5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk: Do Harsh Pot Laws Create a Dangerous Drinking Culture?

[Better Believe It]

Do Harsh Pot Laws Create a Dangerous Drinking Culture? 5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk
Myths about marijuana convince people that alcohol is safer, but science shows pot is the healthier choice.
by Kristen Gwynne
January 27, 2012

Alcohol kills approximately 70,000 people per year. Prescription pills, which have helped overdose become the leading cause of accidental death in America, result in more than 20,000 deaths per year. Marijuana has never killed anybody.

Although scientific research is available to show that pot is relatively harmless, and in fact medically beneficial, myths and propaganda about the plant’s alleged harm lead to marijuana laws so severe they often have the unintended consequence of driving people to drink alcohol, a much more dangerous substance than pot.

Many people do not understand just how harsh some marijuana legislation is. In America, pot possession so minor it is not even a misdemeanor can cause caring parents to lose custody of their children, because welfare offices may charge them with neglect, regardless of how good a parent they are. The legal ramifications of pot use may make parents who want to smoke marijuana more likely to drink alcohol, which is much more likely to create abusive or otherwise harmful behavior.

What's more, pot convictions can take away scholarships, food stamps, welfare, and public housing. Depriving a pot smoker of access to public assistance and housing while undermining his or her educational opportunities, may seem shocking. But politicians are escalating the punitive effort, with many states eager to implement mandatory drug testing for public assistance. Laws like these may well make alcohol a better choice than marijuana, as it does not have the same legal repercussions. Still, its health consequences are much more harmful than pot. Alcoholism not only causes liver and other types of cancers, as well as brain damage, it also increases the risk of death from car crashes and other accidents. And alcohol use is linked to acts of violence like rape, homicide and suicide.

Read the full article at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/153870/do_harsh_pot_laws_create_a_dangerous_drinking_culture_5_reasons_to_get_stoned_instead_of_drunk/?page=entire

[Uncle Joe]

1. An excellent and thought provoking article.

"While pot is not a gateway drug, pot laws may very well be a gateway to alcohol use, as people who fear the law may turn to booze. And for those who choose to use pot even though it is illegal, pot’s criminal status may nudge them closer to criminals, by putting them in contact with dealers."

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[Ohio Joe]

2. I know a good number of people that drink instead of smoke for legal reasons

I can't think of any that think drinking is safer or healthier then smoking.

[Kurmudgeon]

17. Illegality was to protect alcohol, tobacco and rope makers from low price competition.

Safety wasn't even a consideration, sad to say.

[Ohio Joe]

19. You know... That is something that has confused me for a long time...

I do not understand tobacco's resistance to making it legal. I would think they would be in the perfect position to take advantage of it almost right away. They have the infrastructure all set up to process and package... And with declining ciggaratte sales it would help make up what profits they are losing. I see it as a win win for them and do not understand why they are not all for it.

[SCantiGOP]

3. no question

If alcohol, tobacco and pot were all illegal, and one had to be legalized, it would be pot. But then the booze and tobacco lobbies wouldn't have anything to spend their millions on.

[flakey_foont]

4. I don't need a reason

[Voice for Peace]

5. I wonder what percentage of pot-smokers bother with other drugs or alcohol?

I know there are many who will overuse anything and everything.. but what's the majority trend?

[mitchtv]

8. Pot goes well with a nice cabernet

or chardonnay

[DCKit]

9. Yes, the balance is just about perfect.

But Big Pharma doesn't make $$$$ off weed and wine.

Further, if they had to sell their happy pills at the same cost, they'd lose their little, greedy minds.

[Better Believe It]

10. And chips .... cookies .... cheese .... anything edible.

[Mopar151]

11. Complex question, at the heart of the matter

A lot of stoners, particularly ones who use it somewhat medically, don't like pills or hard drugs at all, and will only take them as a last resort. I've known a few who swapped heavy-duty pain meds to "their man" for pot - "I hurt some, but at least I know where the fuck I am!"Their drinking tends to be moderate - basically, they prefer to be high, rather than stumblin' drunk and hurling...

[Better Believe It]

12. I don't use any hard drugs, smoke cigarettes and rarely drink.

But, that's it.

[Mopar151]

14. So you're a nicotine addict

One of the hardest drugs to quit, Long-term use has a high mortality risk. And it's the true gateway drug. What about prescriptions? Ambien and the benzodiazepenes (Valium, Klonipin, Ativan) are all addictive in the long term.

[Better Believe It]

29. I quit smoking 7 years ago. Sorry for the confusion.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. well, duh.

it's well past time to legalize, regulate and tax pot.

[Taverner]

7. Yes, yes, and yes

[Warren Stupidity]

13. When it comes to Teh Stupid: USA Number One!

[Quantess]

15. Why must pot smokers rip on alcohol? Is it jealousy?

Seriously, why knock down drinking to build up getting stoned?

