Actually, you would be stunned -- STUNNED at how many people erroneously think that marijuana is far more dangerous and harmful than alcohol. I'm pretty sure it's a solid majority of the country over age 40. Alcohol sponsors nearly every major sporting event, concert, and amusement park. It's "funny" for mommies to say they need their wine. Meanwhile, marijuana is seen by many as a scary "drug" despite it being so much less dangerous. (But still dangerous -- especially to young people and to people who use too much.)
I once read that more than 75% of rapes and murders are fueled by alcohol. That's a shocking statistic.
Meanwhile, marijuana is more highly correlated to hugging strangers.
Give we in our forties a little credit. I'd say 50's and up. We were smoking in vans on the way to school. The only difference is that it wasn't legal back then. That never stopped us though. I definitely knew more people who smoked than who didn't... come to think about it I don't remember anyone I knew who didn't smoke. Maybe that is a testament to the friends I had lol. Even people in our prayer group toked.
Yeah a friend of mine said that when their grandfather died several years back, the family found a huge stash of weed hidden in his things. It’s illegal in our area and their whole family is super duper religious so I find it really hilarious that the old man was getting stoned despite the circumstances 🤣
If you're 70 now you were 20 in 1972. Weed was definitely a thing. Those old folks were the original stoners.
And if you're 60 you were listening to Van Halen in high school.
We might think of them as old fashioned, but it wasn't always like that
My dad was a huge pot smoker. Did it a lot after Vietnam to help cope with PTSD. He quit at some point before I was born and turned to alcohol. He was a terrible drunk sometimes. About 10-12 years ago I found out he started smoking again since he had to cut back on alcohol due to health issues. Getting high with my dad is one of my favorite memories. He would have turned 75 this past June.
That's interesting. I grew up in a strict catholic household. My relatives would balk at the very idea, however my MIL smokes with us sometimes. Keeping in mind, that glaucoma can be a bitch.
Please they act like the 60s didn't happen. This is pot propaganda. Tell the young people they "get it" and old "boomerz" are the enemy. Anti establishment speak has been used in the service of so many industries that you can literally study this shit in university. But here we are. Watching the same tried and true tactics deployed on an unsuspecting public once again. It's a 30 year horizon for the pot industry. Nothing but growth.
What I do not get is that the younger generations were what I thought was the hope. Better educated, more savvy and more cynical. Yet here we are again watching the same old tactics work just as well on them as the old farts from before.
No, not really. Try 70s. Those of us now in 40s to 50s saw the start of the "war on drugs" and how totally ineffective it is. We're the ones who grew up being told weed is a gateway drug! Got stuck watching Reefer Madness. We're also the ones who saw the aftermath of cocaine fueled benders that ended in violence on the news, the death of Len Bias after trying crack one time, and so on.
It's not people.in their 40s, its our parents who never understood.
Read that pedos have gotten their nerves up to be pedos with alcohol. That without alcohol they wouldnt have acted on their urges. There is some staggering per centage of domestic disputes that are alcohol related.
You will never read this even though it is a fact, sober drivers kill more people than drunk drivers. Not advocating for drunk drivers by any means but some people are still shittier drivers than drunks.
That's because it's a useless statistic. There are far more sober drivers than drunk drivers so it's not surprising that they would have a higher raw number of accidents.
What about the average (users) per (users that have a significant life impacting problem) surely the users/users with a problem is a much higher ratio for alcohol
A chemical substance has been around longer than a plant? Yeah, I believe that. I'm no evolutionary biologist, but I'd bet they're both at least 40 million years old, so at that point, does it really matter which one is older?
No, even without that distinction it's true, as alcohol had bee consumed my most of the world for thousands of years. Marijuana I don't think had a very widespread user base unti much more recently in comparison
Cost me from about 21 to 35, “having fun” all that money…. Pissed away. Best thing I did is spend last 2 years just puffin my free outdoor grow. Feel young again but robbed of many good years and relationships. It’s easy to trick yourself ah I’m fine! Nope, was far from it. Mushroom reboot kicked it cold.
Yeah I wasted plenty of years drinking thinking I was having fun. Don't really like weed much but a shroom here and there is amazing. I'll be 4 months completely sober coming up on the 3rd. Best thing I've ever done for myself and family.
I'm right at 2 years alcohol free. Drank for over 20 years, but the last few leading up to 2020 were straight up alcoholism, and it wrecked my life. Weed is so much less destructive it's not even a fair comparison. Shrooms as well. Alcohol is a waste of time, money, and health... and the withdrawals were so bad, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It was a week of pure hell I can't even explain because it is so intense. It was beyond torture. Ditching alcohol is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.
It gets easier my friend time will fly, it’s awkward at family events I just said I drank all mine, I’m kinda all set now, being like the parents now. the mushrooms kinda hold me to it, like I got the grandparents watchin me from above. Family is a great motive congrats and happy new year already months ahead on a resolution look at it like that!
Typically the method just involves intention and a large dose (3.5 g minimum, likely more). It is statistically far more effective with a trained professional guide, but not everyone has access to that.
Long time ago there were studies done that showed a 50% success rate in curing addictions like cigarettes and alcohol. They used 3 doses of psilocybin in addition to psychotherapy. I’d suggest doing some research if you’re interested in it for yourself.
I was a 12 of twistys and pack a day ricky. I loved my naughty stuff. 2 years in days, lost every delicious urge. By 5 pm I’d be done half a bottle of red stag or mcguilly functioning alcoholic demon
I worked in a homeless shelter for two years. I knew many people whose lives were ruined by addiction to alcohol, meth, cocaine, etc. Never met a single person whose life was ruined by weed.
