Alcohol vs. Marijuana: All things considered, which one is worse for you & society &

[XtremelyBaneful]

mankind?

i've heard about a lot of scientists saying that marijuana is the overall less dangerous substance than alcohol. well alcohol is already legal, what sense is there in having a less dangerous drug to stay illegal? makes no sense.

there are bad things about marijuana though. kill brain cells, i heard you can get schizophrenia, smoking anything is just bad for you

and alcohol...i heard a doctor recently it's the most dangerous drug. everybody does it though so there's nothing that needs to be said about it.

so, which one is worst for

1. you
2. society
3. & mankind?

 

[VelcroWallet]

there are bad things about marijuana though. kill brain cells, i heard you can get schizophrenia

http://m.jneurosci.org/content/35/4/1505.abstract

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-marijuana-cause-psychosis/

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

http://m.jneurosci.org/content/35/4/1505.abstract

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-marijuana-cause-psychosis/

I thought I saw a thing a few years ago saying that marijuana does mess up your brain

 

[Kelly]

And you are going to bring this around to a political discussion on legalization....right?

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

And you are going to bring this around to a political discussion on legalization....right?

I guess. Wherever the thread takes it if it's successful.

 

[Ms. Marvel]

Alcohol.

 

[DeadPresident]

I thought I saw a thing a few years ago saying that marijuana does mess up your brain

The person smoking it has to have underlying brain chemistry sensitivities or it has to be smoked in unusually high doses before a person's neural development is complete for it to cause that outcome. And people who already have schizophrenia could have their condition severely worsened if they smoke it. It's unlikely to just illicit schizophrenia in someone who doesn't have an underlying predisposition to it.

Anyone trying to make it seem like marijuana is always safe or always dangerous is a moron.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

The person smoking it has to have underlying brain chemistry sensitivities or it has to be smoked in unusually high doses before a person's neural development is complete for it to cause that outcome. And people who already have schizophrenia could have their condition severely worsened if they smoke it. It's unlikely to just illicit schizophrenia in someone who doesn't have an underlying predisposition to it.

Anyone trying to make it seem like marijuana is always safe or always dangerous is a moron.

what would be an unusually high dose in this case?

 

[DeadPresident]

what would be an unusually high dose in this case?

That would vary from person to person and I haven't seen the research in a while so I don't recall. Depending on how sensitive someone's brain chemistry is to psychoactive substances it could be smoking marijuana once or having to habitually smoke it for several weeks.

The risk with marijuana is unless you're extremely familiar with your family's and your own medical history you won't necessarily know until you've already had adverse effects that may be irreversible.

While alcohol is quite bad and a percentage of people are prone to hereditary alcoholism it affects society in a different way than marijuana does. Alcohol has the potential for people to kill or injure others and themselves in car accidents or other unusual incidents, marijuana has the ability to permanently debilitate someone who doesn't understand they have an at-risk brain chemistry. This obviously applies to the THC component of marijuana which is the psychoactive component.

The rule of thumb is habitual marijuana usage before the age of (safely) 25 can have adverse effects since a person's neural pathways aren't set yet. Alterations in brain chemistry aren't completely understood so researchers find it difficult to predict exact outcomes in regard to specific substances, but they usually agree that if a person has specific psychological disorders marijuana presents a significant risk. A lot of this argument applies to alcohol as well but perhaps not to such an extreme degree.

 

[Victarion]

I don't have a problem with alcohol. IDK about mary-j.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I am for legalization/decriminalization, smoke myself ect. but... How many threads about this are we gonna have about this on the Hype?

 

[BestGirl]

Have any studies been done as to what percentage of marijuana users go on to suffer detrimental mental effects?

 

[DeadPresident]

I am for legalization/decriminalization, smoke myself ect. but... How many threads about this are we gonna have about this on the Hype?

Until it's law that everyone has to vape hemp oil at least 6 times a day and we give alcohol users 1000 lashes if caught, probably.

 

[Greens]

It also depends how marijuana enters the system. Edibles are less harmful than actually smoking the drug.

 

[CALSwimmer]

Alcohol by far. Medicinal they're both tremendous but recreationaly the former is pure death.

/end

P.S: As Greens mentioned edibles are by far the superior way to consume THC. Smoking it I still consider foolhardy because the level of carcinogens are through the roof regardless what the stoner/hippie logic says.

THC and CBD are incredible but only in its ingested forms does it gain its full splendor.

 

[DeadPresident]

Have any studies been done as to what percentage of marijuana users go on to suffer detrimental mental effects?

Marijuana and its nuanced effects on the brain and behavior aren't especially well-researched. There are fringe areas like its interaction with those that already suffer from specific psychological conditions that have been researched but it's by no means well-understood. That's why advocating widespread use is a bad idea because it's effectively rolling the dice and hoping for the best.

