| November 4th, 2005 03:19 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Pot vs. Beer: Which is safer?
Common college substances' effects compared
Joshua Dana, Staff Writer
The Rebel Yell/University of Las Vegas/Nov3,2005
Popular social drugs alcohol and marijuana are almost polar opposites in their effects on users' demeanor.Louie Traub One person sits quietly in his own apartment, paid for every month by the paycheck he receives. He smokes marijuana slowly out of a bong or in a joint with a few close friends.
The other person goes to a bar where loud music and barely dressed women create the atmosphere. She drinks liquor and beer until she stumbles out to make the journey home. Who is in more danger?
Now that National Alcohol Awareness Week has ended, we have a chance to look at our own lives and the lives of those around us and ask, "Is smoking marijuana worse than drinking alcohol?"
It is true that marijuana is illegal. However, on Oct. 1, 2001, a new law went into effect in Nevada, decriminalizing small amounts (one ounce or less) of marijuana. Before that date, possession of marijuana in any amount was a felony.
Marijuana is made from the buds and stems produced by the Cannabis plant. It can be smoked like tobacco or ingested in the form of brownies, cookies or even tea. The use of marijuana produces a euphoric feeling accompanied by a head rush and possibly the tendency of over-exaggerated laughter. The main area of the body affected by marijuana is the lungs; however, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, long-term usage can lead to problems with memory and even depression or anxiety.
"I quit marijuana because one day I was smoking and it gave me an anxiety attack," UNLV student Mitch L., 19, said. Now he does not smoke at all. Instead, he drinks.
Alcohol produces a similar feeling to marijuana. However in large doses, alcohol can give people nausea and even make them pass out. Heavy drinking usually leads to a dizzy feeling and in many cases the body expels the toxic liquid in the form of vomit.
Alcoholism is a serious health risk. Not only does alcohol destroy the liver, but according to the Las Vegas Recovery Center, it is more addictive than marijuana. Alcohol has serious effects on the brain in the long run and it is one of only two substances whose withdrawal can kill (benzodiazepines are the second).
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency's Web site, in 2004, the federal government seized 243.1 kilograms of marijuana in Nevada alone.
Marijuana is the most used illegal drug, as at least one-third of the American population has at one point tried it.
There are your typical, "I want to rebel" type of middle and high school kids who smoke for the excitement of breaking the law.
There are also college students, who after a long hard day of classes and homework, relax with a movie and a "bowl" packed with California's finest. Even into the 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond, you will find marijuana users.
Alcohol use is common among the same general crowd. The middle and high school kids will fish for beer outside the local 7-11, while their parents might go to the local pub to wash away an argument with tequila or whiskey.
Kris E., a bartender at Pug's Pub, said marijuana is "more of a need than a want" to her friends. However, Kris, along with Turessa Russell and Maggie Brandner, who work at the MSU, said alcohol is more dangerous to society because of its accessibility and the number of drinking related incidents that occur every year.
According to a recent College Task Force report to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking by college students between the ages of 18-24 is responsible for nearly 1,700 student deaths, 599,000 injuries and 97,000 cases of date rape or sexual assault each year.
Both marijuana and alcohol use have long-term effects.
However, with the one-time use of marijuana, death is almost impossible and the brain is nearly unaffected.
The one-time user of alcohol not only has to worry about damage to the stomach and throat, but death is just a few drinks too many or a drunken car ride home.
These two vices, judging by the statistics, are dangerous members of our society.
Alcoholics are often violent in life, whereas marijuana users often sit back and watch life go by.
In the eyes of most college students, the idea that alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana is justified by the alarming number of drunk-driving incidents every year.
But which is truly more detrimental for society?
That is up to the American people to decide.
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| November 4th, 2005 03:30 AM |
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| stonesgirl101 |
I think alcohol is WAY worse!! |
| November 4th, 2005 05:46 AM |
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| lotsajizz |
this is not a debate....it is fact that alcohol is the most destructive substance available for mass public consumption |
| November 4th, 2005 06:38 AM |
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| Jair |
A always smoked marijuana, since i was 16, and NEVER had any troubles. On the contrary, makes a happy person 
Alcohol, however, make me very bad & sick.
Once, my friends had to take me to the hospital because i had drunk too much, and...I nearly died!!! doctors said later.
It never happens about pot... |
| November 4th, 2005 07:56 AM |
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| lotsajizz |
exactly!! how many pot OD deaths are there in a year? ZERO!!!! now, alcohol is fine in moderation (and even to excess on special occasions), but its social cost is tremendous
for the State to ban vices is absurd...regulate, don't ban
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| November 4th, 2005 08:32 AM |
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| keefkid |
pot pot pot pot and pot |
| November 4th, 2005 08:35 AM |
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| gimmekeef |
You know after 30 years ...I'm still in test mode!!!!..Results at 11 |
| November 4th, 2005 09:04 AM |
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| shakedhandswithkeith |
it`s time again for the pipe....:d |
| November 4th, 2005 10:04 AM |
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| Jumping Jack |
I forget the question, LOL!