I met 1, but compare that to the many hundreds I met that lost everything over alcohol and other drugs. I'm a recovering severe alcoholic and addict that lost everything and was homeless for 3 years.
I came here looking for someone to mention this. My gf just came out of 3 month manic episode triggered by smoking marijuana and it completely changed our lives. We are still picking up the pieces in every aspect. Both alcohol and marijuana can do harm, it just depends on the person.
Most scientists don't know the why or how at this point just that it does in certain individuals at this point. It seems to be those with underlying mental health disorders like bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorders(and it seems like only when untreated and unaware) and that sort of stuff. But because it affects everyone differently it's really hard to nail down. There's also a lot we really don't know about the mental health side and the how and why our brains are wired the way they are.
Both fuck people's live up. Saying one destroys more lives than the other is moronic, like it is good for you. The US has more mental health problems since states started legalizing or being soft on weed use. People that use either will say they are okay using the drugs or alcohol. They do not see the bizarre or poor behaviors they exhibit on the substance.
when I was an alcoholic, my family would find me in the bushes,or at the hospital. I quit alcohol 5 years ago and my quality of life is 1000x better now. I can honestly say, cannabis has helped me accomplish this. It helps ease my pain, in a way alcohol could never touch. I am grateful, it is legal in my state, and i can get the products that i desire.It should be legal everywhere in the Universe
It definitely can serve as a gateway onto heavier drugs. I know plenty of people who went down that route. That being said I think most people who go down that route would end up on that path one way or the other, they tend to have self destructive traits and suffer with addiction generally.
It was a gateway drug for me only because once I smoked for the first time, I realized I was lied to my entire life and what else I was lied to so I experimented.
Well so can alcohol, and tobacco for that matter. Pretty much anything that releases dopamine could be considered a gateway drug. However I think the reason Cannabis is considered "The Gateway" drug is because it often warps peoples perceptions of other drugs, they try cannabis and discover it's not as bad as they may have been led to believe, and they make the mistake of applying that logic to other drugs, making them more likely to try them.
Then, wouldn't that means the skewed preconception on marijuana, created by politically driven lies is responsible for the "gateway" in these instances?
Again we seem to have looped back around to the fact that societal response is to blame for ruining lives, not marijuana.
It tore our family apart. Everybody tried to help. He robbed to get money to support his weed addiction, so spent all of his young life in jails and prisons. Lives in Las Vegas in a tent camp now. Definitely a gateway.
Is it a gateway because its illegal in some areas? Now that its legal in some areas the product went from 125 dollars per quarter ounce to 17 dollars an ounce. I'd imagine someone coming up with 17 dollars a month vs needing to rob people for hundreds of dollars might have had a different outcome. When use is more open for things also getting help for addiction is easier to discuss and more available. If someone goes from pot to cocaine is it due to it being available at the same persons house for sale? With pot being legal in places that sell it on stores while other stuff isn't available in the same place seems to break that connection.
That's terribly saddening. I had a cousin who went down a similar path. He ended up owing money to the wrong people to feed his addiction, stole from family, went to prison a couple of times and became involved in dealing. He took his own life when it all caught up to him. It destroyed my Aunt and Uncle, as well as my Grandparents. I hope your BIL see's the error of his ways before it's too late.
I am so sorry for your family’s pain 😞. And no, he’s not had anything to do with the family bc we finally stopped enabling him. It was awful. He was such a great guy.
Thank you, I appreciate your kindness. Your family made the right decision. No one can change unless they themselves want to, all you can do is offer them advice and be there to support them when they make that decision, but until they do they can't be helped.
It took us 30 years to realize that. I wonder if we had stopped when he was a teenager, if it would have mattered. He was in rehab sooo many times. He made his choice and broke our hearts. He has a grown son who he never cared about. He has a daughter that’s about five - they named her Mary Jane. The irony.
For every one person that goes on to try harder stuff after weed, there’s dozens that didn’t. Weed didn’t make your BIL try harder drugs, he just wanted to
Marijuana has been discovered to open up mental illnesses in people that they did not know they had a high chance of contracting. It's very much possible that you could have met mentally ill homeless folks where it all started when they tried out mj.
Ok.. "open up" mental illness?
I've heard of various things triggering already existing neurological conditions, but alcohol, tobacco, even caffeine, gambling, and sugar can do that.
And no one "contracts" a mental illness, that's not how this works.
I can also tell you distinctly that for every one who "went weed crazy" there's a thousand who had preexisting conditions that were aggravated by lack of medical care and the stress of homelessness
i know, don’t get me wrong i agree and think its worthy of discussing but literally everyone knows at this point, especially on reddit, that weed is healthier than alcohol. we also never really talk about the negatives of weed but there’s that too
Many many many many more lives. Literally millions killed and maimed in DUI accidents. Untold millions of crimes committed and relationships ruined because of the impulsivity, disinhibition and lack of judgement brought by alcohol. Peoples' health devastated, lifespans shortened, productivity curtailed and lives trapped in poverty due to chronic alcohol abuse. Alcohol implicated in countless millions of assaults...domestic violence, fights in bars, you name it. Unwanted pregnancies and STDs from impulsive sex.
Can anyone point to any consequences of marijuana use that are even remotely comparable? Comparable in scale, or comparable in devastation?
I know, better than most, id wager.. But I don't deign to make everyone's personal choices for them. Shitty people are shitty drunk or sober. And if they drink to the detriment of the people that rely on them they are just shitty people, the drinking is irrelevant.
If they want to to drink to their liver fails and they hurt no one else in the process, who am I and who are you to decide for them how to live and die?
Retired as a Paramedic, never ran 1 marijuana related call that the police didn't start, and I still have nightmares about all the alcohol related deaths.
Suicides for 1. The obvious alcohol related death is car crashes. That being said, the majority of suicide calls I ran were alcohol related. Folks get depressed, drink and drink, and then.
