In the chapter “Is Ecstasy More Dangerous Than Horse Riding?” David Nutt again raises controversy. In the U.K., there are 5700 cases yearly of traumatic head injury from horseback riding accidents, 1 serious accident per 350 hours of riding. Dr. Nutt compares this rate to the yearly hospitalizations for ecstasy abuse and concludes that accidents from horseback riding and ecstasy abuse are on the same order of magnitude. Using this statistical comparison he wrote a “tongue-in-cheek” article for Lancet, the U.K. medical journal, calling addiction to horseback riding as “equasy:” equine addiction syndrome.
drugs are illegal because they are harmful, and they are harmful because they are illegal, except for alcohol and tobacco.

















