Which is safer, pot or alcohol? Which is “better”? If you had to pick, which would you prefer your teenagers to do—smoke pot or drink alcohol? The debate has been roaring, now more than ever, considering that legalization of marijuana (in small amounts) is on the table in Colorado. The ballot proposal is called “The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012.”
There’s even a site called saferchoice.org, which touts marijuana as the “safer” choice. Last I read, marijuana use was up among teens, and alcohol was down, but the pendulum always swings back and forth, back and forth.
So which is safer/better/preferable?
Is this the question we really should be asking? It’s not like alcohol’s going to swap places with pot and we’re going to go back to the days of Prohibition. By this time, alcohol is a given part of our culture, like tv and the internet.
I realize there are compelling arguments for the legalization of marijuana (supposedly no one has ever overdosed on pot; people get less violent when they smoke pot, not more, like they do when they drink; making pot illegal taxes our criminal justice system–you can find many of these arguments online), but still—Why add another drug to the roster of iffy life choices? Why make it easy?
And do we really want to add toker-moms and dads to the growing ranks of “cocktail moms” (and dads!)? Instead of sneaking into their parents’ liquor cabinets, teens could sneak into their parents’ pot stashes! We don’t need to model another easy “check out of real life” option for our teens.
I’m familiar with the popular argument that if you make something forbidden, it becomes more attractive (see Prohibition), but I also think the converse is true: for some people, the fact that pot is illegal is a deal killer, enough of a deterrent to make them stay away. I know it is for me. I’m a mom of three, and I try to be a role model for my kids. Just the thought of my kids busting me doing something illegal is enough to make me steer clear of this popular suburban pastime. Or the thought of them watching me being handcuffed and carted away, calling after me, “Mom—why would you break the law?!” Maybe I’m just a killjoy, but still…And–full disclosure–maybe I’m biased, as the sister of someone who went to rehab after smoking a little pot led to smoking five times a day, which led to staying emotionally stuck at age 14 (as she’ll tell anyone who asks), which led to harder drugs. Alcohol has always been one thing; drugs, another. And there’s a line between the two that I wouldn’t want my own kids to cross.
At least now, people have to think twice before they light up. First, they have to deal with buying it in secret, and then they have to plan where and when to smoke it so they won’t get caught. This makes smoking pot a more conscious act, rather than a default behavior.
All behavior is healthier when it’s conscious, whether it’s eating, drinking, or whatever else. For example, when drinking becomes mindless bingeing instead of conscious consuming (think: having a great glass of wine to complement a meal), it becomes a slippery slope–a way to escape life’s problems rather than a means of enhancing the sensual experience of life.
Taking drugs has always been a counterculture choice, and that’s how it should remain: counterculture. That’s the allure, and that’s the deterrent. Make it mainstream, and you’ve opened up a whole other can of worms.
Do we really need to put another readily available, time-sucking temptation in our children’s paths? I say, make it hard and you’ll save a lot of people from addiction and drug dependence.
Examining the effects of his pot-smoking days, memoirist Nic Sheff put it best on the website, The Fix, when he wrote: “For me, all these years later, I still suffer from all the fucking decades I lost to smoking pot. My emotional maturity is probably a little better than a 16-year-old’s (maybe)—but not a whole lot. I basically overreact to any kind of problem I have. And I definitely blame a lot of that on my years getting high.”
In the New York Times Room for Debate section, Brian E. Perron, an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, points to the need for further research on marijuana before we jump into fighting for legalization. He concludes that, “…an increase in marijuana use among the teenage population is not good, even if rates for more problematic substances are on the decline. Foremost, we are unclear of the long-term consequences of marijuana use on the developing brain of the adolescent. The potency of marijuana has also increased significantly over the years. Thus, along with an increased sensation of euphoria, we can expect an increase in its addictive potential. The research is also clear that early involvement with substances is associated with heavier use and a variety of other problems later in life. From this perspective, marijuana may be associated with fewer risks in comparison to other substances, but marijuana use does introduce its own set of known and possibly unexpected problems that are deeply concerning.”
That’s enough for me to hold my hand up and say, wait—what’s the rush? Do we really need another readily available, commonplace drug?
We all have a responsibility to ourselves and to others to not engage in destructive activity. It does not matter if that activity is drinking, smoking pot, shooting heroin, or verbally abusing others. It does not matter if life was hard on us. It does not matter if we allowed ourselves to sit on a couch for a few years instead of engaging life. The responsibility is ours.