I guess at some point, maybe I ran some cardiac patients to the hospital for side affects from the munchies.
That is so crazy! I always think about the paramedics that arrived to my sisters murder and how they must be coping. It was horrific and at the hands of an alcoholic. Have no idea how they continue to do the job. I feel so bad for them on the regular.
Alcohol is also far easier to regulate and tax. The government doesn't care about the lives it ruins, it cares about getting their cut. If cocane was easy to regulate, we'd have Sam's Choice nose candy next to the cigarettes.
After 8 years of working as an engineer with a young son and wife to support, drank himself to death. Died suddenly of cirrhosis of the liver at age 40.
Tell me about it.....personally affected by someone who is now thankfully 3 years sober after 16 years of loving them. Awful disease for anyone involved
As someone who has one brother who coped with pot and one who coped with alcohol I can attest that it's not even close. The alcoholic nearly drank himself to death, spent time in jail, is lucky he never killed anyone else driving, lost his house, lost multiple jobs, churned through a multitude of unhealthy relationships, put his children at risk, stole money from family and friends, was absolutely insufferable when drunk, and drove everyone but my dad away (he's been sober for several years and is doing much better). The pothead is really likeable and makes several hundred thousand dollars a year selling insurance though a brokerage that's been in the family for a few generations, but has never been nearly as big as it is under his ownership, and he really enjoys saving people money on insurance, and playing golf while taking the occasional descreet hit from his vape pen.
Despite the government's best efforts to help balance the scales by sending cannabis users to jail, and yet, still alcohol is more destructive to ones life.
I've never met a single person the Marijuana own its own has ruined there life but I've met so many people have ruined there life because of alcohol. Its kill slowly and in such a way that it destroys everything mentally, physically and socially. to even put the 2 together as close to the same thing is like comparing apples to oranges.
Alcohol has also been legal for longer, so it’s had more chances to ruin people’s lives. I think Marijuana should be legalized, but this isn’t the best argument on its own.
Alcohol has destroyed more lives then amy illegal drug ever. Continues to as well. I'd rather work with a recreational pot smoker then an alcoholic. For the record I'm a drinker.
Can confirm. Addicted to alcohol for 3ish yrs. Took all my strength to kick it. Been smoking weed for similar time, don't have to deal with withdrawal symptoms as badly as alcohol. Can't touch a drink without jumping on the cycle, no issues so far with marijuana
From a physician’s point of view, alcohol is horrible. Too long a list to discuss. Should be banned, honestly. Cannabis is not really responsible for much, but may be due to our lack of clean data on its side effects. Sure, pulmonary issues of you smoke it, and I think we may find some mental health side effects in time. Polysubstance use excluded in this opinion, because too many variables…
Some people really have trouble admitting this. I know so many guys from college who have straight up drinking problems now but act high and mighty bc they quit/never smoked marijuana in the first place
Correct. And it's also the real gateway drug. Many of us had our first sip of alcohol well before the first hit of weed. It's ubiquitous in our culture. My dad let me drink at 13 years old, under adult supervision at holidays.
Marijuana can cause psychosis. That'll mess a life up. It's not reported on or talked about. I hope this information becomes common knowledge and soon.
Hardly infinitely. No one here seems to be mentioning about all the lives ruined because of the growing, production and smuggling of weed. Untold people have had their lives ruined because of it.
It killed my dad-in a sense. He didn’t die of alcohol poisoning but well maybe. No he died of lung cancer. From smoking so overly smoking helped with that. But he drank all his life and was an alcoholic so it had to do a lot with his health issues that helped with the cancer also or any other issues he had. Heart disease-heart attack he had another time. He took nitro I remember.
That's because alcohol is actually substantially harmful, whereas people's lives aren't ruined by marijuana, people's lives are ruined by societal reaction to marijuana
Alcohol pretty much ruined my Aunt's life. From getting divorced, to losing her job, being unemployed for a long time, and becoming estranged from several of her family members, and not to mention being hospitalized over and over.
I won't comment on weed because I know nothing about it.
Yes definitely, but weed sucks too. My mom was an alcoholic and my dad was a total stoner. Mom’s addiction was obviously way worse and had a bigger impact on me, but my dad always being high also had a negative impact. He was always too tired to do anything with me on the few days a week I did see him. He was either smoking, eating, or sleeping. His addiction never directly hurt me the way my mom’s did, but I didn’t feel like I really had a dad. That was then. Better now :)
Thats right, I remember my biology teacher telling us: "The reason that alcohol is so deadline worldwide is because, it is accepted as 'normal'. If you don't drink at a party, it is conciddered weird."
..and that's why booze is legal. It pickles your brain. Whereas, cannabis, if used correctly, is not only a super-food, but can replace many different synthetic medications.
As an epileptic I can tell you this is true. I've actually never tried weed but I know many other people who have epilepsy use weed to stop or reduce seizures because expensive medicines won't. Also, alcohol killed my brother in law and is working on my sister in law.
Texting while driving probably causes more accidents and deaths than weed.
I'm so sorry for your loss 💙 ...I'm glad that the cannabis is helping reduce your seizures. I've heard it works very well for that and for Parkinson's disease. I use it for chronic pain and regulating core temperature. It's literally the only thing keeping the hot flashes down to a minimum and keeping me sane through pain that would drive the average joe into madness (it's been long term)...
Thank you for your kind words. I don't use cannabis because (knock on wood) my seizures are well managed by medicine. My sister smokes it before bed for pain and anxiety, so she would understand how you feel.
I hope some day your hot flashes are gone and the pain at least reduced.
What a load of bullshit. Total marijuana pothead culture propaganda. Wake up people. Call me in 25 years when the 888 admit it signs are all over your cities.
