Firstly, "linked to sugar" is not "squarely caused by sugar".
Secondly, sugar use is extremely widespread. Much more so than use of heroin. Few people avoid ingesting some sugar.
Even if there were 4 times as many deaths confirmed to be squarely caused by sugar, that alone shows sugar to be far safer, since it has far more than 4 times the users.
But never mind, let's look at, oh, the lethal dose (LD50) info. For sugar, that is supposedly something like 30 g/kg. The LD50 for heroin (intravenous) is something like 20 mg/kg: more than a thousand times less.
Plus there is copious sugar in your bloodstream without which you'd be in hypoglycemic shock leading to death.
> Firstly, "linked to sugar" is not "squarely caused by sugar".
Correct - the same goes for "Linked to drugs" and "squarely caused by drugs".
> that alone shows sugar to be far safer
Sugar is safer than cocaine, but that does not make it safe.
I shouldn't have said the only difference - sorry.
> But never mind, let's look at, oh, the lethal dose (LD50) info
This is too narrowly focused - the LD50 only refers to the immediate effects of a substance, not the long lasting effects.
I'd argue that long lasting effects are more dangerous as they're less apparent.
> Plus there is copious sugar in your bloodstream without which you'd be in hypoglycemic shock leading to death.
Yes, our bodies need sugar and create it from the food we eat. I was talking about the food we call sugar ("Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food.)
The physical dependence is the same, and there are 4 times as many deaths that can be linked to sugar as drugs per year in the US.
The only difference is that heroin is illegal and costs a lot more than candy.