Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol

[CrossCuT]

I debated posting this...This subject might be pretty meaningless to post but Im not fully aware of the general feeling of marijuana at PM.

(If this will be the cause of too much madness I wont be upset if the thread is locked.)

 

 

Editor's note: Dan Riffle is a former assistant prosecutor and the director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, the primary financial backer of the 2012 campaign to regulate marijuana in Colorado.

(CNN) -- Anti-marijuana crusaders like Kevin Sabet, while well-intentioned, are promoting policies that lead to more violence and disease in our society. In his recent CNN.com op-ed, Sabet argues we should keep marijuana illegal. But as long as marijuana remains illegal, profits from sales go to criminals and drug cartels, and adults will continue to be punished for using a substance less harmful than currently legal drugs.

Confused? Let's back up. For more than 80 years, our government has spent tens of billions of taxpayer dollars fighting a war against marijuana. We arrest three-quarters of a million adults every year, 87% for simple possession rather than production or sales of marijuana. Courtrooms turn into assembly lines churning out probationers -- mostly minorities -- with convictions that will make it virtually impossible to find employment.

The result? Marijuana is universally available, used by almost half of Americans at some point in their lives, and we've enriched murderous drug cartels fueling violence in Mexico that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Today, marijuana prohibition has proven itself just as disastrous a public policy failure as alcohol prohibition before it. Yet despite all the obvious similarities between the two, there's one key difference: Marijuana is dramatically safer than alcohol.Of course, we've been down this road before. During alcohol prohibition in the 1930s, federal agents raided speakeasies and busted barrels of illegally produced and imported booze. Meanwhile, bootleggers made money hand over fist, empowering criminals like Al Capone to turn Chicago into an urban war zone. And much like with marijuana today, even under alcohol prohibition most Americans who wanted a drink had no problem finding one.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, excessive alcohol use is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death. In a typical year, there are roughly 25,000 alcohol-induced deaths in the United States, most from long-term consequences like liver disease and some from acute alcohol poisoning brought on by binge drinking.

Marijuana, on the other hand, does not cause overdose deaths and comes with far fewer long-term health consequences. A 2009 Canadian study determined the annual health-related costs associated with alcohol are more than eight times greater per user than with marijuana. And, according to the Institute of Medicine, people who use marijuana are far less likely to become dependent than those who drink alcohol.

There is a better way. Polling shows a majority of Americans want marijuana taxed and regulated. A growing number of states are bucking our federal government's policy of absolute marijuana prohibition, and the Department of Justice recently signaled it will not challenge state laws that regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana.Even if you don't drink, alcohol can kill you. Federal agencies report that 40% of violent crimes in the U.S. are linked to alcohol use, whereas those same agencies report that marijuana users usually do not commit violent crimes. Alcohol plays a role in a third of all emergency room visits. As a prosecuting attorney, I often had police confess to me how much they loathed arresting drunks, given how often the situation escalated to violence. I never fielded similar complaints about marijuana consumers.

The irony is that these perverse policies are cheered on by organizations with names like "Save Our Society" that seem to believe chaos will somehow ensue if adults are no longer punished for using marijuana. The reality is that by punishing adults who would rather use marijuana, we're encouraging them to instead use alcohol -- a more dangerous and harmful, but legal, drug. Public policy should be geared toward reducing violence and disease, not maximizing them.

By doing so, we can take marijuana away from criminals and cartels and put it in the hands of licensed businesses. Obviously, those businesses should be subject to sensible rules ranging from where and when they can operate and who is able to invest in them, to restrictions on advertising.

Don't believe it could work? In 2009, Colorado's medical marijuana industry exploded, prompting the state to put in place the kinds of regulations I've just outlined. According to CDC data on youth drug use, from 2009 to 2011 -- a time when youth marijuana use increased nationally -- the percentage of Colorado teens using marijuana dropped more than any other state in the country and is now below the national average.

Marijuana is safer than alcohol; let's treat it that way. Adults who would prefer to use marijuana instead of alcohol should be free to do so. Just as significant, the law enforcement resources spent making those three-quarters of a million arrests could instead be devoted to preventing and solving real crimes.