Want anything from the fridge? |
| November 4th, 2005 10:58 AM |
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| eXiLe oN 2nD sT |
Beer is better for a good time socially...
But i like the occasional pot session when I'm playing cards with my friend, ect...
Never do anything important or life threatening when I'm doing either. |
| November 4th, 2005 11:06 AM |
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| voodoopug |
I beleive both can be deadly if abused, if controlled , both pose minimal problems:
For example, Pot has been scieitifically proven to delay reaction time and alertness. If someone who is high is driving a car and hits a little girl or boy and kills her because he was not at top alertness, then Pot is deadly in this case (now use the same story and replace pot with say...8 beers). This will give the same result...deadly, just as deadly too.
Now another scenerio: Bill Taxpayer comes home from work and has a couple of beers with dinner, some wine with his wife, and then a celebratory shot after their team wins the world series...they then go to bed, make love and fall asleep...hardly deadly.
Same goes for a few guys heading out to their back porch, firing up the water bong and then bullshitting all night remembering how cool things used to be.
Alcohol and Pot are rarely deadly or dangerous...Addiction or Abuse of either usually is. |
| November 4th, 2005 11:08 AM |
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| nankerphelge |
Like the Stones, some things are meant to be together rather than apart... |
| November 4th, 2005 11:20 AM |
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| Joey |
quote:
nankerphelge wrote:
Like the Stones, some things are meant to be together rather than apart...
Nanky ?!?!
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V
[Edited by Joey] |
| November 4th, 2005 04:38 PM |
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| Jair |
Marijuana is a very efective antidepressive (forget Prozac) and, as well remembered by Peter Tosh, the cure for glaucoma.
Also, improves you quality life if you're in a quimioterapia treatment. A friend of mine, Tais, who had cancer, used to ask me to help her stand the treatment.
I was "her man" for several months.
I recall now, she was treating yourself in a hospital located in Los Angeles, where she use to go about once or twice a month.
And she is dead now, anyway. Great lady.
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| November 5th, 2005 04:27 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Study: Religious use of peyote not harmful to American Indians
By Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer | November 4, 2005
BOSTON --For John Halpern to study the effects of peyote on American Indians who use the hallucinogenic cactus in religious ceremonies, observing from a distance was not an option.
Halpern lived on the Navajo Nation reservation for months at a time and participated in prayer ceremonies. Earning their trust and cooperation would have been impossible if he refused to ingest peyote, he said.
"It never would have happened if I hadn't done that. It's one of the ways they take the measure of a man," said Halpern, a psychiatrist at the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital in Belmont, just outside of Boston.
A 1994 federal law allows roughly 300,000 members of the Native American Church to use peyote as a religious sacrament, but Halpern set out to find scientific proof for the Navajos' belief that the substance is not hazardous to their health.
After five years of research, Halpern and other McLean researchers did not find any evidence of brain damage or psychological problems in church members who frequently use peyote, which contains the hallucinogen mescaline.
In fact, they found that members of the Native American Church performed better on some of the neuropsychological tests than other Navajos who do not regularly use peyote.
Church members believe peyote offers them spiritual and physical healing, but Halpern and his colleagues could not say with any certainty that its pharmacological effects are responsible for their test results.
"It's hard to know how much of it is the sense of community they get (from the religion) and how much of it is the actual experience of using the medication itself," said Harrison Pope, the study's senior author and director of McLean's biological psychology laboratory.
Test results for 61 church members who have used peyote at least 100 times were compared against those for 79 Navajos who do not regularly use peyote and 36 tribe members with a history of alcohol abuse but minimal peyote use. Those who had abused alcohol fared worse on the tests than the church members, according to the study.
The researchers argue that their findings should offer "reassurance" to the 10,000 Native American Church members serving in the military who were barred from using peyote before new guidelines were adopted in 1997.
"We find no evidence that a history of peyote use would compromise the psychological or cognitive abilities of these individuals," they wrote in a paper published in the Nov. 4 issue of Biological Psychiatry.
The researchers are quick to note that their study draws a clear distinction between illicit and religious use of peyote. And they did not rule out the possibility that other hallucinogens, such as LSD, may be harmful.
"In comparison to LSD, mescaline is described as more sensual and perceptual and less altering of thought and sense of self," they wrote, adding that peyote does not seem to produce "flashbacks" the same way that LSD apparently does.
However, the researchers are optimistic that their findings could open the door to another area of research: testing the theory that peyote could be an effective treatment for alcoholism.