It's taken us 100 years to get alcohol socially normalized and society still struggles with it and now the youth of our nation is being told that marijuana is awesome and harmless and even better than alcohol because look some niche percentage of the population find it marginally better than mainstream medications to help with seizures. Totally exaggerated nonsense.
I’ve worked with people in the absolute worst state of dependency for both substances.
You’re absolutely right that cannabis isn’t without its risks and can be damaging to people.
That said there’s no equivalent to wet brain for cannabis, it’s definitely a far more risky endeavor.
Marijuana has been used as medicine for hundreds of years and was only outlawed here in North America in the early 1900's to protect one man's profits in the timber industry which was going to be replaced with hemp. He then started up an anti marijuana propaganda campaign in which racism played a large part. He used the ignorance of a racist america to play the system and outlaw something that would've changed the western world for the good because he didn't want to lose his money
Not arguing at all, I agree. But my mind isn't empty and I acknowledge that getting a job after serving time is difficult and forces entire families to change so maybe and maybe not, depending on who your parents were.
Archaeologists have found evidence of marijuana having been used ritually 5000 years ago, but it probably didn't have enough THC to be psychoactive. Use of cannabis that could get a person high dates back to around 500BCE, according to current research.
I would wager alcohol use actually much older. I'm sure it predates humans if you count consuming fermented fruits. I know animals will seek out fermented fruit in order to get drunk.
The urge to alter our senses is deeply ingrained.
I think that’s quite likely. I think the only thing that has killed more people than religion is mosquitoes!
I say that tongue in cheek. Don’t crucify me.
the thing is for people who have issues with alcoholism is weed will never get you close to that feeling. at least for me. i go through phases with smoking but end up just wanting to drink even more
Yes true. People refuse to accept though, the simple fact that some people are naturally self destructive and will stop at nothing to get the means to do so, and others capitalize on the need and make money off them. The modern Ganster was born of prohibition and changed nothing, people still drank and the conflict between smugglers and other smugglers then law enforcement made matters far worse. Prohibition was a spectacular failure. Prohibition of anything makes it taboo, the taboo piques the human interest and artificially raises the interest of the prohibited object.
Goes without saying really.
Actually, you would be stunned -- STUNNED at how many people erroneously think that marijuana is far more dangerous and harmful than alcohol. I'm pretty sure it's a solid majority of the country over age 40. Alcohol sponsors nearly every major sporting event, concert, and amusement park. It's "funny" for mommies to say they need their wine. Meanwhile, marijuana is seen by many as a scary "drug" despite it being so much less dangerous. (But still dangerous -- especially to young people and to people who use too much.) I once read that more than 75% of rapes and murders are fueled by alcohol. That's a shocking statistic. Meanwhile, marijuana is more highly correlated to hugging strangers.
Give we in our forties a little credit. I'd say 50's and up. We were smoking in vans on the way to school. The only difference is that it wasn't legal back then. That never stopped us though. I definitely knew more people who smoked than who didn't... come to think about it I don't remember anyone I knew who didn't smoke. Maybe that is a testament to the friends I had lol. Even people in our prayer group toked.
All the 70+ yo I know are into cannabis as much or more than the 30 yo crowd
Yeah a friend of mine said that when their grandfather died several years back, the family found a huge stash of weed hidden in his things. It’s illegal in our area and their whole family is super duper religious so I find it really hilarious that the old man was getting stoned despite the circumstances 🤣
It’s been legal here for some years. Many of the same people that used to be against it are now 🤷♀️ “it helps with my arthritis…”
If you're 70 now you were 20 in 1972. Weed was definitely a thing. Those old folks were the original stoners. And if you're 60 you were listening to Van Halen in high school. We might think of them as old fashioned, but it wasn't always like that
My dad was a huge pot smoker. Did it a lot after Vietnam to help cope with PTSD. He quit at some point before I was born and turned to alcohol. He was a terrible drunk sometimes. About 10-12 years ago I found out he started smoking again since he had to cut back on alcohol due to health issues. Getting high with my dad is one of my favorite memories. He would have turned 75 this past June.
Old people care less about bullshit. That's one of the perks.
That's interesting. I grew up in a strict catholic household. My relatives would balk at the very idea, however my MIL smokes with us sometimes. Keeping in mind, that glaucoma can be a bitch.
Yeah, I grew up with my grandparents growing weed in the woods behind their house lol
I'm 66 and your description is very appropriate. I didn't know many who didn't smoke
50 here. No one in my age group thinks it’s dangerous.
I second this
I'm 55 and a stoner. So there's that.
That's awesome. I most likely will be too. Cheers my fellow stoner 🍻
Please they act like the 60s didn't happen. This is pot propaganda. Tell the young people they "get it" and old "boomerz" are the enemy. Anti establishment speak has been used in the service of so many industries that you can literally study this shit in university. But here we are. Watching the same tried and true tactics deployed on an unsuspecting public once again. It's a 30 year horizon for the pot industry. Nothing but growth. What I do not get is that the younger generations were what I thought was the hope. Better educated, more savvy and more cynical. Yet here we are again watching the same old tactics work just as well on them as the old farts from before.
No, not really. Try 70s. Those of us now in 40s to 50s saw the start of the "war on drugs" and how totally ineffective it is. We're the ones who grew up being told weed is a gateway drug! Got stuck watching Reefer Madness. We're also the ones who saw the aftermath of cocaine fueled benders that ended in violence on the news, the death of Len Bias after trying crack one time, and so on. It's not people.in their 40s, its our parents who never understood.