In other words, regulating marijuana would make America a safer, healthier nation.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/22/opinion/riffle-marijuana-safety/

Edited October 22, 2013 by CrossCuT

[Winchester]

Public policy should butt its stupid nose out. Public policy should take a long walk off a short pier. 

[Basilisa Marie]

Yes, obviously pot should be legal.

 

Says the kid from Washington State. 

[Isidore_of_Seville]

 

TRANSLATION:

Edited October 23, 2013 by Isidore_of_Seville

[CatherineM]

Pot triples your chances of getting schizophrenia if you have the genetic pre-dispensation.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I lean towards that marijuana is strictly a medicine for serious illness. If we abuse it recreationally it becomes a sin and making it legal will not remove the mental health consequences of sin. Though i have heard weed is not a sin but if it causes you to sin it becomes a sin. I honestly don't know. There are far worse drugs though, particularly the chemical bombs like heroin,cocaine,speed,crack,ice,exstacy etc etc. "Sin doesn't hurt us because it is forbidden, it is forbidden because it hurts us." Also i heard weed is the forbidden fruit from the garden of eden, the tree of knowledge between good and evil and as Christians through the grace of the father and ministerings of the holy spirit we don't really need the tree of knowledge (if thats what it is) anymore to understand good and evil,perhaps it only has a medicinal purpose now, the holy spirit teaches us all things now through christ jesus. Also i hear that the church is not against it though and just warns us to be careful because it is strong but she is against the chemical bombs and abuse of perscribed mind altering medicines that the abuse of these is actually a sin, as is alcohol abuse, marijuana though perhaps is much stronger even in moderation then alcohol in moderation, scientifically marijuana stays in the human body for up to 3 months,it is stored in the fat cells, so scientifically perhaps if choosing to use recreationally a joint once every 3 months isn't so bad. These are just my thoughts and experience and not even a 100% belief. Hope all that helps.

 

Onward christian souls. 

Jesus iz LORD.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Perhaps it works like this. You can drink more tea then coffee before it becomes mind altering, you can drink more coffee then alcohol before it becomes mind altering, you can drink more alcohol then marijuana before it becomes mind altering. And i'm not just talking about mind altering in an instant i'm talking about permanent and semi permanent mind alterations. But as someone just said some actually have an allergic reaction to different drugs(any drug),alcohol inclusive, and the allergy isn't always something your born with though possibly it can be like peanut butter, but it is also an allergy that can be develop over time.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Tab'le De'Bah-Rye

[Isidore_of_Seville]

Spiritual Question for you, Tab:

Can you explain to me how doing things recreationally is a sin? I don't think that God ever banned fun in the bible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreation

 

Medical statement for you, Tab:

You should probably read the article that Cross Cut posted at the start of this thread (clearly you didn't before you posted these comments) because it basically addresses all of your medical concerns.

[Isidore_of_Seville]

Edited October 23, 2013 by Isidore_of_Seville

[Catherine Therese]

I have seen first hand that prolonged marijuana usage can lead to paranoid scitzophrenia and deteriorate further, culminating in suicide.

I recount this case of one man, a member of my family, not to argue for or against the point being made but simply to provide additional facts for people considering their own position on the matter.

Statistics and studies can dehumanize the impact of recreational drugs, whether alcohol, marijuana or any other drug. The life of every single human being matters. Life is NOT cheap. Just something to consider.

[Anastasia13]

 

Glad you corrected that because I was about to post a link that shows marijuana is addictive. It's also a gateway drug in regard to the change in attitude that smokers have about ingesting things in their body. It also leads to an increase in crime, thought I do not know exactly how violent.

 

[Isidore_of_Seville]

Glad you corrected that because I was about to post a link that shows marijuana is addictive. It's also a gateway drug in regard to the change in attitude that smokers have about ingesting things in their body. It also leads to an increase in crime, thought I do not know exactly how violent.

 

Right, so, marijuana is not physically addictive. And it does not lead to an increase in crime, and it is not a gateway drug the way some statisticswould have you believe.

 

Please provide links to wherever you learned all of this information so that I can debunk it in seconds and increase your knowledge on this subject so that you stoop this nonsensical nonfactual ranting.