Alcohol, while quite harmful to society in general (IMO) at least has an extensive body of literature.

 

[Greens]

To answer the question, I think alcohol is worse overall. To bring it back to politics... I think all drugs should be decriminalized.

 

[SV Fan]

Edibles are less harmful than actually smoking the drug.

One problem with edibles is most people don't know how much is to much. They really need to regulate edibles and give people an idea that eating X amount of the product is like smoking 1 joint.

Most problems you see with people using marijuana come from people who overuse edibles.

 

[CALSwimmer]

Edibles are highly tricky. It's something you have to experiment and toy around with for over a year on almost a daily basis to get a full grasp over it and even then you'll find days where it may pack more of a kick.

The edibles that are made by big companies like Korova are beyond incredible but should only be done by those with a ridiculously high tolerance and probably years of experience. You kind of have to build your way up over dosages and actual length of time for both your body and mind to comprehend its full effects.

This is again assuming you're going to eat a 373 mg THC cookie in a span of a day or two. This is a lot of THC folks and not for the uninitiated.gl

 

[Greens]

One problem with edibles is most people don't know how much is to much. They really need to regulate edibles and give people an idea that eating X amount of the product is like smoking 1 joint.

Most problems you see with people using marijuana come from people who overuse edibles.

True. This really comes down to personal responsibility. Don't just accept something at a party or in any other situation where you're not 100% sure what you're doing. Take some time to do research, look for tips from users, make sure you're prepared.

The good thing about overeating is that it's a hard lesson you won't forget.

The party thing ESPECIALLY applies to pills (not marijuana but whatever). It's incredibly dangerous to take pills from a stranger, and people die from it every year.

 

[Greens]

Edibles are highly tricky. It's something you have to experiment and toy around with for over a year on almost a daily basis to get a full grasp over it and even then you'll find days where it may pack more of a kick.

The edibles that are made by big companies like Korova are beyond incredible but should only be done by those with a ridiculously high tolerance and probably years of experience. You kind of have to build your way up over dosages and actual length of time for both your body and mind to comprehend its full effects.

This is again assuming you're going to eat a 373 mg THC cookie in a span of a day or two. This is a lot of THC folks and not for the uninitiated.gl

This depends on where you live, but I've found that if you get edibles from a trustworthy store (good reviews, no shady people behind the counter), you'll almost always be fine if you take it slow.

 

[SV Fan]

Edibles are highly tricky. It's something you have to experiment and toy around with for over a year on almost a daily basis to get a full grasp over it and even then you'll find days where it may pack more of a kick.

The edibles that are made by big companies like Korova are beyond incredible but should only be done by those with a ridiculously high tolerance and probably years of experience. You kind of have to build your way up over dosages and actual length of time for both your body and mind to comprehend its full effects.

This is again assuming you're going to eat a 373 mg THC cookie in a span of a day or two. This is a lot of THC folks and not for the uninitiated.gl

I won't lie I am not a big pothead(I may smoke up once or twice a year) but the thing I don't get about edibles readings "horror" stories about them is why don't they just make edibles with less of a dosage in them.

As I said above they should just make it that you can eat the entire piece of whatever and it would have the equivalent of smoking 1 joint

 

[BestGirl]

Marijuana and its nuanced effects on the brain and behavior aren't especially well-researched. There are fringe areas like its interaction with those that already suffer from specific psychological conditions that have been researched but it's by no means well-understood. That's why advocating widespread use is a bad idea because it's effectively rolling the dice and hoping for the best.

Alcohol, while quite harmful to society in general (IMO) at least has an extensive body of literature.

Well, several states and countries have legalized the substance and I haven't heard about any surge in mental illness in those places. I think it's a reasonable risk to take.

 

[CALSwimmer]

I won't lie I am not a big pothead(I may smoke up once or twice a year) but the thing I don't get about edibles readings "horror" stories about them is why don't they just make edibles with less of a dosage in them.

As I said above they should just make it that you can eat the entire piece of whatever and it would have the equivalent of smoking 1 joint

They do but certain areas have way more options/companies.

California especially SoCal and NorCal have some god tier stuff in their dispensaries.

 

[DeadPresident]

Well, several states and countries have legalized the substance and I haven't heard about any surge in mental illness in those places. I think it's a reasonable risk to take.

It would take hundreds of millions of dollars to research the correlation and causality you're referring to, there's absolutely no way you can say several states/countries have legalized the substance and because there's no "surge" of mental illness we can make some causal link between the two - that's statistical conjecture of the worst kind.

It's like saying just because respiratory illness or certain kinds of cancer didn't surge in the first few years of using asbestos heaters or insulation means using asbestos was a reasonable risk to take. The long and short of it is plainly that there isn't nearly enough information about the THC component of marijuana and whoever is using it does so relatively blind unless they've got an extensive knowledge of their and their family's health history.