10 ms·
Study after study, dataset after dataset, have shown marijuana to be a less dangerous drug than alcohol. It is also a less socially destructive drug. We've also
by borgia 12y ago
Study after study, dataset after dataset, have shown marijuana to be a less dangerous drug than alcohol. It is also a less socially destructive drug. We've also seen that better access to drugs leads to a lowering in overall drug use.
If my kids were to come to me and ask about alcohol vs marijuana, regardless of legality, I would tell them that they should aim to have small amounts of alcohol frequently and small amounts of marijuana very occasionally. If that put them in a situation whereby most of their life was sober, they still had a few drinks at an occasional party and occasionally had a joint or two, I think they'd be in good shape and still get to enjoy some great experiences that pure abstinence would withhold from them.
It's not a good idea to use either drug heavily and frequently, particularly when one's brain is still developing. With that being said, almost everyone I know has drank frequently and often pretty heavily since their teens and I haven't witnessed any of them really suffering for it.
I have, on the other hand, watched many people abuse pot from a young age and now, over a decade later, their life and mental health is a wreck. But perhaps they abused pot because they weren't mentally stable anyway and it just made things worse, but that this was somewhat inevitable?
It's hard to tell, but neither drug used in moderation will do much damage and so, legal or not, it really just remains a case of "all in moderation".
- reality_czech 12y agoMarijuana is a fat-soluble drug. When you start consuming it, it gets stored inside adipose (fat) cells in your body. When your body needs to burn some of that fat, the drug will get released. So you never really get off of it until months after you stop using it. In contrast, alcohol and its byproducts are quickly metabolized and leave your body in a few hours. Neither alcohol nor pot is good for developing brains, but alcohol doesn't hang around. Pot does. Alcohol is certainly a more "dangerous drug" in the sense that it's easier to overdose on it than pot. Of course, if that's our measure, paracetemol (Tylenol) is more dangerous than either. It only takes a small amount of Tylenol to cause liver failure and death. And unlike alcohol, you probably won't throw up on an overdose. Honestly I get tired of these articles comparing pot and alcohol. They always miss the point. Yes, they're both drugs, but that's about where the similarity ends. Pot is a lifestyle drug because it hangs around in your body. Alcohol is something that you can take or not take on each day as you choose. It would be a lot better to legalize MDMA, or maybe some MDMA analogue that didn't have the neurotoxicity issues. Incoming downvotes from pot advocates in 3, 2, 1...
- rosser 12y agoMarijuana metabolites don't lurk in adipose tissue, waiting to sneak up on you and fuck up your brain or make you unexpectedly high for "months". Laboratory drug panels — the kind used in pre-employment drug screens, or to test athletes — with sensitivities as fine as 20ng/mL can typically detect metabolites up to 30 days after cessation, in long-term, daily users with high body fat ratios. Casual, infrequent users will typically piss clean in less than a week. Alcohol is something that you can take or not take on each day as you choose. Tell that to a long-term alcoholic. Alcohol is one of the only known drugs for which withdrawal can be fatal.
- reality_czech 12y agoFair enough, "months" might be an exaggeration. But "weeks" is still a pretty long time to deal with the drug. It is certainly not true that "alcohol is one of the only known drugs for which withdrawal can be fatal." In reality, any other GABA receptor agonist would have the same behavior, for the same reasons. There are plenty of them known: barbituates, benzodiazepines, valerian, and a ton of other sedatives they developed in the 70s and have been gradually phasing out ever since. In fairness, it is certainly true that withdrawal from marijuana is never fatal. But you really have to be using alcohol in enormous amounts pretty much constantly to ever be at risk of delirium tremens. The eqivalent behavior for marijuana would expose you to the same level of lung cancer risk as a two-pack-a-day smoker, and for the same reasons.
- DanBC 12y ago> Incoming downvotes from pot advocates in 3, 2, 1... Please don't do that. The guidelines ask you not to do it. It poisons discussion.