I would rather my kids use marijuana over alcohol because it isn't nearly as dangerous.

I do not want my children consuming alcohol or cannabis, but if one of them was to consume one or the other, I would rather my kids consume marijuana over alcohol because it isn't nearly as deadly. I will provide the basis for my argument. I like Con's attitude about the flexibility of the open format I've established. I take no satisfaction by establishing rules difficult to follow and unorthodox to those with greater life experience. When it comes to alcohol or cannabis, it is unfortunate that youth are likely to consume one or the other. This is true whether it is an experimentation or an regular use or abuse. The easy choice is to continue demonizing marijuana over alcohol because it's illegal, demonstrates potential changes in a youth's brain (1), or a risk of psychosis (2). Or perhaps it could hamper lung function or heighten cancer risk (3), even though a growing number of studies show the contrary (4). There are claims it effects cognitive function (5), causes flunking school (6), and the most famous of claims that cannabis consumers are unsuccessful in life (7). But science is showing that all of these associations with marijuana are not known as causes, and it may be that folks that are predisposed to psychosis seem attracted to pot (8). Because marijuana is illegal, it is the first thing that comes to mind. The legal ramifications are much more destructive to a young person than the penalties of being caught as an underage drinker. And that seems to be an illogical facilicy to assume that the relationship between alcohol and crime stops there. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (9) reports that alcohol use is an involving part in 40 percent of all violent crimes in the U.S. which include rapes (37%) and assaults (27%) (10). There has been no such relationship between marijuana users and crime, and what data there is is almost entirely because it is smuggled or cultivated in the U.S. or is grown in the U.S. illegally (11). But even then, the vast majority of people consuming cannabis are not those who are committing violence. In another study researchers scrambled to find what data there was to suggest those who abused marijuana were likely to die. None were found, but on the other hand, those who are young delinquent males and associated with alcohol abuse and died was 19 percent, or nearly 1 out of every 5 died (12), and deaths were common amount 11 percent of delinquent females. Furthermore, even if the delinquent youth were detained for 5 years, they still had a 4.7 times greater risk of death from other causes like murder, than did others with no alcohol disorder. It's also important to think about health too. But again, pot is not even close to alcohol. Binge drinking was half of the 80,000 alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. in 2010 according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (13). Now let's chat about costs. It's been shown that the costs to our economy from alcohol abuse was estimated to be $225 billion. 17 percent of all drinkers are binge drinkers, and 28 percent of binge drinkers are 18 to 24 years of age. Binge drinking is usually people with a household income of $75 or more, defined as the middle class. Yet there has been no documented instance where marijuana has killed anyone (14), without a predisposition to pre-existing health issues and no other drugs present or historically abused (14). In yet another study, the American Journal of Public Health observed more than 65,000 folks in the U.S. and discovered that pot use had no effect whatsoever on the mortality in healthy men and women (15). What about driving a car? Which is more dangerous? One study found pot could increase the potential for a fatal crash by 83 percent (16). But in a more recent study that had controls for variables like how much THC (the psychoactive property of cannabis) was present in the blood, showed no increase for risk of accidents. The same study also showed that having a blood alcohol level of just .05 percent, though, increased the odds for crashing your car by 575 percent! Alcohol also fares poorly when compared to marijuana in these following areas: " Intimate partner violence (17) " Overall violence (17) " Dependency of substance after experimentation is 9 percent for pot; 20 percent for alcohol (18) " Thousands and thousands of young people end up in the E.R. every year from alcohol poisoning, of which more than 1,800 die each year (19) Clearly, the more dangerous choice for drug is alcohol. Thanks. NeoKansas 1. http://www.jneurosci.org... 2. http://www.thelancet.com... 3. http://www.nytimes.com... 4. http://jama.jamanetwork.com... 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 7. http://http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com... 8. http://www.nytimes.com... 9. http://ncadd.org... 10. http://www.nytimes.com... 11. http://www.justice.gov... 12. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org... 13. http://www.cdc.gov... 14. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 15. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 16. http://www.cuinjuryresearch.org... 17. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 18. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 19. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov...