Socially acceptable Christmas alcohol but weed is not ok?

Have to say this is a very juvenile observation, in that the thesis is absolutely knackered and exhausted, from being wheeled out all year round, every year, and going back many decades! It’s hardly an original assessment.

Of course booze has a charge sheet as long as your arm, and everyone knows the drawbacks. But it’s got history on its side, for one thing. It’s very deeply embedded in our culture (even if the indigenous people of these islands do tend to have a faulty ‘Off’ switch.)
Basically, it’s not going anywhere, and it’s for us to resist abusing it. Not much else is going to be done!

But the argument for weed is not strong enough.
I’d smoke hash all the time if I could get hold of it, and was a most enthusiastic toker through my 20s and 30s.
But 30 to 40 years later, the world of dope smoking has changed completely.
If you are smoking weed in GB or Ireland, it’s a very good bet you are buying it (at a distance) from vicious criminal gangs also dealing in other commodities we need not mention here.
Hash is very hard to come by, but it too is run by gangs involved in global trafficking networks.

One other important point about today’s weed: it is not the drug we smoked decades ago. Not at all.
Now people are succumbing to psychosis from using it, to bouts of extreme violence etc, and to personality changes. It’s the way it is grown, the dodgy compounds used to maximise and speed up production which have altered the very nature of the high.
It’s lousy, because cannabis was once a very good drug to promote as an alternative to booze. But no longer, unless one is utterly without conscience, and careless about one’s health.

Getting drunk is socially unacceptable in the circumstances you describe imo but having a drink or two (depending on your tolerance) has very little impact on others around you. Whereas smoking a joint is going to make you stink, along with the environment around you, and results in other people having to breathe second hand smoke.

My issue is that it IS illegal and therefore anyone smoking / eating or doing anything else with weed are supporting illegal enterprise. A lot of the people involved in the production and sale of drugs are involved in violence, intimidation, bribary and other unsavoury activities. I am completely opposed due to this.

Absolutely and everybody who says this needs to come and live on my Social Housing estate for a week to see just how ‘harmless’ it is! It’s an absolute menace.

It's stinking, absolutely vile so it is. I'd not be in a room with someone who was smoking it or was stinking of it. It's rancid.

And let's not forget drug driving which is becoming more prevalent.

Same arguments with cigarettes and smokers having to go outside. When someone drinks it’s their choice and impacts their health, when someone smokes (whether it’s weed or otherwise) it is inhaled by those who haven’t made that choice.

I don’t drink by the way

This

I agree.

I don’t drink so have no skin in the game. But whenever I read someone trying to insist weed is perfectly harmless I just assume they’re a bit thick, and/or in denial.

And I don’t know anyone who thinks being drunk around children is acceptable. And alcohol consumption is falling.

Agreed. I once had a bf come over at 11am whilst I was in bed unwell. As soon as he came in I said what the hell is that smell. And he was really sheepish and said he'd got drunk the might before, he'd had a shower, but still smelt!

Its awful and discriminatory that the smell is associated with classlessness tbh

If it looks like a duck...

Alcohol causes untold social harm and you're right that we trivialise this hugely.

But weed is also vile.

One substance is illegal. One isn't.

Weed can trigger mental health problems, such as schizophrenia. It's extremely damaging for growing brains, children are particularly vunerable to it's effects and should never be exposed to it unless under controlled medical supervision. Like any drug, it should not be used for recreational purposes. Used regularly it will fry your dopamine receptors, and it can cause halluciations with heavy use.

A couple were both on Charlie at a Christmas party I attended recently, it was so obvious they were both coked up by how loud and obnoxious they were

All day drinking is not normal. Drugs are illegal and support horrendous crime and exploitation. Drugs are full of who knows what. Tax is paid on alcohol also. Not the same at all.

How many people do you know who condone and make excuses for drunk drivers?

😄😄 I would honestly think its more acceptable than lighting up a doobie, honestly

Not acceptable on its own, but in comparison

Don’t know your circle, but though day drinking is acceptable in mine, it’s not acceptable to get inebriated all day with kids around.

Weed is catastrophic for mental health long term

Is it really not obvious op why it’s more acceptable to have a drink around kids more than it is to smoke weed around kids?

Give over with the 'weed is harmless' propaganda. Taken in large quantities it's not harmless at all, being under the influence and in control of a vehicle, it's not harmles either. Parents who are high aren't much cop if they're asleep or too 'chilled' to react to their children. The dangers are just the same as alcohol.

From Google AI:

No, it's not considered safe to vape around children, even with an air filter, because vape aerosol contains harmful chemicals (nicotine, ultrafine particles, heavy metals) that affect developing lungs, and current research doesn't know the long-term effects, so experts advise avoiding it completely indoors and near kids. Air purifiers help with general air quality but don't eliminate all toxins from vaping, and residues (third-hand vape) still settle on surfaces, posing risks, so best practice is to vape outdoors, far from children, and wash hands/change clothes afterward.

What do you mean? If you mean anyone who drinks alcohol 'condones' (condones what?) it tells you 'all you need to know' then you are completely and irrationally projecting. Having a couple of glasses of wine over Christmas or the occasional drink to celebrate isn't condoning death by alcohol for Christmas sake. Give your head a small wobble.

Because smoking around kids full stop isn't socially accepted? Because drugs including weed are illegal? Because if you're smoking weed around your kids then they're breathing it in too and are going to stink of it? Because people should be able to get through the day - any day with kids - without getting high OR drunk. If you can't manage that then you're not mature enough to have kids as far as I'm concerned.

Be present. Spend the day playing with your kids instead of feeling sorry for yourself that it's not socially acceptable to get high around them. Honestly.