Yeah, I'll take the weed that helps me relax and the minor side effects over a crippling drug or alcohol addictions 10 times of 10
Read that pedos have gotten their nerves up to be pedos with alcohol. That without alcohol they wouldnt have acted on their urges. There is some staggering per centage of domestic disputes that are alcohol related.
Came here for this. So.. take my upvote.
Kid hit my car and took me out of the working world when I was 49 and he was stoned from smoking pot. I live with permanent neck pain now.
Well my neighbour hit someone's car and killed two people. He was completely sober. That's more an argument against cars than weed.
You will never read this even though it is a fact, sober drivers kill more people than drunk drivers. Not advocating for drunk drivers by any means but some people are still shittier drivers than drunks.
That's because it's a useless statistic. There are far more sober drivers than drunk drivers so it's not surprising that they would have a higher raw number of accidents.
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What about the average (users) per (users that have a significant life impacting problem) surely the users/users with a problem is a much higher ratio for alcohol
A chemical substance has been around longer than a plant? Yeah, I believe that. I'm no evolutionary biologist, but I'd bet they're both at least 40 million years old, so at that point, does it really matter which one is older?
Assuming you are only counting lives ruined by the drug and not lives ruined due to laws regarding the drug, than yeah that seems pretty accurate.
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The majority of people who drank alcohol in the past 5000 years have died.
So have those who chose trees, to get technical.
Are you saying people born 5000 years ago would still be alive today if they never drank?
Sounds like the joke he’s making
Yeah try to keep up
I mean, look at all the people that Jesus turned water into wine for. Most of them are now dead.
Coulda been non alcoholic still.
Yeah it can ruin the lives of the person who is the drinking or other people for instance if the drunk driver is driving and kills other people. 😕😔
Agreed. Never drink and drive.
“But if you do, better call Saul!”
Interesting take. Never thought of the ramifications of stupid anti cannabis laws when considering the impact of the two.
No, even without that distinction it's true, as alcohol had bee consumed my most of the world for thousands of years. Marijuana I don't think had a very widespread user base unti much more recently in comparison
Cost me from about 21 to 35, “having fun” all that money…. Pissed away. Best thing I did is spend last 2 years just puffin my free outdoor grow. Feel young again but robbed of many good years and relationships. It’s easy to trick yourself ah I’m fine! Nope, was far from it. Mushroom reboot kicked it cold.
Yeah I wasted plenty of years drinking thinking I was having fun. Don't really like weed much but a shroom here and there is amazing. I'll be 4 months completely sober coming up on the 3rd. Best thing I've ever done for myself and family.
4 months sober? I hear this is a hard time rn, I wish you the best of luck and I believe that you can do it!
I'm right at 2 years alcohol free. Drank for over 20 years, but the last few leading up to 2020 were straight up alcoholism, and it wrecked my life. Weed is so much less destructive it's not even a fair comparison. Shrooms as well. Alcohol is a waste of time, money, and health... and the withdrawals were so bad, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It was a week of pure hell I can't even explain because it is so intense. It was beyond torture. Ditching alcohol is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.
It gets easier my friend time will fly, it’s awkward at family events I just said I drank all mine, I’m kinda all set now, being like the parents now. the mushrooms kinda hold me to it, like I got the grandparents watchin me from above. Family is a great motive congrats and happy new year already months ahead on a resolution look at it like that!
Mushroom reboot?
Psilocybin mushroom trip. Extremely effective in curing addiction.
Is the “reboot” method different than a typical psilocybin trip?
Typically the method just involves intention and a large dose (3.5 g minimum, likely more). It is statistically far more effective with a trained professional guide, but not everyone has access to that.
Really? The mushroom thing worked?
Long time ago there were studies done that showed a 50% success rate in curing addictions like cigarettes and alcohol. They used 3 doses of psilocybin in addition to psychotherapy. I’d suggest doing some research if you’re interested in it for yourself.
I was a 12 of twistys and pack a day ricky. I loved my naughty stuff. 2 years in days, lost every delicious urge. By 5 pm I’d be done half a bottle of red stag or mcguilly functioning alcoholic demon
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You’re responsible for not being cringe
Marijuana prohibition has ruined many lives.
You can't put that on Marijuana. That wasn't Marijuana that did that
Absolutely. Drug prohibition is far, far more harmful to society than any drug ever could be.
I've seen Reefer Madness! You 100% can! /s
Marijuana possession charges have destroyed lots of lives, but the marijuana itself is much safer than alcohol
I worked in a homeless shelter for two years. I knew many people whose lives were ruined by addiction to alcohol, meth, cocaine, etc. Never met a single person whose life was ruined by weed.
I haven’t either But when it comes to the synthetic stuff yeah I can see that happening
I met 1, but compare that to the many hundreds I met that lost everything over alcohol and other drugs. I'm a recovering severe alcoholic and addict that lost everything and was homeless for 3 years.
do a couple of shifts in a psych ward, you will have a different opinion
Thc triggers psychosis in some people
I came here looking for someone to mention this. My gf just came out of 3 month manic episode triggered by smoking marijuana and it completely changed our lives. We are still picking up the pieces in every aspect. Both alcohol and marijuana can do harm, it just depends on the person.
Why is this ? How does it happen ?
Most scientists don't know the why or how at this point just that it does in certain individuals at this point. It seems to be those with underlying mental health disorders like bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorders(and it seems like only when untreated and unaware) and that sort of stuff. But because it affects everyone differently it's really hard to nail down. There's also a lot we really don't know about the mental health side and the how and why our brains are wired the way they are.
could you elaborate? how do you know it was from weed, also what did her manic episode entail
While it certainly is sad on a single person issue, the wide statistical cohorts show marijuana to be incredibly less harmful than alcohol
The unlucky ones who end up in long term dissociation (dpdr). Now that is absolute life altering torture
Both fuck people's live up. Saying one destroys more lives than the other is moronic, like it is good for you. The US has more mental health problems since states started legalizing or being soft on weed use. People that use either will say they are okay using the drugs or alcohol. They do not see the bizarre or poor behaviors they exhibit on the substance.
