Alcohol or Marijunana. Which is worst when overused?

[Eukaryote]

Just a random poll: Which is worse for your health, saftey and well being when overused? Alchol or marijuna?

I say alchol is worse because it's pretty hard to die from smoking too much pot at one time, but drunk people are known to pass out and drown in there own vomit. That's a death without dignity! Alchol is probably more addictive too. Also, hangovers can be brutal.

 

[BasketCase]

Since one is illegal, knowing the answer is probably impossible.

The catch being, that marijuana may be less dangerous precisely BECAUSE it's illegal......

 

[ComradeDavo]

Personal experiance tells me alcohol, as in being sick and acting really dumb when drunk.

Additionally whilst I know a few hardcore stoners who just end up being a bit lazy when stoned, I know pleanty of people who drink and get rowdy, and know of many occasions when drunk people have got violent. Plus of course alcoholism is a serious problem with people damging their livers and becoming very difficult to be around.

 

[~Corsair#01~]

Marijuana can lead to mental illness, and shares the same health risks as smoking (which kills far more people than alcohol).

However I voted for alcohol.
I think the point is basically that alcohol is not a risk at all in safe amounts but can kill you in a single day if you overdo it, whereas marijuana is always a risk but can never represent the immediate health risk of alcohol, unless you're already severely depressed in which case it may cause suicide.

 

[Sidhe]

Since one is illegal, knowing the answer is probably impossible.

The catch being, that marijuana may be less dangerous precisely BECAUSE it's illegal......

Er no, its use actually became less prevalent when it was decriminalised over here. The legality in the case of marijuana appears to make little or no difference to its prevalence.

And marijuana is never likely to become as widely used, nor would it be as dangerous if it was. At least according to the current research. There are of course health concerns with smoking a high tar substance, and some tenuous links to mental health. Alcohol abuse however is also linked to deterioration in mental health, but for very different reasons.

Yes alcohol is worse for you if it isn't used sensibly, that really isn't an issue as such. One has never been illegal in all but a few countries (Islamic mostly and those imposing a prohibition) the other is. Funnily enough in most Islamic states it's use is legal, everyone needs a drug. Well accept teetotallers and their drug is probably God or somit.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Alcohol has a lot more radical and violent effects on you than marijuana when overused.

There's not even a debate about this.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Alcohol, by far.

But both are dangerous of course when subjected to over- and abuse. marijuhah is still a mind altering drug and using large quantities consistently is really bad. But if you relate this to using large quantities of alcohol consistently, alcohol is much worse since there's also a large factor of physical addiction involved.

 

[Riffraff]

Another point is, that it's way easier to 'overdose' on alcohol than on marijuana.

 

[Grisu]

Since one is illegal, knowing the answer is probably impossible.

The catch being, that marijuana may be less dangerous precisely BECAUSE it's illegal......

MJ being illegal has absolutely nothing no influence on its danger when overused...it might have an influence on the likelyhood of overusing it, but once you overuse it, the legality is completely irrelevant to the danger.

that said, I'd say that alcohol is far, far more dangerous when overused.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Marijuana can lead to mental illness, and shares the same health risks as smoking (which kills far more people than alcohol).

Actually all these studies about marijuana talk about people who already have mental illness being effected by the ultra-strong strains. Thus regulation meaning that marijuana was sold over the counter at a strengh deemed low/middle would mean that these effects (which are hotly disputed anyhow) wouldn't occur.

 

[IglooDame]

DEA "dynamic entry" raids notwithstanding, alcohol, of course.

 

[dutchfire]

German: Alle Ding sind Gift, und nichts ohn Gift; allein die Dosis macht, daß ein Ding kein Gift ist.
"All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
-Paracelsus

 

[Fifty]

I know a ton of rabid potheads, and the worst thing about them is they are boring people, but they are relatively harmless. Alcohol, on the other hand, killed my mom. Easy choice!

 

[philippe]

you need a few kilo's before you OD on weed, so the choice is clear.

 

[holy king]

Since one is illegal, knowing the answer is probably impossible.

you're cute.

 

[skadistic]

On one when over used over time you get addicted an addiction so bad you will die when go cold turkey. Its the same one that cause numerous fatal accidents every year. One time over use of the same one leads to death sometimes. Sometimes it leads only to a rush to the hospital where they cram charcoal into your stomach and then pump it out.

Its not the one you smoke.

 

[lovett]

It depends who's overusing it.

Well, it doesn't actually, but that allows me to ponder:

Would I rather be attacked a a bunch of lary drunken chavs who've been drinking cheap cider all night and don't really care whether I'm still breathing in the morning, or have somebody.......fall asleep on me?

Huh.

 

[Great Librarian]

Alcohol is conclusively and irrefutably more dangerous than marijuana over the course of a lifetime or in a single instance. It is virtually impossible to overdoes on marijuana, the stuff just isn't toxic enough and would require more than your bodyweight in nearly pure amounts. The risk of smoking marijuana (the tar and other chemicals created when smoking it) can be reduced to a negligible level depending on the way the marijuana is smoked. It is not particularly addictive. Marijuana has an entirely different effect on brain chemistry than alcohol making it easily more pleasant and a more lucid experience than drunkenness.

Alcohol has a very high toxicity. It is extremely damaging to the liver in the short and long term depending on consumption and dose. It can cause death due to its toxicity in the brain in relatively small doses. Alcohol can cause blackout periods when it reaches toxic levels and, while they may not kill you, you may die by inhaling and choking on your own vomit. Alcohol is known only to be safe in small amounts several times a week. Alcohol is considerably addictive. Alcohol, when a person is drunk, distorts inhibition, lessens reaction time, defuncts reasoning mechanisms in the brain and reduces lucidity. This combination leads people to do dangerous things and can put them at risk of their environment, themselves or others.

 

[warpus]

Well, we could easy set up an experiment.

Sit down two people at a table. Have one continously drink Tom Collins' one after the other. Have the other guy continously smoke joints.

One of these people is either going to pass out or die of alcohol poisoning. The other, is likely to refer to you as "dude", and go on about how it'd be weird if chickens had hands.

 

[LucyDuke]

I never would've thought I'd get tired of drug threads.

There's no question here. Anyone with any semblance of sense knows that this is obvious.

And no, it's not "hard" to smoke enough pot to overdose, it's impossible.

Since one is illegal, knowing the answer is probably impossible.

Right, because if something is illegal it's impossible to know anything about it. You deserve a gold star for that reasoning.

The catch being, that marijuana may be less dangerous precisely BECAUSE it's illegal......

But it's not. Get off Anslinger's tit.