We have a lot of readily available common place drugs. Legal or not does not define readily available. Access also does nothing to to stem addiction or abuse. When the first narcotics laws were passed (civilization existed for 5000 years without them) the percentage of people addicted to drugs was about 1.3%. When the drug war started in the early 70s, the addiction rate was about 1.3%. Today, after 40 years of warfare on US streets, the addiction rate is still 1.3%.
There is a sector of the human family that is prone to addictive behavior. The sector does not change over time, and it does not change no matter how many gun and shackles you throw at it. The only thing prohibition has done is make it so those personalities have a harder time getting treatment, support and guidance.
Addiction is a problem, but it is one that is more manageable with love and support. We need a society where families of addicts can recognize the symptoms and deal with them without artificial fear and stigma added. The problem is bad enough without violence being thrown in by default. Law enforcement complicates the formula by adding more fear and that causes denial. We need to confront our problems like adults. We need to stop projecting our addictions and fears on others.
Only by fully owning our own problems can we hope to deal with them. Making our problems into everyone’s problems by supporting prohibition as a legal strategy, is a part of the sickness. It is the blame game turned on society. Our addictions are our responsibility and, for our own good, we need to take ownership of that.
I’d much, MUCH rather suffer the potential consequences you list than those of our current policy, which locks up a lot of people for no good reason and indirectly contributes to the narco terror in Mexico.
The “choice” between alcohol and pot is a bit false. The purpose of smoking pot is to get high, but the purpose of drinking alcohol is much more complex than just getting drunk. I live in wine country where wine drinking is a daily event, but I have yet to see any of our friends or neighbors intoxicated. Pot is so ubiquitous that the only thing that would change with legalization is the amount of time wasted on prosecuting minor drug offenders, not to mention the lives ruined by said prosecution. In reality, a parent is more likely to secretly raid a kid’s “stash” than vice versa. And as for potent drugs and the developing brain, what about ritalin and the like that are being prescribed in increasing amounts to increasingly young children? At least someone who smokes pot has a choice.
Lawyer here again – I’m one of those that Leah referred to when she said that the fact it is illegal is a “dealkiller.” Also, the Prohibition argument isn’t so cut & dried – there’s at least one Canadian historian who reviewed Court records and saw how domestic violence and petty crime dropped during Prohibition (in Manitoba, anyway) – how families were at least being fed & housed when the breadwinner wasn’t drinking his pay packet away. My big concern about the legalization of marijuana and/or other drugs is that we have a hard enough time getting/keeping drunk drivers off the road as it is, even when we have great technology and stiff penalites. How are we going to keep those impaired by drugs off the road?
I must say I doubt that legalization would result in many more druggies on the roads. What we have learned (or haven’t learned) from the 40 year old War on Drugs in the USA is that stiff penalties don’t change behavior, they just put a lot of harmless people behind bars. It is easier to arrest them than the actual dangerous offenders, so the cops take the easy way out. We now have the largest prison population in human history. If you don’t want people driving, give them some other way to get around. American’s weddedness to the car is the real problem, not a kid with a joint in his pocket, but it is oh so easy to come down on the kid. Saves having to face the real problems. Make driving a rare necessity and you won’t have a drug/drunk problem.
You are completely offbase in you assertions about marijuana use and emotional maturity/stability. The fact you would site such nonsense makes me really question the integrity of this post. Prohibition has been a massive failure and an affront to personal liberty. You cannot legislate morality to protect people from themselves. Its not about safety, there are plenty of people driving under the influence of pharmacutical drugs that have cognitive effects. The law for impaired driving is in place, when a motorist is impaired under any substance it is a DUI- it does not matter if it is pot, oxycotin or alcohol. I highly doubt there will be an increase in DUI for pot as it does not affect coordination or motor skills. The arguments you state a scare tactics, nothing more. I would much rather smoke a joint then drink alcohol. And this is coming from a type-a personality who has always been driven to succeed whether or not I have been using pot. Some of us prefer logic and reason. Full scale legalization of marijuana for adults makes sense.
jmp – there are people who smoke pot to enhance sensation and for relaxation (me) and there are people who smoke to also squash uncomfortable feelings (my ex). No doubt my ex was stuck emotionally somewhere in his teens, and this eventually led to our divorce. The fact that you so quickly dismiss the argument about it affecting emotional maturity/stability and then support your argument by talking about personal liberty and DUI makes me wonder whether you are one of the latter.