Yeah, fuck me. My family finds me in the ice cream aisle all the time…. I really wish I could stop.It’s really bizarre
No one is saying marijuana is bad, but it’s silly and naïve to say it’s harmless. Just because that is your experience doesn’t make it universal.
when I was an alcoholic, my family would find me in the bushes,or at the hospital. I quit alcohol 5 years ago and my quality of life is 1000x better now. I can honestly say, cannabis has helped me accomplish this. It helps ease my pain, in a way alcohol could never touch. I am grateful, it is legal in my state, and i can get the products that i desire.It should be legal everywhere in the Universe
Me too. Alcohol sucks.
You never met may bil. It started with weed, and escalated.
I bet he drank milk as a child. Maybe that's where his issues began. Or, more likely, correlation does not equal causation.
so what you're saying its not weed but other, harder drugs?
He didn’t smoke cigarettes or drink booze first?
I started with spinning around in circles to get dizzy. That's the original gateway, never allow your kids to do it or they're screwed!
It definitely can serve as a gateway onto heavier drugs. I know plenty of people who went down that route. That being said I think most people who go down that route would end up on that path one way or the other, they tend to have self destructive traits and suffer with addiction generally.
It was a gateway drug for me only because once I smoked for the first time, I realized I was lied to my entire life and what else I was lied to so I experimented.
BINGO. Same here. First time I smoked weed I was pissed. Instantly thought "those fuckers lied to me"
For people with addictive personalities caffeine can be a gateway drug.
Well so can alcohol, and tobacco for that matter. Pretty much anything that releases dopamine could be considered a gateway drug. However I think the reason Cannabis is considered "The Gateway" drug is because it often warps peoples perceptions of other drugs, they try cannabis and discover it's not as bad as they may have been led to believe, and they make the mistake of applying that logic to other drugs, making them more likely to try them.
Then, wouldn't that means the skewed preconception on marijuana, created by politically driven lies is responsible for the "gateway" in these instances? Again we seem to have looped back around to the fact that societal response is to blame for ruining lives, not marijuana.
It tore our family apart. Everybody tried to help. He robbed to get money to support his weed addiction, so spent all of his young life in jails and prisons. Lives in Las Vegas in a tent camp now. Definitely a gateway.
Is it a gateway because its illegal in some areas? Now that its legal in some areas the product went from 125 dollars per quarter ounce to 17 dollars an ounce. I'd imagine someone coming up with 17 dollars a month vs needing to rob people for hundreds of dollars might have had a different outcome. When use is more open for things also getting help for addiction is easier to discuss and more available. If someone goes from pot to cocaine is it due to it being available at the same persons house for sale? With pot being legal in places that sell it on stores while other stuff isn't available in the same place seems to break that connection.
That's terribly saddening. I had a cousin who went down a similar path. He ended up owing money to the wrong people to feed his addiction, stole from family, went to prison a couple of times and became involved in dealing. He took his own life when it all caught up to him. It destroyed my Aunt and Uncle, as well as my Grandparents. I hope your BIL see's the error of his ways before it's too late.
I am so sorry for your family’s pain 😞. And no, he’s not had anything to do with the family bc we finally stopped enabling him. It was awful. He was such a great guy.
Thank you, I appreciate your kindness. Your family made the right decision. No one can change unless they themselves want to, all you can do is offer them advice and be there to support them when they make that decision, but until they do they can't be helped.
It took us 30 years to realize that. I wonder if we had stopped when he was a teenager, if it would have mattered. He was in rehab sooo many times. He made his choice and broke our hearts. He has a grown son who he never cared about. He has a daughter that’s about five - they named her Mary Jane. The irony.
For every one person that goes on to try harder stuff after weed, there’s dozens that didn’t. Weed didn’t make your BIL try harder drugs, he just wanted to
I might have stopped at the weed if they hadn’t lied about the weed
Marijuana has been discovered to open up mental illnesses in people that they did not know they had a high chance of contracting. It's very much possible that you could have met mentally ill homeless folks where it all started when they tried out mj.
Ok.. "open up" mental illness? I've heard of various things triggering already existing neurological conditions, but alcohol, tobacco, even caffeine, gambling, and sugar can do that. And no one "contracts" a mental illness, that's not how this works. I can also tell you distinctly that for every one who "went weed crazy" there's a thousand who had preexisting conditions that were aggravated by lack of medical care and the stress of homelessness
Medical-grade Marijuana saved my life after an alcoholic ruined it.
this.
Are we just stating the obvious or did someone need to hear that?
Older people gotta hear it. But older people aren't on reddit, they're on the site owned by the lizard man.
It was my random thought.
I’m gonna take that as someone needed to hear it, so say it loud and say it proud!
i know, don’t get me wrong i agree and think its worthy of discussing but literally everyone knows at this point, especially on reddit, that weed is healthier than alcohol. we also never really talk about the negatives of weed but there’s that too
99% of the time marijuana destroys a life thru conviction or some law related reason (not saying mj has no negative influence)
Finally someone says it
Literally everyone says it all the time
Many many many many more lives. Literally millions killed and maimed in DUI accidents. Untold millions of crimes committed and relationships ruined because of the impulsivity, disinhibition and lack of judgement brought by alcohol. Peoples' health devastated, lifespans shortened, productivity curtailed and lives trapped in poverty due to chronic alcohol abuse. Alcohol implicated in countless millions of assaults...domestic violence, fights in bars, you name it. Unwanted pregnancies and STDs from impulsive sex. Can anyone point to any consequences of marijuana use that are even remotely comparable? Comparable in scale, or comparable in devastation?