The article fails to mention that smoking weed is unpleasant for many people. If you like it, knock yourself out, but I can't stand marijuana.

[Mopar151]

22. No, it's reality.

Compared to alcahol, pot is mild, with low toxicity and few side effects. This is especially true for diabetics, BTW.

[Quantess]

30. Too bad it sucks!

[loyalsister]

16. The two can not be compared

Pot has never been available in a way that it would fit into the US cultural tendencies toward over-consumption.

I think it is wrong headed bias toward a particular kind of intoxication. I also think that the problems is not so much what is legal but it's about cultural tendencies toward excess. Those values will be applied to whatever is available. - More money, bigger spending, huge house, big boat, fastest car, etc. Big macs, big gulps, double size candy bars. How much beer can be consumed via bong without dying. Etc.....

As soon as it's legal, there will be a greater tendency to over-consume pot to add to the "fun."

Consumption is driven by availability.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. I think the fact that nobody's ever died of a pot overdose is pretty good evidence...

That even if it were available in big gulp form for the masses, it would still be relatively harmless.

[loyalsister]

20. You miss my point

There has not really been that opportunity or will to apply over-consumption to pot.
Obviously the delivery is also a factor. It can not be compared to ingested or injected drugs.

I have not done the research, but are you familiar with anyone who has overdosed by smoking too many cigarettes in one sitting?

[Hippo_Tron]

34. I got your point, I just disagree

First of all, pot can be ingested by baking with it. Which brings me to my next point, that there is opportunity to over-consume pot, just not for as many people as there is the opportunity to over-consume alcohol, at least not in this country. I'm certain that many a stoner have decided it would be funny to eat an entire tray of pot brownies, for example. Yet there isn't even ANECDOTAL evidence that people have died from pot overdoes.

If there were small scale pot overdose deaths, I'd agree with you that perhaps making over-consumption of pot easier on a large scale would lead to more pot overdose deaths. But AGAIN, there are no pot overdose deaths, and there are plenty of people who have the opportunity to over-consume pot.

[loyalsister]

35. In highly concentrated doses?

My point is availability is related to consumption. Limited availability reduces the likelihood that people will over consume MJ the way they do alcohol. There is no valid comparison.

Compare the way they each effect the brain.
Compare behavior during inoxication.
Compare cost.....

Those are all valid because they can be compared without the difference in availability and delivery as important extraneous variables.

[Mopar151]

23. It's fairly easy to eat too many brownies

And it's not that much fun. But you don't die.

[loyalsister]

24. Not sure how that's relevant

But, in keep with the idea that without MJ available, people drink more, do people over eat them for the sugar\caffeine high in place of the unavailable high they get from pot?

[Mopar151]

25. Pot brownies are a popular way of eating the stuff. n/t

[loyalsister]

26. I get that

The article suggests that not having pot leads to excessive drinking. I disagreed. I did not address the overdose issue.
A proposition similar to the claim that not having pot available leads to excessive drinking would assert that not having pot available to put in brownies causes people to over- consume sugar.

It only illustrates that that portion of the article's claim is ridiculous.

[Mopar151]

27. I think that you are being deliberately obtuse - but that's just me. n/t

[randome]

33. And I think she makes an excellent point.

[JonLP24]

37. I will say

I hate drinking but whenever it was hard to find weed, I would buy alcohol so that part makes sense to me. I rarely do either but if I did use regularly, having weed would cause me to never touch alcohol.

[JonLP24]

36. I used to over-consume both

W/ Alcohol I would often times black out, vomit, can't walk straight, pissing an innapropriate places, etc.

W/ Weed I would become slow at times mentally but I still had my balance and never once blacked out which is important because it always scared me what decisions I would make in a blacked out state such as driving. I would pass out but not unexpectatly or surprisingly like w/ alcohol.

I rarely use both now, alcohol far rarer. When I do use alcohol, it is just a couple of beers, I don't like getting drunk at all.

[HopeHoops]

21. The obvious reason to get stoned is because - wait, man, are those Doritos?

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. I think that's a relatively facile and misguided assessment, honestly

I'd say it's got a lot less to do with myths about cannabis and a lot more to do with the fact that drinking is a large part of American culture in a way that getting stoned isn't. Alcohol accompanies every celebration and event, champagne at New Year's and at weddings, beer with a football game, eggnog at Christmas, mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby, and so on. It's culturally ingrained. You want to relax? Have a drink. You're celebrating something? Have three. Or four. The associations are reinforced by the marketing and advertising of alcoholic beverages, of course, but they're there already.

[DLine]

31. Been a regular pot smoker for years...

Have never once wanted to try something harder. I also don't drink.

[raouldukelives]

32. Here in "Wine Country". Blech!

I know I always prefer to face a stoner in a Civic than a wine taster in a BMW coming towards me at 80mph.

[CrispyQ]

38. Until I lost my kind connection, I hardly ever drank.

The mj laws are both racist & classist.