Opinion: Pot or alcohol — a tough choice
By Aaron E. Carroll, New York Times
As my children, and my friends’ children, are getting older, a question that comes up again and again from friends is this: Which would I rather my children use — alcohol or marijuana?
The immediate answer, of course, is “neither.” But no parent accepts that. It’s assumed, and not incorrectly, that the vast majority of adolescents will try one or the other, especially when they go to college. So they press me further.
The easy answer is to demonize marijuana. It’s illegal, after all. Moreover, its potential downsides are well known. Scans show that marijuana use is associated with potential changes in the brain. It’s associated with increases in the risk of psychosis. It may be associated with changes in lung function or long-term cancer risk, even though a growing body of evidence says that seems unlikely. It can harm memory, it’s associated with lower academic achievement, and its use is linked to less success later in life.
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol kills 2.5 million people each year, while marijuana has never killed anyone. Only an idiot would claim that choosing between Alcohol and Marijuana is a “tough choice.”
Law enforcement and parents need to better understand the truth here. Law enforcement is losing their moral authority by fighting the war on marijuana while turning a blind eye to teen alcohol use.
Steve Kubby,
The author of this article is NOT an idiot. You should read the story and not just the headline. He makes the same valid points you make. The point being that weed is much less harmful than alcohol, yet not as benign as some would lead you to think. Booze or pot, both can have SOME negative effects. Booze just has a LOT more.
Yeah, it’s pretty hard to keep demonizing pot when you see all those photos of the president sucking on a doob when he was a teenager. How do you spell “hypocrisy”?
Marijuana candy killed a Tulsa kid in Colorado last week. Not the first.
Dog- I don’t believe there are ‘all those photos’ of the POTUS smoking pot. Maybe one. And if he was a community organizer does that mean everyone will do that? Probably not.
Our society has a bigger challenge in addressing the alcohol issue. Talk about mixed messages- a kid isn’t supposed to drink but sees a constant barrage of advertising aimed at them from all kinds of sports and entertainment figures and companies. Not a pretty picture. Combine that with how alcohol is well entrenched into all of society including service organizations and you have a prescription for lifelong alcoholism. When was the last time you heard of an advertised ‘dry’ fundraiser or event?
@ SCTahoe says, The death of the young man from Tulsa was caused by a self-inflicted gun shot wound. Yes, he may have eaten way too much of the pot- and other substance-laced edibles, but, being no expert myself, it is pretty clear that there may have been other, much deeper, issues at cause here.
The statement that marijuana edibles killed the young man was made by his mother, who, understandably, is looking for answers and grasping at anything plausible to ease her heartache and suffering.
MJ in its purest form is just what the article here states, fairly benign. The “killer” edibles are made with other substances, which, when mixed together, may have dangerous side effects..
The real point is that no one has ever died from Marijuana alone.
This article is a well-researched and unbiased read.
Peace!
If drug laws are to project us, where does marijuana fit in? Clearly alcohol is more dangerous yet is legal and more available?
Yes, Alcohol is more dangerous then Marijuana ,The question is Why is alcohol setting on the shelves and not Marijuana ?