it is imperative we realize that- regardless of the proportionality of its harm to its number of users- alcohol (mostly due to drug-effected mortality) has an extremely negative societal impact, more than any other drug. To your points on heroin, Dependence and Psychological Detriment are factored in the study. Notwithstanding "it would be necessary to increase the weight on drug-related [or] drug-specific mortality by more than 15 of 100 points before heroin displaced alcohol in... overall harm."

Does this study include that the most major harm done by drugs is that they are illegal. By making an addicting substance illegal, we open the door exponentially to social injustices that reverberate to many innocent bystanders.