Study: Alcohol Is “More Than Twice As Harmful As Cannabis” — So Explain Again Why Pot Is Illegal?

[marmar]

from AlterNet:



Posted by Paul Armentano at 1:59 pm
November 1, 2011

Study: Alcohol Is “More Than Twice As Harmful As Cannabis” — So Explain Again Why Pot Is Illegal?


Alcohol consumption causes far greater harms to the individual user and to society than does the use of cannabis, according to a new review published online in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the journal of the British Association of Psychopharmacology.

Investigators at the Imperial College of London assessed “the relative physical, psychological, and social harms of cannabis and alcohol.” Authors reported that cannabis inhalation, particularly long-term, contributes to some potential adverse health effects, including harms to the lungs, circulatory system, as well as the exacerbation of certain mental health risks. By contrast, authors described alcohol as “ a toxic substance” that is responsible for nearly five percent “of the total global disease burden.”

Researchers determined, “A direct comparison of alcohol and cannabis showed that alcohol was considered to be more than twice as harmful as cannabis to users, and five times more harmful as cannabis to others (society). … As there are few areas of harm that each drug can produce where cannabis scores more than alcohol, we suggest that even if there were no legal impediment to cannabis use, it would be unlikely to be more harmful than alcohol.”

They concluded, “The findings underline the need for a coherent, evidence-based drugs policy that enables individuals to make informed decisions about the consequences of their drug use.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/11/01/study-alcohol-is-%e2%80%9cmore-than-twice-as-harmful-as-cannabis%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%94-so-explain-again-why-pot-is-illegal/

[Scuba]

1. Hundreds of times more harmful. Hell, keeping pot illegal is more harmful. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Too bad the Obama administration is stuck on faith based stupid

nt

[Warren Stupidity]

3. The only problem with this approach is

that the fuckwits would proceed to re-instate alcohol prohibition if they found your argument persuasive.

[plumbob]

4. That is the only logical conclusion.

One thing not dangerous - the other is. Get rid of the other.

Are there not enough legal intoxicants already?

[socialindependocrat]

5. To outlaw a weed that makes you laugh...

How about if we legalize it for people who have already been
using pot for the past 40 years?

Look at the amount of pot grown and sold
Doesn't that tell you lots of people are
are risking arrest to smoke pot?

When the referendum failed in California a year or so ago
a TV host asked a young blogger why the young people didn't
git out and vote to pass the ref.?
The young man said, they didn't need to pass the referendum
because they had all they needed to smoke anyway.

We already have enough proof that pot is harmless...
Look at all the people who have smoked for the past 50 years
and no one has noticed any side effects from it yet!!!

I say, leaglize it and wipe out the debt

and

save money from fighting the war on drugs.

Is that a win-win-win?

[FreedomVoice]

13. The revenue would not be

enough to put even a decent size dent in the debt. It would be a good start though, the question is just is it worth it?

From link below: "From Canada we’ve learned that the production cost of (government-sponsored) marijuana is roughly 33¢ a gram. Currently, U.S. marijuana consumers pay at least $10 per gram retail for illegal marijuana. If the cost of retailing and distribution is the same as for legal tobacco cigarettes, about 10¢ a gram, then selling the (legal) product at exactly the same price as on the street today ($10 per gram) could raise $40 billion to $100 billion in new revenue. Not chump change. Government would simply be transferring revenue from organized crime to the public purse."

http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2010/03/legalize_mariju.html

[RainDog]

19. funny how our govt. consistently sides with organized crime on this issue

not that I think most of them view their stance in that way.

but somebody makes money off of continuing this stupidity.