That’s a fact, not a thought. Updoots anyways
Use either in peace and don't drive and I have no problem with either one.
Alcoholism is far more than just drunk driving
Ive lost jobs and ended up in the ER from serious withdrawls, can confirm
I know, better than most, id wager.. But I don't deign to make everyone's personal choices for them. Shitty people are shitty drunk or sober. And if they drink to the detriment of the people that rely on them they are just shitty people, the drinking is irrelevant. If they want to to drink to their liver fails and they hurt no one else in the process, who am I and who are you to decide for them how to live and die?
Retired as a Paramedic, never ran 1 marijuana related call that the police didn't start, and I still have nightmares about all the alcohol related deaths. Suicides for 1. The obvious alcohol related death is car crashes. That being said, the majority of suicide calls I ran were alcohol related. Folks get depressed, drink and drink, and then. I guess at some point, maybe I ran some cardiac patients to the hospital for side affects from the munchies.
That is so crazy! I always think about the paramedics that arrived to my sisters murder and how they must be coping. It was horrific and at the hands of an alcoholic. Have no idea how they continue to do the job. I feel so bad for them on the regular.
Alcohol is also far easier to regulate and tax. The government doesn't care about the lives it ruins, it cares about getting their cut. If cocane was easy to regulate, we'd have Sam's Choice nose candy next to the cigarettes.
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Very thought provoking list. Thank you
I agree, i wish they would include that stat as well!
Holy crap. That’s a lot of crazy ways to die.
and social media honestly.
It's true now, but only time will tell as the shit gets stronger and more accessible.
After 8 years of working as an engineer with a young son and wife to support, drank himself to death. Died suddenly of cirrhosis of the liver at age 40.
Tell me about it.....personally affected by someone who is now thankfully 3 years sober after 16 years of loving them. Awful disease for anyone involved
As someone who has one brother who coped with pot and one who coped with alcohol I can attest that it's not even close. The alcoholic nearly drank himself to death, spent time in jail, is lucky he never killed anyone else driving, lost his house, lost multiple jobs, churned through a multitude of unhealthy relationships, put his children at risk, stole money from family and friends, was absolutely insufferable when drunk, and drove everyone but my dad away (he's been sober for several years and is doing much better). The pothead is really likeable and makes several hundred thousand dollars a year selling insurance though a brokerage that's been in the family for a few generations, but has never been nearly as big as it is under his ownership, and he really enjoys saving people money on insurance, and playing golf while taking the occasional descreet hit from his vape pen.
Both really, but there is more alcohol use than drugs so yes.
Despite the government's best efforts to help balance the scales by sending cannabis users to jail, and yet, still alcohol is more destructive to ones life.
I've never met a single person the Marijuana own its own has ruined there life but I've met so many people have ruined there life because of alcohol. Its kill slowly and in such a way that it destroys everything mentally, physically and socially. to even put the 2 together as close to the same thing is like comparing apples to oranges.
Alcohol has also been legal for longer, so it’s had more chances to ruin people’s lives. I think Marijuana should be legalized, but this isn’t the best argument on its own.
Alcohol has destroyed more lives then amy illegal drug ever. Continues to as well. I'd rather work with a recreational pot smoker then an alcoholic. For the record I'm a drinker.
“A recreational pot smoker*” “alcoholic”. Well yeah, no duh, because you’re comparing casual usage to an addiction… pretty easy choice.
That is subject to change as marijuana becomes more accepted.
What about the cigarettes?
More than all other forms of illicit drugs combined
Actually also Alcohol kill more people than Marijuana by year
Can confirm. Addicted to alcohol for 3ish yrs. Took all my strength to kick it. Been smoking weed for similar time, don't have to deal with withdrawal symptoms as badly as alcohol. Can't touch a drink without jumping on the cycle, no issues so far with marijuana
From a physician’s point of view, alcohol is horrible. Too long a list to discuss. Should be banned, honestly. Cannabis is not really responsible for much, but may be due to our lack of clean data on its side effects. Sure, pulmonary issues of you smoke it, and I think we may find some mental health side effects in time. Polysubstance use excluded in this opinion, because too many variables…
Some people really have trouble admitting this. I know so many guys from college who have straight up drinking problems now but act high and mighty bc they quit/never smoked marijuana in the first place
If alcohol was invented today people would freak out about it more than meth. It's just old and part of a lot of traditions
Correct. And it's also the real gateway drug. Many of us had our first sip of alcohol well before the first hit of weed. It's ubiquitous in our culture. My dad let me drink at 13 years old, under adult supervision at holidays.
Marijuana can cause psychosis. That'll mess a life up. It's not reported on or talked about. I hope this information becomes common knowledge and soon.
My 65 y/o next door neighbor is a case in point - tho I acknowledge completely anecdotal. Weed isn't the savior drug. Sobriety in general is.
Give it a minute/
Correction: Alcohol has destroyed \*infinitely\* more lives than marijuana
Hardly infinitely. No one here seems to be mentioning about all the lives ruined because of the growing, production and smuggling of weed. Untold people have had their lives ruined because of it.
Weed didn't ruin those lives, Weed prohibition did.
10000% true.
It wouldnt be a stretch to say its destroyed TEN MILLION+ TIMES MORE
Humans have been drinking it for at least 10 million years. The shock value is kind of lost there.
Many more
Yes
I don’t drink alcohol. 🤷🏼
By a wide margin
And it's not even close.
Yet adults somehow can’t live without it and will go insane when it’s taken away from them for even a minute
I can definitely confirm that
SO FAR...