[Anastasia13]

The disclaimer on the article posts notes the Pro-Marijuana side of the author.

 

Let's look at some medical facts about marijuana:

 

Long-term marijuana use causes brain damage and damages other systems in the body. There are legal drugs utilizing THC and opportunities to investigate the other cannabinoids without the harmful effects of the number of other chemicals in marijuana.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/

 

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that in 25% of all motor vehicle crash fatalities, the driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 g/dL (one eighth the legal limit) or greater, and in 21-year-old drivers, that figure rose to 39%.¹² Drivers with a previous DWI (“Driving While Impaired”) conviction were responsible for 7.2% of all crashes involving alcohol.

In comparison, the percentage of road traffic accidents in which one driver tested positive for marijuana ranges from 6% to 32%.^{13, 14}

 

Legalizing the use of marijuana by a state not only violates federal law but international law thanks to a treaty we signed a couple decades ago.

 

Legalizing marijuana also leads to increases in crime. The link above notes the driving accident rates with marijuana vs. alcohol and the range higher or lower. This is without the broadspread legalization of it.

 

Where medical marijuana is legalized, there are more kids suspended from school because of marijuana possession even though it was supposed to be allowed for only those above 18 years old. There are more kids accessing it through non-medical use sales. There are doctors easily prescribing it for sums of money (example this happened at a music festival in Colorado I believe). Kids are being exposed to it through their parents smoking. Drugs that are smoked stay on the material around where the smoke was. Growing marijuana at home is often done in such a humid environment that it festers toxic mold.

 

The third THC drug is under studies with the FDA to use the good in marijuana and avoid the bad. This is the research we should be funding.

 

Sources include a recent conference with multiple law enforcement and medical professionals.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Light and Truth

[Isidore_of_Seville]

I have seen first hand that prolonged marijuana usage can lead to paranoid scitzophrenia and deteriorate further, culminating in suicide.

I recount this case of one man, a member of my family, not to argue for or against the point being made but simply to provide additional facts for people considering their own position on the matter.

Statistics and studies can dehumanize the impact of recreational drugs, whether alcohol, marijuana or any other drug. The life of every single human being matters. Life is NOT cheap. Just something to consider.

 

The great part about science is that it doesn't care what happened to you. The fact is that marijuana cannot cause schizophrenia. It can, however, trigger it in people who are already prone to it. There is a significant different between "triggering" and "causing" in the medical world and I would implore you to research the difference as well as how marijuana actually affects schizophrenia.

 

Marijuana is obviously not safe for every single person to use. People with no arms and no legs can't swim, so going into a pool is probably a dangerous idea. But that doesn't mean the rest of us can't swim.

[Isidore_of_Seville]

The disclaimer on the article posts notes the Pro-Marijuana side of the author.

 

Let's look at some medical facts about marijuana:

 

Long-term marijuana use causes brain damage and damages other systems in the body. There are legal drugs utilizing THC and opportunities to investigate the other cannabinoids without the harmful effects of the number of other chemicals in marijuana.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/

 

 

Legalizing the use of marijuana by a state not only violates federal law but international law thanks to a treaty we signed a couple decades ago.

 

Legalizing marijuana also leads to increases in crime. The link above notes the driving accident rates with marijuana vs. alcohol and the range higher or lower. This is without the broadspread legalization of it.

 

Where medical marijuana is legalized, there are more kids suspended from school because of marijuana possession even though it was supposed to be allowed for only those above 18 years old. There are more kids accessing it through non-medical use sales. There are doctors easily prescribing it for sums of money (example this happened at a music festival in Colorado I believe). Kids are being exposed to it through their parents smoking. Drugs that are smoked stay on the material around where the smoke was. Growing marijuana at home is often done in such a humid environment that it festers toxic mold.

 

The third THC drug is under studies with the FDA to use the good in marijuana and avoid the bad. This is the research we should be funding.

 

Sources include a recent conference with multiple law enforcement and medical professionals.

 

Okay, the article that started this entire thread basically disproves every single thing you just said, so I would encourage you to read it.

 

Also, speaking personally as someone who smokes weed and drives every single day, it's not even close to as bad as alcohol and for regular weed smokers the impact on driving ability is practically nonexistent.