"It's an anecdote you hear from the Navajo themselves but something that has never been formally tested in any fashion," Pope said.
Halpern settled on members of the Native American Church as ideal subjects for his research because they have had little or no exposure to other drugs. But he met with stiff resistance when he first visited the Navajo reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
"These are very proud peoples, and many of them are smarting over the stigmatizing cliche about (American Indians') substance abuse," he said. "It's a real problem, but it's a real problem in many communities."
Halpern found an ally on the reservation in Victor Clyde, who was a vice president of the Native American Church of Navajoland. Clyde persuaded skeptical church members to cooperate with Halpern.
"A lot of members did not want to allow him to do the research," said Clyde, a justice of the peace in Chinle, Ariz. "No one wants to be put under the microscope like that."
The project was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A NIDA spokeswoman would not comment on the study.
Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor who was not involved in Halpern's research, said the study lends scientific weight to a long-held belief that peyote is not harmful.
"The thing that excites me most about the paper is that the study was actually done," he said. "The U.S. government -- and NIDA, in particular -- has been rather balky about allowing studies of psychedelic drugs of any kind."
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On the Net:
McLean Hospital: http://www.mclean.harvard.edu
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| November 5th, 2005 05:53 AM |
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| sj |
Alcohol=simple sugar. Raised serotonin levels. Serotonin converts to melatonin under night time conditions
Marijuana increased melatonin uptake HEAPS, providing moments of insight and bliss. But when the rush is over expect paranoid, anxiety attacks as the levels are now depleted.
So what is bad about any of that? If you can manage the effects on the body it's all cool.
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| November 5th, 2005 06:35 AM |
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| star star |
get me some peyote!! |
| November 5th, 2005 07:46 AM |
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| Lavendar |
Since For-Ever...
"We All Need Something We Can Lean ON" *_* |
| November 5th, 2005 10:32 AM |
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| Jair |
quote:
sj wrote:
Alcohol=simple sugar. Raised serotonin levels. Serotonin converts to melatonin under night time conditions
Marijuana increased melatonin uptake HEAPS, providing moments of insight and bliss. But when the rush is over expect paranoid, anxiety attacks as the levels are now depleted.
So what is bad about any of that? If you can manage the effects on the body it's all cool.
Great idea sj!
Anyway, as a long user of marijuana (20 + yrs) I haven't any of these problems, as paranoia, anxiety etc.
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| November 5th, 2005 01:28 PM |
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| sirmoonie |
Who would want to be without some quality weed when coming down off acid? Hmmmm? Yeah, its some good stuff. The good lord above was firing on all fucking cylinders when he invented marijuana. |
| November 5th, 2005 04:05 PM |
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| kath |
nuthin's better than good weed........ |
| November 5th, 2005 04:07 PM |
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| sirmoonie |
Good acid is better than good weed. |
| November 5th, 2005 07:46 PM |
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| Brainbell Jangler |
Good acid is certainly rarer than good pot these days. And it can have a more profound effect on one's life (often, though not always, for the good). But it's not the sort of thing you can enjoy every day, or even every weekend. Pot is a cozier friend in that sense.
Of course, peyote is an effective treatment for alcoholism. I found it odd that the article didn't mention the successful use of LSD to treat alcoholism in the early '60s.
Voodoo Pug's attempt to equate pot and beer ignores some important distinctions. For one, the pot smoker is less likely to be driving than the beer drinker. Second, the impairment from alcohol is mcuh more severe than that from cannabis. Third, ganja user will be aware of the impairment, while the drinker is more likely to think he's unimpaired. Consequently, the herb lover will probably be driving slower and watching carefully, while the drunk will be speeding and oblivious.
The thousands killed annually in alcohol-related auto accidents are just part of the problem. As a criminal defense attorney, I know that almost all domestic violence is alcohol-fueled. The physical effects of the two substances are entirely different. While alcohol overdoses kill many every year, there is no known lethal dose of cannabis. Recent research indicates that cannabis smoking is unlikely to cause lung cancer despite the presence of carcinogens in the smoke, because other ingredients counteract the cancer-causing substances. Most of the harmful effects of the smoke can be avoided entirely by the use of vaporizers. The memory loss associated with heavy smoking is entirely reversible by quitting. And quitting pot is relatively easy, at least compared to tobacco, alchohol or any of the other illegal drugs.
Whatever the harmful effects of herb may be, they are far outweighed by the harm caused by prohibition. When pot smokers must buy their product from illegal drug dealers, they are more likely to be exposed to other, more harmful drugs. The inflated cost makes robbery and other violent crime more frequent. It also wastes disposable income, since pot would be plentiful and cheap if anyone could grow it. More pot use would inevitably decrease alcohol consumption and its attendant ills. |
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