Marijuana vs. Alcohol in the United States Essay

Alcohol and marijuana are two drugs commonly used and abused in the United States. Alcohol is the number one abused drug, while marijuana is number one among illegal drugs. While alcohol remains legal, and marijuana illegal, this does not necessarily mean that alcohol is better for you. There have been many arguments where people suggest that marijuana should be legal because alcohol is more deadly. On the other hand, there are alcoholics who would tell a pothead that smoking weed is bad for you. Both substances are very bad for your health and should not be heavily used by anyone.

The statement “marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol” cannot go unchallenged and should be debated. One important subject is the risk that marijuana use (especially in young adults) can lead to some kinds of mental illness. “Studies support findings that risk of schizophrenia doubles in young abusers” (U.S. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2009). According to Joseph Califano Jr., CASA founder and chairman of Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) “If we were to make marijuana legal and taxed it, for approximately every dollar of tax revenue, there could be as much as seven dollars incurred in medical costs”.

So while it is very possible to die from having a few too many drinks, smoking marijuana seems to be far less toxic of a substance (Foland).

Marijuana has been around for centuries. It comes from the species of plant Cannabis Sativa, and is used for things other that its renowned drug form, such as rope, clothing, medicines, and oils. Other common names for it include

Every year, 400,000 Americans die of complications caused by tobacco products. Smoking kills more Americans each year than alcohol, crack, heroin, murder, suicide, car accidents, fires, and AIDS all put together. Every week, eight children under the age of eighteen die from alcohol related crashes. Alcohol abuse contributes to almost 50% of all traffic accidents, suicides, and homicides. However, despite the proven dangers of these "socially acceptable" drugs, they are still legal. Marijuana, a much less acceptable drug, is not legal however, despite the fact that research has yet to pin any specific dangers to this drug.

Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Cannabis is a

The legalization of marijuana will cause many problems. The drug is not only harmful to the body, but leads to the use of other narcotics. According to a recent study at Yale University “showed that alcohol … and marijuana were associated with an

Many people have raised eyebrows when legalization of marijuana received too much scrutiny from the public. Whereas alcohol, which poses more harm than marijuana, can be seen available almost everywhere. Alcohol, regardless of the doses, has insignificant benefit to the body just to remind an obvious example. Much worse when abused, alcoholism can disrupt endocannabinoid system. Folks with serious case of alcoholism are advised to use marijuana to reverse the adverse effects of alcohol in their body.

. Marijuana is a drug that can not be overdosed on while there are about eighty eight thousands deaths reported of alcohol overdoses a year. The likeliness of crashing while driving an automobile is also significantly higher when being under the influence of alcohol. Tobacco is also known to be worse than marijuana in terms of health.

Marijuana and alcohol have caused several problems over the past few years. However, alcohol has always been around. Marijuana has also always been around, but there was an absence of it for a good period of time. It is not becoming more popular all over the United States. Although neither stimulant 's are good for you, the usage of both is in a very high demand. Both marijuana and alcohol have different side effects. Being an alcoholic is by no means healthy for a person. Any person can easily get alcohol poisoning and death can result in it. More people are dying every day from people driving drunk. The effect alcohol has on one person body is far worse than being high from smoking marijuana.

Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the plant, Cannabis sativa. Which originated in Asia and is now grown world wide. The plant contains the psychoactive agent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is concentrated in the resin

In comparison to alcohol, marijuana is considerably less harmful to the general public despite all the propaganda claiming that it is dangerous and addictive. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, cannabis is listed as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. Yet there is no sufficient evidence it causes cancer, death, overdose or many of the other consequences of 'legal' liquor. The Marijuana Policy Project, the largest marijuana legalization advocacy group in the states, provides several facts that prove alcohol is more dangerous than weed. First of all the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that unlike the 37,000 annual U.S. deaths

On the comparison of marijuana with alcohol, the researcher proposes that the health risks are relatively similar. Although marijuana is known to have dire effects than alcohol, both drugs expose an individual to health hazard when consumed uncontrollably. Additionally, marijuana has more mental effects than alcohol owing to its THC active ingredient. They are both addictive which makes it hard for many people to regulate the

Marijuana use is much safer than the consumption of alcohol or the use of tobacco. Both alcohol and tobacco are the most deadly and addictive drugs, as well as the most used and abused, compared to marijuana. With marijuana, the pros outweigh the cons; where with alcohol and tobacco, that is not the case. As studies show, alcohol and tobacco are available everywhere, which causes them to be more risky and dangerous than the illegal drug, which is marijuana. Alcohol and tobacco are dangerous drugs that need to be eliminated for the sake of the people’s health and safety, unlike the use of marijuana, for the reason that it is not a deadly drug, it is a medicine that is beneficial to the people’s health, and it is harder to access.

It is unfair to treat marijuana users more harshly under the law than users of alcohol or tobacco. Prohibiting its use intrudes on personal freedom. Moreover, legal prohibition will not prevent users from consuming the drug. Neither does it stop traffickers from producing and selling it. The U.S Centers for Disease Control reports that every year in the United States, approximately 79,000 deaths are attributable to excessive alcohol use, making it the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation (Centers for Disease Control). For marijuana, the number of “marijuana-induced deaths” is zero. This clearly shows that alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana. If no restrictions are placed on the consumption of alcohol, why should the sale and consumption of marijuana be prohibited? Since marijuana is not a lethal drug, not toxic to human beings and not as addictive as alcohol or tobacco and since marijuana overdoses are almost impossible, it should be legalized. Legalizing marijuana will reduce the use of alcohol and tobacco which are far more dangerous than marijuana since they have a major impact on morbidity and mortality in the US. It is a known fact that alcohol is a contributing factor not only in most traffic accidents and traffic deaths but also in murders, assaults and other crime while tobacco use causes over 400,000 deaths.