Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances
In Health, Nov/Dec 1990
To rank today's commonly used drugs by their addictiveness, we asked experts to consider two questions: How easy is it to get hooked on these substances and how hard is it to stop using them? Although a person's vulnerability to drugs also depends on individual traits -- physiology, psychology, and social and economic pressures -- these rankings reflect only the addictive potential inherent in the drug. The numbers below are relative rankings, based on the experts' scores for each substance:
| 100 | Nicotine |
| 99 | Ice, Glass (Methamphetamine smoked) |
| 98 | Crack |
| 93 | Crystal Meth (injected) |
| 85 | Valium (Diazepam) |
| 83 | Quaalude (Methaqualone) |
| 82 | Seconal (Secobarbital) |
| 81 | Alcohol |
| 80 | Heroin |
| 78 | Crank (Amphetamine taken nasally) |
| 72 | Cocaine |
| 68 | Caffeine |
| 57 | PCP (Phencyclidine) |
| 21 | Marijuana |
| 20 | Ecstasy (MDMA) |
| 18 | Psilocybin Mushrooms |
| 18 | LSD |
| 18 | Mescaline |
Research by John Hastings
Relative rankings are definite, numbers given are (+/-)1%
Nicotine is so addictive that half of adult smokers smoke themselves to death
Deborah 39
Debbie 43
Neal 53
Johnny 40
Bryan 34
Susan 43
Swayze 57
My Dad 42
Noni 33
Kim 46
Char 33
David 41
Terry 53
Fred 43
Joseph 45
Carrie 33
Barb 42
Melinda 39
Helen 50
Chris 41
Created 2002 and reformatted 02/25/22 by John R. Polito