What an interesting post! I like that you took the argument away from simply just comparing marijuana and alcohol. I am on the side of legalizing marijuana, for many of the reasons some of the comments above have listed, and some of the reasons you listed as well, but it was interesting to think about it as a counterculture choice and accepting it as that and leaving it that way. I think my biggest reason for supporting legalization is that I think that the way our country has evolved in the way we treat alcohol (between alcoholism, drunk driving, binge drinking, etc.) is a good warning for how NOT to treat marijuana, and that starts with legislating it differently. We’re going through the prohibition stage now, clearly, but what could be done differently so that marijuana does not become such a contested force in our culture, the way alcohol has? The fact is that until I turned 21, marijuana was so much more available to me than alcohol that it blows my mind. Pot is around. It’s everywhere, the same way alcohol has always been despite different regulations throughout the past few centuries. I think we have a unique position in history to look at how we have treated behavior-altering substances in the past and learn from that. Nothing will quash marijuana, just as nothing ever quashed alcohol.
Very good article, I also enjoyed the counter culture point you made; very true. Marijuana would not be a big deal is it were added to the already legal recreational drugs on the market. I also agree with AFH because he also makes valid points.
In all honesty I can tell you your kids will try marijuana if not in high school then almost certainly in college( its literally evey where and people smoke out in the open) (this is coming from the conservative as anything south as well) Trying it is not wrong or destructive ; my mom also had a sister who fell into the same category as yours and her daughter the as well. On later diagnosis they both actually had mental disorders (bipolar, and psychopathy) regardless of pot smoking (also social factors, they had self esteem issues and fell in with bad self esteem crowds). While some would look at this and point causal effect, it is very important to remember that genetic disorders exist and in most cases people assume intial drug use equals bad behavior and further more hardcore drug use which for most people is not the case. This social stigma unfortunately blankets truly bizarre destructive behavior that otherwise would normally be addressed. The most important thing is if your kids try drugs, the dangerous part is not the initial trying(that’s going to happen) its the social influences. Beware of people users because they create abusers.
Good article and interesting point of view, I recommend you try marijuana before you die and also remember one thing you eluded to.
It is not the use of the drug itself that is bad, but more importantly what you do with it. Whenever I have gotten high(not super often but often enough), I like to paint, walk in the park, talk philosophy with my friends, or watch a movie I’ve seen to see if it allows me to see the story from a new point of view. By actually doing things while high, I consider it no more “wasted” time than watching what we call TV now of days. Good luck to you! And I hope you one day decide to give it a try, if you do make it special you won’t regret it, I promise. If not good luck regardless!
Leah,
Although I respect your opinion as biased and uninformed as it may be I have to differ from it in the face of overwhelming scientific, economic, political, and social evidence. Basically you’re wrong, and here’s why.
First lets start with the abominable failure that is “The War on Drugs.” See we didn’t always have a DEA, it was created by Richard Nixon to enforce he Controlled Substances Act but what few people know is that their was actually a commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse before the law was finalized. See they stated this “Looking only at the effects on the individual, there, is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural preparations of cannabis.” Verbatim from the commission. What did Nixon do? He told Shafer to get stuffed and shoved pot on schedule 1 along with heroin, MDMA, and other hard drugs. Now I know I won’t convince you just with the Shafer report so lets look at some other factors.
Teenage use of marijuana in the state of Colorado has declined at the same period the national rate has been rising, this happens to coincide with the rise of their medical marijuana industry (see Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/marijuana-usage-down-in-t_n_1865095.html) the reason for this is that control was taken from a black market (which was open to anyone with cash) into a regulated and controlled market where not just anyone can go and buy pot. Furthermore the argument you’ve put forward is based on no actual data or facts, just your own experiences and opinions. I am sure there are plenty of people whose siblings started drinking at a young age and ended up being booze-basatan drunks, actually I’m sure there are a lot more of these than there are of people like your sister. The data just doesn’t support your claims.
Ponder this, if an individual were to receive a felony marijuana conviction they can spend up to 10 years in jail not to mention being a felon for the rest of their lives, unable to vote, own a gun, barred from most respectable employment and renting any property that doesn’t scream “hood”, but if an individual was to be convicted of manslaughter in lets say Florida (which has some of the harshest laws in the country just in general i.e. Jessica’s Law for rape, prescription pain pill laws) the MAXIMUM sentence they receive is 12.5 years. Now you tell me, Leah, how does the possession of a weed (because thats what pot is, a weed that has never killed anyone, caused anyone to become violent, never harmed a soul except for making them a little plumper from the munchies) can have almost the same penalty as taking a human life? Whatever happened to let the punishment fit the crime? Maybe it makes sense to you but to the 42% of Americans who have tried marijuana I doubt it does (Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1821697,00.html)
Then get into the statistics of people incarcerated, 12.6% of all inmates are in jail for marijuana (http://drugsense.org/blog/drug-policy/marijuana-prisoners) at a time when jails are overcrowded and understaffed. We build new prisons everyday just to deal with this simple fact, all the while we have murderers and rapists being released out into the public population. I mean you wanna talk about something being dangerous to your children murderers and rapists are it but you and people like you will continue to see these people put back on the streets and for what? So that we can put non-violent marijuana offenders in their places? I call BS, America is about a freedom of choice, we don’t outlaw cigarettes and yet these are PROVEN to cause cancer.