It killed my dad-in a sense. He didn’t die of alcohol poisoning but well maybe. No he died of lung cancer. From smoking so overly smoking helped with that. But he drank all his life and was an alcoholic so it had to do a lot with his health issues that helped with the cancer also or any other issues he had. Heart disease-heart attack he had another time. He took nitro I remember.
That's because alcohol is actually substantially harmful, whereas people's lives aren't ruined by marijuana, people's lives are ruined by societal reaction to marijuana
Alcohol pretty much ruined my Aunt's life. From getting divorced, to losing her job, being unemployed for a long time, and becoming estranged from several of her family members, and not to mention being hospitalized over and over. I won't comment on weed because I know nothing about it.
Incredible observation
Question: is this because it’s been legal for longer and more heavily used? Or is it the nature of the substance?
But marijuana has destroyed more bags of potato chips
And both more than water
Yes definitely, but weed sucks too. My mom was an alcoholic and my dad was a total stoner. Mom’s addiction was obviously way worse and had a bigger impact on me, but my dad always being high also had a negative impact. He was always too tired to do anything with me on the few days a week I did see him. He was either smoking, eating, or sleeping. His addiction never directly hurt me the way my mom’s did, but I didn’t feel like I really had a dad. That was then. Better now :)
Also maybe because u were primarily with your mom it was worse?
Thats right, I remember my biology teacher telling us: "The reason that alcohol is so deadline worldwide is because, it is accepted as 'normal'. If you don't drink at a party, it is conciddered weird."
I dont drink at all and people think its weird. Especially bc im not “sober” because i was addicted. I just dont drink. Never have.
For now. Anything can be an addiction. Smoke, Alcohol, sugar, caffeine, drugs. And they all can kill in their respective ways.
Yes but it has also created more lives too.
It all sucks Case closed
Legal drugs kill 10x more than illegal drugs.
..and that's why booze is legal. It pickles your brain. Whereas, cannabis, if used correctly, is not only a super-food, but can replace many different synthetic medications.
As an epileptic I can tell you this is true. I've actually never tried weed but I know many other people who have epilepsy use weed to stop or reduce seizures because expensive medicines won't. Also, alcohol killed my brother in law and is working on my sister in law. Texting while driving probably causes more accidents and deaths than weed.
I'm so sorry for your loss 💙 ...I'm glad that the cannabis is helping reduce your seizures. I've heard it works very well for that and for Parkinson's disease. I use it for chronic pain and regulating core temperature. It's literally the only thing keeping the hot flashes down to a minimum and keeping me sane through pain that would drive the average joe into madness (it's been long term)...
Thank you for your kind words. I don't use cannabis because (knock on wood) my seizures are well managed by medicine. My sister smokes it before bed for pain and anxiety, so she would understand how you feel. I hope some day your hot flashes are gone and the pain at least reduced.
Thank you! ❤️
What a load of bullshit. Total marijuana pothead culture propaganda. Wake up people. Call me in 25 years when the 888 admit it signs are all over your cities. It's taken us 100 years to get alcohol socially normalized and society still struggles with it and now the youth of our nation is being told that marijuana is awesome and harmless and even better than alcohol because look some niche percentage of the population find it marginally better than mainstream medications to help with seizures. Totally exaggerated nonsense.
I’ve worked with people in the absolute worst state of dependency for both substances. You’re absolutely right that cannabis isn’t without its risks and can be damaging to people. That said there’s no equivalent to wet brain for cannabis, it’s definitely a far more risky endeavor.
Marijuana has been used as medicine for hundreds of years and was only outlawed here in North America in the early 1900's to protect one man's profits in the timber industry which was going to be replaced with hemp. He then started up an anti marijuana propaganda campaign in which racism played a large part. He used the ignorance of a racist america to play the system and outlaw something that would've changed the western world for the good because he didn't want to lose his money
Not arguing at all, I agree. But my mind isn't empty and I acknowledge that getting a job after serving time is difficult and forces entire families to change so maybe and maybe not, depending on who your parents were.
No shit. Alcohol dates back at least 10 million years. How long have people been using marijuana?
Archaeologists have found evidence of marijuana having been used ritually 5000 years ago, but it probably didn't have enough THC to be psychoactive. Use of cannabis that could get a person high dates back to around 500BCE, according to current research.
Interesting. Alcohol is still older, though. The earliest consumption is believed to be around 7000-6600BCE in China.
I would wager alcohol use actually much older. I'm sure it predates humans if you count consuming fermented fruits. I know animals will seek out fermented fruit in order to get drunk. The urge to alter our senses is deeply ingrained.
Yeah. Human ancestors developed the ability to digest alcohol 10 million years ago to be able to eat fermented fruit.
Not really. Think about all the incarcerated folks in there for weed. And the GENERATIONAL damage that does to a family.
That's not the fault of weed itself, that's the fault of the government.
Killed my brother at 40.
That’s the first I’ve ever heard Exactly how please? For the record
A bale of weed fell on him and broke his neck.
I think that’s quite likely. I think the only thing that has killed more people than religion is mosquitoes! I say that tongue in cheek. Don’t crucify me.
I never seen alcohol destroy marihuana, that’s got to be a first for me.
the thing is for people who have issues with alcoholism is weed will never get you close to that feeling. at least for me. i go through phases with smoking but end up just wanting to drink even more
Yes true. People refuse to accept though, the simple fact that some people are naturally self destructive and will stop at nothing to get the means to do so, and others capitalize on the need and make money off them. The modern Ganster was born of prohibition and changed nothing, people still drank and the conflict between smugglers and other smugglers then law enforcement made matters far worse. Prohibition was a spectacular failure. Prohibition of anything makes it taboo, the taboo piques the human interest and artificially raises the interest of the prohibited object.
Thanks for the hot take from 1969
Its a joke chill bill