E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

16 Living with Risk (book), published by the British Medical Association, 1990

This book contains statistics on and evaluations of various risks commonly taken by people in the UK. It includes a comparative list of the risk to an individual of dying in any one year from various causes:

Smoking 10 cigarettes a day: 1 in 200 All natural causes at age 40: 1 in 850 Violence or poisoning: 1 in 3,300 Influenza: 1 in 5,000 Accident on the road: 1 in 8,000 Playing soccer: 1 in 25,000 Accident at home: 1 in 26,000 Hit by lightning: 1 in 10,000,000

The chapter on drug use points out that deaths from illicit drug use in the UK total just over 200 a year compared to the tens of thousands who die annually from alcohol use and tobacco smoking.

It is also pointed out that "heatstroke is becoming a problem in long distance running events . . . In Canada, 1% are admitted to hospital during and after mass-participation runs [marathons]" and that parachuting and hang gliding kill about 3 in 1,000 participants per year.

Almost every psychoactive drug has been regarded by some society as a dire threat to public order and moral standards, while regarded as a source of harmless pleasure by others. Almost every society has one drug whose use is tolerated, while others are regarded with deep suspicion.