Suffice to say that alcohol causes more deaths due to violence, accidents, car crashes, and disease than cannabis to the point where there are ever-growing statistics tracking these numbers. While there is the possibility for occasional deaths and accidents caused by cannabis use there isn’t sufficient data to compare it to alcohol. “How much you’re impaired depends on the person, and how much you smoke,” Baler said. Because some people are stoned a lot of the time, while others may use marijuana only on weekends, the health effects become difficult to generalize.
Eating marijuana
There may also be a link between daily weed use and poorer verbal memory in adults who start smoking at a young age. The finding aligns with some previous research on alcohol’s connections with violence. “The risk from driving under the influence of both alcohol and cannabis is greater than the risk of driving under the influence of either alone,” the authors of a 2009 review wrote in the American Journal of Addiction.
Which is worse, booze or pot? A doctor weighs in
While both are intoxicants used recreationally, their legality, patterns of use and long-term effects on the body make the two drugs difficult to compare. “The main risk of cannabis is losing control of your cannabis break the cycle of addiction with these strategies to keep dopamine in check intake,” Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at UCLA, said. “That’s going to have consequences in terms of the amount of time you spend not fully functional. When that’s hours per day times years, that’s bad.”
- In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death – with a steadily increasing incidence rate – and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers.
- Adding alcohol to a low dose of THC impaired driving simulator scores by 21 percent.
- When you’re addicted, you may continue using the drug despite the harm it causes.
- Both weed and alcohol, together and on their own, are also potentially addictive and can lead to dependence and misuse.
Seeking help for a teen with marijuana or alcohol dependence
In general, marijuana is considered less harmful than alcohol but alcohol can be considered more socially acceptable. After all, you can only purchase cannabis products at dispensaries where in some states you can purchase alcohol in supermarkets. Additionally, alcohol is more socially acceptable in public use or work situations while using cannabis at a work function could be looked down upon. It can cause mood swings and we’re all familiar with people who are “angry drunks.” The impact of alcohol can vary based on how much you’re using and how your body interacts with it. Excessive alcohol use can cause brain damage and degenerative conditions like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which can cause severe memory impairment and other cognitive deficits.
Marijuana appears to be significantly less addictive than alcohol.
Genetic, psychological, social and environmental factors can impact how drinking alcohol affects your body and behavior. Theories suggest that for certain people drinking has a different and stronger impact that can lead to alcohol use disorder. It may be done by family and friends in consultation with a health care provider or mental health professional such as a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, or directed by an intervention professional. It involves family and friends and sometimes co-workers, clergy or others who care about the person struggling with addiction. Despite the name, these are not bath products such as Epsom salts. Substituted cathinones can be eaten, snorted, inhaled or injected and are highly addictive.
It wasn’t long before the pot boom started to raise concerns about public health. Despite this, the question of beneficial effects of alcohol has been a contentious issue in research for years. Alcohol use disorder is a chronic disease that often goes ignored by the millions in its grasp. For approximately 15 million Americans best drug addiction treatment centers of 2023 with alcohol use disorder (AUD), that’s a statement of denial. “But whichever way causal arrows point, cannabis use now appears to be on a fundamentally different scale than it was before legalization,” Caulkins said. Alcohol use disorder can include periods of being drunk (alcohol intoxication) and symptoms of withdrawal.
Marijuana vs. Alcohol: What’s Worse For Teenagers?
The most severe long-term effects are seen in heavy, chronic, or binge users who begin using in their teens. Meanwhile, no deaths from marijuana overdoses have been reported, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 16-year study of more than 65,000 Americans, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy people who did not use cannabis. Alcohol is also highly addictive and over time addiction can increase your chances of developing health issues and even a physical dependency.
Chronic alcohol use can lead to liver diseases such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis, gastritis and pancreatitis. Additionally, compounds in cannabis can help prevent some diseases, stunt oxidative damage, and can also help prevent major conditions. Some compounds in cannabis have been found to be anticancer, antibiotic, and antifungal. While there are negative benefits, cannabis does have many medicinal benefits including treatment of pain, nausea, issues with eating or keeping down food, and can help treat anxiety and depression. Alcohol is legal and can be purchased almost anywhere and everywhere. However, is available necessarily a sign that it’s better for you?
Last year, for example, Medical News Today reported on a study linking marijuana use to a greater risk of psychosis in teenagers, while another study claimed that the drug is “worse than cigarettes” for cardiovascular health. Proponents of cannabis like to say that it’s “natural,” so it can’t be bad for us. We should remember that tobacco is also a “natural” leafy green plant. Yet in the 20th century, the tobacco industry designed highly addictive products and incited a worldwide epidemic in tobacco addiction and subsequent cancer, cardiovascular and lung disease. The largest review of marijuana studies found substantial evidence of an increased risk among frequent marijuana users of developing schizophrenia — something that studies have shown is a particular concern for people already at risk.
She’s passionate about empowering readers to take care of their mental and physical health through science-based, empathetically delivered information. Cannabis addiction is surprisingly common, however, according to 2015 study. Weed seems to have fewer long-term risks than alcohol, but again, there’s a huge discrepancy in the amount of research on weed compared with alcohol. Getting drunk or high can feel similar to some people, while others describe the sensations as very different. Of course, the way you feel when you’re intoxicated also depends on how much of the substance you consume. Before getting into comparing alcohol and weed, it’s important to understand some of the factors that make the comparison tricky.
There probably isn’t a perfect way to evaluate and present all drug harms. Researchers will always need to balance making information simple and accessible for policymakers and the public with the inherent complexity of drugs and their effects. This makes the task of building scientific drug policies very challenging. alcohol and migraines Alcohol and marijuana are both intoxicants, but one study from Columbia University researchers estimated that alcohol multiplies the chance of a fatal traffic accident by nearly 14 times, while marijuana nearly doubles the risk. Sian Ferguson is a freelance health and cannabis writer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Across the U.S., however, it is increasingly becoming legalized for both medicinal and recreational purposes. As a result of this changing legislation, researchers have been trying to find out more about how marijuana may benefit health, as well as the damage that it could cause. Similar observational studies over decades have been critical to our current knowledge base regarding alcohol. We also need randomized, controlled trials to understand the potential benefits of different cannabinoid compounds. Studies have found that these effects can persist for several weeks after stopping marijuana use.
If you want to seek out medical marijuana for a specific condition consider finding a doctor with Green Health Docs. Getting a medical marijuana card can ensure that you have access to regulated medical marijuana simply and easily. One thing that’s clear about the alcohol vs. weed debate is that both should be used responsibly and driving while intoxicated on anything should be avoided at all costs. That being said, alcohol still faces all of the same aforementioned tolls on your health and risks of addiction. As mentioned, alcohol can cause many different negative effects on your body, most notably the liver.
