Marijuana Is Less Harmful than Alcohol

Effects on The User In comparison to alcohol, marijuana's effects on the user are much smaller. Not only alcohol contribute to far more deaths proportionally than marijuana, alcohol also has many side effects. One study finds that, "Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug. Laboratory animals (rats, mice, dogs, monkeys) can tolerate doses of up to 1,000 mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram). This would be equivalent to a 70 kg person swallowing 70 grams of the drug"about 5,000 times more than is required to produce a high. Despite the widespread illicit use of cannabis there are very few if any instances of people dying from an overdose. " A different study that looked at thousands of news articles and other assorted literature found no deaths from marijuana. [1][2] Alcohol, on the other hand, is a much different story. Around 88,000 deaths each year are reported from drinking too much alcohol. It is responsible for an additional 1.2 million emergency room visits each year. The economic costs of alcohol are estimated to be over $200 billion each year. It is estimated that alcohol costs each user about $165 dollars in health-related costs compared to marijuana's $20 per individual. Alcohol is clearly more deadly than marijuana. It is all too easy (around 10 "drinks") to overdose on alcohol, but almost impossible with marijuana. [3] One of the main side effects, brain damage, is actually much worse in individuals having taken alcohol. "Despite the myths we've heard throughout our lives about marijuana killing brain cells, it turns out that a growing number of studies indicate that marijuana actually has neuroprotective properties (i. e. , it works to protect brain cells). Meanwhile, it is widely recognized that alcohol use permanently damages brain cells. "[4] Finally, I'll consider addiction rates. The term "addiction" is a little vague, but study after study has found dependence on alcohol to be at a greater percentage than marijuana for users. "The researchers found that of those who had tried marijuana at least once, about 9 percent eventually fit a diagnosis of cannabis dependence. The corresponding figure for alcohol was 15 percent. "[5] Here is a chart showing various symptoms of addiction, including dependence, withdrawal, and tolerance: [6] Alcohol, across the board, scores higher (more serious) scores compared to marijuana. In conclusion, another study compared nine different effects of various drugs (acute harm, chronic harm, IV harm, intensity of pleasure, psychological dependence, physical dependence, intoxication, other social harms, and healthcare costs) and ranked them based on their combined score in all the categories. According to the list, with number one being the worst, alcohol was ranked 5, while marijuana was only ranked 11. [7] Effects on Others Arguably more important than the effects on the user, who makes a conscious decision to take a drug, are others, who don't have a choice in the matter. The effect of second-hand cigarette smoke is a classic example. Compared to the effects on the user, the effects on others of alcohol are horrendous. It contributes to higher levels of theft, violent crime, car accidents, and various other alcohol-induced events. The events are likely non-existent for marijuana users. The US Department of Justice has estimated that the majority of crimes are either caused or influenced by alcohol consumption. Around 40% of murders, 37% of rapes and sexual assaults, 15% of robberies, 27% of aggravated assaults, and 25% of simple assaults had alcohol as a factor. Alcohol is also a major factor in domestic and family assaults, with nearly 500,000 and 120,000 reports respectively. [8] As for traffic accidents, "In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. " There are even more non-fatal accidents caused by alcohol impairment. [9] Marijuana, on the other hand, is a much better story. "Not only does medical marijuana legalization not correlate with an uptick in crime, researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas argue it may actually reduce it [because it causes the number of alcohol-related crimes to decrease]. " This inverse trend has actually been found in Colorado, where it was legalized in 2012. As for traffic accidents, "Recent reviews have found the increase in risk to be approximately 1.5-3.0, an increase which is substantially lower, however, than that in alcohol-impaired drivers. "[10][11] In conclusion, here is a graph that compares the harm to the self and to others for various drugs: [12] Not only does alcohol significantly increase harm to the self, the harm to others is astronomical compared to marijuana. It is easy to see which one is worse to take. Conclusion Across virtually all counts, marijuana has been found to be less harmful than alcohol, in both harm to the self, including potential for death, health risk, and dependence risk, and harm to others, including crime and car accident rates. Marijuana is clearly less dangerous than alcohol. Sources [1]: . http://www.green215.com... [2]: . http://www.drugwarfacts.org... [3]: . http://www.cdc.gov... [4]: . http://www.mpp.org... [5]: . http://www.scientificamerican.com... [6]: . http://www.drugwarfacts.org... [7]: . http://scienceblogs.com... [8]: . http://ncadd.org... [9]: . http://www.cdc.gov... [10]: . http://www.msnbc.com... [11]: . http://www.drugwarfacts.org... [12]: . http://www.thelancet.com...(10)61462-6/abstract