{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T09:59:20Z","timestamp":1778147960626,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"11","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007914","name":"Brunel University London","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007914","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,20]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title><jats:p>To investigate how young and older people perceive the harms associated with legal and illegal drugs.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Design<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cross-sectional study: adults aged 18\u201324\u2009years versus 45+ completed\u2009an online survey ranking the perceived harms associated with 11 drugs on 16 drug-related harm criteria.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title><jats:p>Online survey.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title><jats:p>184 participants aged 18\u201324\u2009years (113 female: mean age 21: SD 1.3) and 91 participants aged 45+ (51 female: mean age 60: SD 8.5).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Main outcome measures<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2018Perception of drug-related harms\u2019: This was measured using a rating scale ranging from 1 (no risk of harm) to 4 (high risk of harm). Participants were also asked about sources which informed their perception on drug-related harms as well as their own personal self-reported drug experiences.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Of the illegal drugs, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine were rated as the most harmful and cannabis was rated as the least harmful. Alcohol and tobacco were also rated as less harmful. The results showed that perceptions of drug-related harms were inconsistent with current knowledge from research on drugs. Furthermore, perceptions on drug harms were more conservative in the 45+ group for a number of illegal drugs and tobacco. However, the 45+ age\u2009group did not perceive alcohol as any more harmful than the younger group.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>This survey demonstrates that the greatest misperception was in relation to alcohol-related harms which did not change with age. 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