But the general perception of how harmful they are doesn’t line up with the experience of many users. It has a very high profile in terms of the media and popular consciousness, but based on our initial findings, it’s one of the lower-risk drugs,” Wilkins told the Herald. The latter would factor in prevalence of use, which was a major contributor to alcohol topping a New Zealand-specific drug harm index in a 2023 study; “harm to others” formed a bigger share of overall alcohol harm in the study than “individual harm”. Driving problems also rated low, and Wilkins noted reports the drug is sometimes used to help tired drivers stay alert. Wilkins believed people assumed, incorrectly, that those who used drugs were unreliable.