Now you tell me which is more dangerous to your health, being “stuck emotionally at 14″ or lung cancer? As of yet I don’t think anyone has died from being “emotionally stuck at age 14″ however the 5 year survival rate of lung cancer is a scant 16.3% (http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/resources/facts-figures/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html) looking at statistics it would seem to me that cigarettes are far more dangerous than marijuana (which has been shown to increase lung capacity, grow brain cells, and fight tumor without any of the nasty side effects of chemotherapy:
*http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8155-marijuana-might-cause-new-cell-growth-in-the-brain.html,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/13/is-pot-good-for-lungs-new-marijuana-study-adds-to-health-effects-debate.html,
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/page4)
Now enough statistics, lets talk about the kids. You say you’re a mom, a mom thats so afraid of letting her kids down as their role model that you would never try pot so fair enough, good on ya you love your kids. But think for a minute about them, if they don’t heed your scare-tactic advice and they happen to get caught with a substance that is less harmful, less addictive, and more readily available to them than your beloved booze what does their life look like? I guarantee you if they have to spend a night in jail you’ll be singing a very different tune than the one you currently harp.
See the fact of the matter is that marijuana simply isn’t bad, and the only reason we perceive it as such is because there are people like you that run around acting like the sky is falling every time someone lights up a joint. You talk about “adding another drug to the roster of iffy life choices” but the fact of the matter is that drug is there whether its legal or illegal and people will choose whether they want to try it regardless. Your argument that “pot is illegal and therefore a deal killer” is ridiculous, by that logic no one would ever try a beer under the age of 21 because I mean come on its illegal right? Kids making smart choices starts at home, it starts from parents like you having open and honest conversations with their kids about the temptations of life and how to avoid being trapped by them. It doesn’t come from BS scare tactics, it doesn’t come from ridiculously excessive and life ruining drug laws, it comes from the parents and I’m not saying you’re a bad mom or anything like that but if you think you need the government to raise your kids for you with respect to life’s temptations then I don’t think you have a very good grasp on what this parenting thing is all about.
Weed can be abused, i know because i did in my sophomore year of high school. When i was a freshman i had a hard time making friends, and at the start of sophomore year i became friends with a very bad kid. He slowly corrupted me and we did terribly stupid things when we got drunk. I became a low-down punk out of my despiration to make friends. I got really bad grades that year and smoked to cope with the stress of my parents pressure to do better in school. I became mentaly addicted and then got caught smoking which ruined my parents trust. Anyway, i had the summer to think and i decided that i was an idiot and realized that smoking every day wasnt for me because i was lazy and never did my homework. For the rest of high school i was a light user and never let any substances negatively affect my life again, and to this day i smoke a couple times a week. Moderation is the key. I never liked to smoke a ton in one session like some kids did, they wanted to get as high as possible and they were the ones that went on to harder drugs because they wanted to get as far away from reality as possible. Legalizing weed would make it harder for kids to get weed because it will take down the illegal market. Pot is a thousand times easier to get than alcohol
Weed can be abused, i know because i did in my sophomore year of high school. When i was a freshman i had a hard time making friends, and at the start of sophomore year i became friends with a very bad kid. He slowly corrupted me and we did terribly stupid things when we got drunk. I became a low-down punk out of my despiration to make friends. I got really bad grades that year and smoked to cope with the stress of my parents pressure to do better in school. I became mentaly addicted and then got caught smoking which ruined my parents trust. Anyway, i had the summer to think and i decided that i was an idiot and realized that smoking every day wasnt for me because i was lazy and never did my homework. For the rest of high school i was a light user and never let any substances negatively affect my life again, and to this day i smoke a couple times a week. Moderation is the key. I never liked to smoke a ton in one session like some kids did, they wanted to get as high as possible and they were the ones that went on to harder drugs because they wanted to get as far away from reality as possible. Legalizing weed would make it harder for kids to get weed because it will take down the illegal market. Pot is a thousand times easier for kids to get than alcohol because drug dealers dont card, they would sell to elementary schoolers if those kids had any money. Gateway drug? Another product of prohibition. Drug dealers try to get you to do other drugs that they can make more money from. Also, when we grow up thinking that all drugs are bad then learn that weed isn’t, it makes us sceptical of the idea that other drugs are really bad and some people get curious and eventually might try hard drugs. I have never tried anything but weed and alcohol, and i will keep it that way.
