I'm gonna start with saying this:
''If you're someone who enjoys a good drink, there's a similar product you might want to know about - one without all the calories or serious health problems, less toxic so it doesn't cause hangovers or overdose deaths, and it's not linked to violence or reckless behavior.''
Sounds to good to be true right?
But that product, of course, is marijuana.
If you're like most people, you have been led to believe that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug that has destroyed the lives of millions of teens and adults. You have been encouraged to believe that marijuana causes lung cancer, just like tobacco and it's a 'gateway' to harder drugs.
Basically you are convinced that most people who use marijuana are losers who sit around on sofas all day doing nothing.
None of this is 'bad' or 'wrong' or 'immoral'.
It is simply something that these responsible adults choose to do.
And frequently, it is something that people choose to do specifically instead of alcohol.
Why?
For a good reason! Alcohol is more toxic, more addictive, more harmful to the body, more likely to result in injuries, and more likely to lead to interpersonal violence that marijuana.
I'm not someone that doesn't enjoy a drink once in a while. I'm just simply stating some facts.
Many people die from alcohol use. Nobody dies from marijuana use.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 37,000 annual U.S. deaths are attributed to alcohol use alone (this figure does not include accidental deaths).
On the other hand, the CDC does not even have a category for deaths caused by the use of marijuana.
People die from alcohol overdoses. There has never been a fatal marijuana overdose.
It is led to believe that alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs and using just 10 times what one would use to get the desired effect could lead to death.
With marijuana on the other hand,
it would require thousands of times the dose to get the effect to led to death.
This “thousands of times” is actually theoretical, since there has never been a case of an individual dying from a marijuana overdose. Meanwhile, hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur in the United States each year.
The health-related costs associated with alcohol use far exceed those for marijuana use.
Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for marijuana consumers, according to an assessment recently published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal.
More specificially,
The annual health-related cost of alcohol consumption is $165 per user, compared to just $20 per user for marijuana.
This should not come as a surprise given the vast amount of research that shows alcohol poses far more – and more significant – health problems than marijuana.
Alcohol use damages the brain. Marijuana use does not.
Despite the myths we've heard throughout our lives about marijuana killing brain cells,
It turns out that a growing number of studies seem to indicate that marijuana actually has neuroprotective properties.
This means that it works to protect brain cells from harm.
Alcohol use is linked to cancer. Marijuana use is not.
Alcohol use is associated with a wide variety of cancers, including cancers of the
esophagus,
stomach,
colon,
lungs,
pancreas,
liver,
and prostate.
Marijuana use has not been conclusively associated with any form of cancer.
Alcohol is more addictive than marijuana.
Alcohol use increases the risk od injury to the concumer. And you guessed it - marijuana use does not.