[Politicalboi]

26. If they kept the revenue

At about $200 an ounce and lessen it as the years go by it would put a major dent in the debt. To only charge around $38.00 an ounce is not going to cut it. We are used to paying high prices, and even at $200 an ounce, that is cheap these days. Yes some will grow it, but it's not worth the time in the long run or the headaches. To keep the price high in the beginning I think is good. It would help the economy, and get us some much needed tax revenue, and it would sell.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. How is that a problem, really? If it is about public health and alchol

is more dangerous, it should be illegal, felonious, and that should be as soon as possible. If it is not about health, then what the fuck is it about? I personally do not use alcohol, because it is unhealthful. So if it was made illegal at noon, I'd not give a flying fuck.
Or they could just admit that health has nothing to do with it, that it is about money and dogma and that it is arbitrary, without reason, and stand there with that honest argument. Face it, they shout 'safety and health' while hosting 'cocktail parties' at the White House and arresting marijuana patients for their medicine. Cocktail parties are gatherings where folks make flavored drug cups and drink them together. I have seen public photos of the President with a cup of drug bevvie in his hand, laughing and acting as if it was not a hugely dangerous substance that destroys many lives each day in America. Oh, he sips and he laughs, then he scowls at science and says 'God is in the mix'.
It gets old. Really old.

[Jello Biafra]

7. Pot is illegal because of the Alcohol lobby....

actually it's more involved than that.....look at history...

http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/rockefeller-ford-and-the-secret-history-of-alcohol/

[green917]

9. And the petrochemical lobby...and the textile lobby...and the

cigarette lobby...and...well, you get the idea.

There are so many things in our daily lives that can be achieved simpler, cheaper, and, in many cases (the OP is case in point), with less risk with marijuana and/or hemp.

[zbdent]

10. maybe because the tobacco lobby

is afraid of the better product ...

[green917]

8. God I miss John Lennon!

Marijuana was the main thing that promoted non-violence amongst the youth, because as soon as they have it, they—first of all, you have to laugh on your first experiences. There’s nothing else you do but laugh, and then, when you’ve got over that, and you realize that people aren’t laughing at you but with you, it’s a community thing, and nothing would ever stop it, nothing on Earth is going to stop it, and the only thing to do is to find out how to use it for good, or for the best.”

-John Lennon

[KurtNYC]

23. 31 years now. n/t

[dotymed]

11. Honestly, this information is known and accepted by the majority

of people. I am sure that the President knows that this is true. He hasn't lived in a bubble his entire life. I can only conclude, like most other people, that cannabis is still illegal for economic reasons.

The government, big pharma, alcohol industry combined with the legal system, the drug lords, etc. all know that legalizing pot would drastically cut in to their profits. Even if it were strongly taxed, people can easily grow it. Growers aside, the taxes would not cover the losses to the prison industrial complex alone.

It is all a scam, just like the banksters commit, and we are being screwed at every angle. We are slaves and capitalism is our master.

That is another reason for the 99% to stand against this corruption, worldwide.


edited to add a few more comments.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Precisely, dotymed, it is a big scam and

this counterproductive, draconian, dysfunctional, immoral, greed based cannabis prohibition policy is literally destroying hundreds of thousand if not millions of American Families and lives.

There is no logic to this prohibition policy except for the most cynical, mercenary type.

[dotymed]

16. Yes, it (the laws) destroy countless American lives.

Now consider how many lives in Mexico and other foreign countries that end due to the drug-lords. I would guess that more Mexican lives end because of the purposeful prohibition of marijuana than end in America from our lack of universal health care. That is the tragic end of so many precious human lives.

I am confident in the statement that there are some well respected "law abiding* citizens in America who "earn" their money directly from the cultivation and sale of marijuana here and in Mexico. I am also sure that there are the same type of well-to-do people that earn* their money from cocaine in south America (Columbia mainly) and heroin from Afghanistan. Members of the MIC are especially prone to these money making schemes. these people are death merchants whose activities are probably known to the CIA.

We all know that the CIA has financed many wars and operations with drugs and/or drug money, that became well known during the contra scandal and during the Viet Nam war. It is shameless.

* = :sarcasm:

[Gregorian]

12. Pot is illegal as an excuse to grow the prison system. And police force.

[DeSwiss]

15. ''So Explain Again Why Pot Is Illegal?''

As Deep Throat said: ''Always follow the money.''