My husband died three years ago from drinking too much alcohol, liver failure to be exact. He also was a marijuana user, but that didn’t do him in, the alcohol did.
I have raised 3 adult children, and none of them smoke marijuana to my knowledge, and it was around when they were growing up. Not flaunted, but it was in the house. I would much rather have my children smoke marijuana than abuse alcohol. Alcohol has the potential to kill you in too many ways, marijuana does not. I know that my children were around other children who smoked pot, I like to think I raised them to be able to make a responsible choice for themselves, rather than telling them that since alcohol is legal that’s good and marijuana is illegal so that is bad.
I suggest you think some more about the way you are approaching this with your children, as teaching them to make responsible decisions for themselves is much better than trying to strike fear in them. I am not saying that you shouldn’t teach your children to respect the law, teach them to be able to make responsible choices in life for themselves.
Hello everyone! Very interesting post. As a 20 year military member and former pot user I feel compelled to at least put my 2 cents in for anyone who may be interested. I used to smoke pot 2-3 times a week maybe once or twice on those days for about 3 years. I quit to join the military. What I have realized is this:
1. I grew up in the city! Many kids in high school by the 9th or 10th grade drank or smoked pot, or did both. The kids I hung out with who may have drank occasionally, but preferred pot- we never really got into trouble, we didn’t start fights and we didn’t do a lot of the stupid sh$t we saw the heavier drinkers do. I’m not saying we were complete angels, but we definitely could have have gotten involved with and done a lot worse.
2. If you are the type of person who has or shows the signs and symptoms of any kind of mental disorder that can lead to addiction or abuse- you should not smoke pot, drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes. As a teenager, even though I did, you should not smoke pot. Your brain is still developing.
3. If you think that your kids don’t have access to pot right now as you read this, you’re living in lala land. If you think that by legalizing weed, your kid will suddenly justify smoking it because of that, you’re living in lala land- chances are..he/she is already smoking it.
4. I have seen people suffering from severe PTSD, find relief with pot. And not just PTSD from war either, many different things can cause PTSD.
5. I had a very close family member die from cancer. I was present during the last stages. If I would’ve had access, I would have gladly given this family member some marijuana to help them recieve even the slightest bit of relief rather than not even be able to talk with them because of the severe pain and narcotics that this person was having to endure. I believe it could’ve helped.
6. The key is: the situation, the type of person and the purpose of use. It’s really quite simple. If you’re kids are drinking alcohol, smoking pot or cigarettes- guess what? Either you are not doing your job, or your kid just doesn’t care and is already deciding to make their own life choices no matter what you say. Whether what their doing is legal or not, it will make no difference to them. The best you can hope for is that you have shown them enough love, disciplined them in the right ways so that they will not go overboard, Or they will be smart enough to know when to slow down, stop or ask for help to stop. With pot- it’s usually not hard to stop although for heavy everyday use smokers their is a stronger mental than a physical addiction.
Overall, pot can be used medically- it’s been proven. People just refuse to see that. It is not the demon drug the government and extreme religious groups have made it out to be. If a responsible adult chooses to use it recreationally in moderation- well…. Then be an adult and use it responsibly! I haven’t smoked pot in 20 years but remember feeling nothing but relaxed, at ease and many times even joyous- enjoying the times with my closest friends. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Similar to alcohol, you can get “bombed” out of your mind with weed or you can take/ smoke just enought to give you the relaxed feeling most people are looking for. As an adult you have the right to do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t hurt anyone around you. That’s what I believe anyway. People want to blame their kids issues, or their own issues on drugs, or alcohol, or whatever the hell else they can find to redirect the responsibility. Take responsibility for yourself! Discipline your kids…. And I don’t mean beat the crap out of them! When a person delves into something that is an unhealthy obsession, it’s usually the result of a deeper problem! Look deeper people! It’s not the marijuana! Or the Valumes! Or the Sleeping Pills! What’s the real problem? Is your kid bored? Is dad not around? Does your kid have a$@hole friends? Are You depressed? Do you tend to go Overboard on things? Either way- look at what you are doing and why you are doing it, or why your kid is doing it and ask yourself, ” is the reason why I’m doing this going to lead me down a bad road? Am I intelligent and reasonable enough to handle doing this?” We need to stop judging and cursing ourselves and each other and start understanding and helping. Putting people in jail is not the optimum answer folks for some things. we have the largest prison population in the world- doesn’t anybody find that odd?!
I hope some of you can really hear me on this? I love my country and I live the people in my country… But man- we are doing ourselves in, and we are going the way of the Roman Empire.