It’s no secret that alcohol and marijuana are the two most commonly used and abused drugs. With alcohol taking the lead and marijuana following very close behind, only one thing stands between the two, legality. But, there’s a truth behind the blind acceptance of alcohol and the eagerness to stigmatize marijuana that many know.
Although alcohol is legal and marijuana is not, it would be unwise to assume that it is safer. In fact, despite its legality, according to the CDC, alcohol causes up to nearly 88,000 deaths annually. About 25,000 of those deaths are the direct result of overdoses. Meanwhile, records of death from marijuana are harder to come by. So much so, that there are no recorded deaths by marijuana overdoses. Ever. Furthermore, the Huffington post cited Mason Tvert, the communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project that, “For an adult to die solely from marijuana itself, it would take a couple hundred pounds of it being dropped on their head from a …show more content…
Alcohol and marijuana are both substances that greatly lower anxiety, inhibitions, and promote less than intelligible decisions. This is largely what contributes to the appeal these substances have to people. Whilst under the influence of alcohol, one can become increasingly aggressive, undergo drastic mood swings, experience substantial memory loss and blackouts. Marijuana causes none of these effects. At most, feeling fatigued, talkative, and experiencing a cognitive delay are the expected of people under the influence of marijuana. To further illustrate just how lethal alcohol is to the state of mind in contrast to marijuana, statistics prove that crimes are more likely to be orchestrated under the influence of alcohol. 37% of rape and sexual assaults are perpetrated by an offenders using alcohol, 27% of aggravated assaults are committed by offenders using alcohol, and 25% of simple assaults are committed by people who had been in contact with
Although alcohol is legal and marijuana is not, it would be unwise to assume that it is safer. In fact, despite its legality, according to the CDC, alcohol causes up to nearly 88,000 deaths annually. About 25,000 of those deaths are the direct result of overdoses. Meanwhile, records of death from marijuana are harder to come by. So much so, that there are no recorded deaths by marijuana overdoses. Ever. Furthermore, the Huffington post cited Mason Tvert, the communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project that, “For an adult to die solely from marijuana itself, it would take a couple hundred pounds of it being dropped on their head from a …show more content…
Alcohol and marijuana are both substances that greatly lower anxiety, inhibitions, and promote less than intelligible decisions. This is largely what contributes to the appeal these substances have to people. Whilst under the influence of alcohol, one can become increasingly aggressive, undergo drastic mood swings, experience substantial memory loss and blackouts. Marijuana causes none of these effects. At most, feeling fatigued, talkative, and experiencing a cognitive delay are the expected of people under the influence of marijuana. To further illustrate just how lethal alcohol is to the state of mind in contrast to marijuana, statistics prove that crimes are more likely to be orchestrated under the influence of alcohol. 37% of rape and sexual assaults are perpetrated by an offenders using alcohol, 27% of aggravated assaults are committed by offenders using alcohol, and 25% of simple assaults are committed by people who had been in contact with