Of the MSM news reported http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mexico/family/citibankaffair.html">drug-money laundering schemes that have been uncovered, how many criminal bankers were convicted from the banks involved like: Wachovia, Citibank, etc., etc., etc.

Answer: NONE.

- There ya go......

K&R

[VPStoltz]

17. But it's a thousand times more profitable than pot.

Why do you think Costco is spending upwards of $25 MILLION to get liquor on the open market in Washington State?

[DCKit]

18. What's your angle copper?

You know we had the referendum here in DC to legalize medicinal weed. Congress disallowed the funding to count the votes, but it finally passed.

Lately, the DC government (totally corrupt, if any of you didn't already know) voted to license our growers at an application fee of $5K then taxes and all the other bs - as long as they signed a release absolving DC from any responsibility. In a completely corrupt city with nearly all the city leaders on the take, licensed MM centers have no chance. There's too much money made with hard drugs.

Just sayin'

[walerosco]

20. K & R

[yurbud]

21. but keeping it illegal is more than twice as profitable as selling an unpatentable plant legally

[court jester]

30. but the feds hold a patent on the use of cannabinoids

so much for unpatentable

pretty sure at least some of the prohibition is protecting it too

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507

United States Patent 6,630,507
Hampson , et al. October 7, 2003

Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants

Abstract

Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention.

***

Some poster on "another site" said this is their backup plan, if prohibition fails.

What that poster failed to realize is that if the Feds hold a patent, it really belongs to the people. At least that is what should be the case.

[Dont call me Shirley]

22. Because BushCo owns the illegal op.

[musiclawyer]

24. Answer: Pour money into the legalization measures out west

The first state that legalizes will blow up the war on drugs completely. Just like OWS blew up the charade that was all deficit talk all the time. Because there is no real defense to prohibition, the Feds will have to cave. And just let the states be. Legalize and Tax. This is not some pipedream. CA got 48% in 2010 even with a flawed measure, low Dem turnout, and the heavy hitters sitting it out, thinking CA was not ready. It is NOW. So are a lot of other states.

[Politicalboi]

25. When are all the lawsuits

Against alcohol like tobacco coming? It's time to make them pay for all the misery they have caused by not putting warning labels sooner on their shit. Not that warning labels make it better, but treat them like the tobacco company, and tax the shit out of alcohol, and start suing them for their products. And I mean children who were abused at the hands of their drunk parents because of their product, or accident victims who happen to get hit by a drunk. Just like second hand smoke. But only faster.

Why should alcohol get a free pass while showing teens how cool it is to drink? Or 3 frogs years ago teaching a 3 year old to say Bud Wis Er. Poor Joe Camel got taken off billboards that most children don't even see. Yet cute frogs tell your child how to say Bud Wis Er. I hope alcohol gets what's coming and soon.

The less money they have to keep MJ illegal the better.

[saras]

27. Chronic drug use changes personalities - capitalism prefers some changes over others

People who drink are consumers. A lot of alcohol is sold at inflated prices, with inflated food prices, and entertainment, and often other economic activity. They also tend to be respectful of dominance hierarchies, even as they challenge each other for position within them.

Pot smokers, especially non-drinking pot smokers, tend to not be consumers. They may just hang out, or they may get creative, but generally after someone smokes a bunch of pot, they don't really want to go out on the town and whoop it up. They also tend to lean towards more egalitarian relationships, and a lot of them have a hard time taking rigid social roles seriously.

I think it's obvious which set of behaviors the powers that be prefer.

[liam_laddie]

28. And the paper lobby, too

I've always understood that, besides rope, hemp makes excellent paper products. The plant grows quickly in marginal soil and isn't "thirsty." Farmers can harvest it easily, not needing an industrial-scale operation like pulpwood logging. So the story goes that the fine paper industry (stationery, etc.) jumped on the "drug" bandwagon and helped immensely to ban the devil plant, at least as much as the others...alcohol, tobacco, J. Edgar. Whatta fucked-up country it was, and remains so. :crazy:

[Dont call me Shirley]

29. Pot is illegal because the small cabal of the illegal pot trade won't give up their

money high.