Alcohol deaths= tens of thousands every year, Cannabis deaths = 0. Discuss

I have a debilitating condition which means I have chronic pain. I did, for a while, 'skin up a fat one' to deal with it, and yes, it worked for pain brilliantly. BUT I hated being stoned. I thought, my condition makes me exhausted so I sleep too much and it makes me muzzy headed, do I really want to spend money I haven't got on a drug that makes me even more muzzy headed and send me to sleep? No. My pain is treated how, fairly well, through prescribed meds, and my brain is active and Iam almost as alerts I was before I was ill.

I do think alcohol is one of the world's unsung evils. It seems fairly clear that cannabis is less dangerous, but that doesn't make it safe. I can also see that if it were controlled, quality assured and taxed it would be a big help to the State coffers.

Do I think it should be legalised? I have no idea. There does have to be a proper discussion backed up by facts and stats.

OP you're a goady knob.

Two of my school friends got so screwed up by weed (smoked over a number of years) that they decided jumping off things (funnily enough, whilst they were both high) was a great idea and ended up killing themselves.

And you're telling us that cannabis doesn't kill people??? Do one. It affected their mental health, they didn't have pre existing conditions either so don't use that excuse.

Claims like this really hack me off. No you can't ban everything but cannabis isn't 'better' for you than alcohol, cigarettes or any other drugs.

The title of this thread is a joke and illustrates the OP's clear ignorance.

I dabbled in cannabis as a young adult. It is not benign, I have seen lives and mental health destroyed by it. I agree alcohol can do the same though...

I'm sure you do have a valid point in some ways OP. I personally have no idea why cannabis isn't prescribable for various medical conditions for example, as there seems to be clear evidence of it helping.

Taking heroin you've purchased on the street, in your own home or wherever, is very different to being prescribed controlled doses of diamorphine. In my experience (of working in healthcare) diamorphine is prescribed only as a last resort and often at the very end of life, where the benefits of effective pain relief obviously outweigh any risks of long-term addiction.

I do agree that alcohol can be devastating for some people and highly addictive. I have worked with people in their 50's and 60's who have been alcohol dependant for most of their adult lives and have pretty much nothing else but the bottle in their lives. The vast majority of adults can self manage their own alcohol intake without addiction or other problems occurring. Can we really say the same for most people who regularly use illegal drugs?

Well I agree cannabis is probably not a death certificate.
But smoking anything will damage your lungs. Cannabis makes a lot of people dopey and ineffectual to look after children or work, or go to school. As does lots of alcohol.
Strong stuff is associated with paranoid behaviour.
Anyway it isn't a competition neither cannabis not alcohol are going to make your life great!

Let's not pretend that cannabis isn't a dangerous drug.

The sort of stuff that people are moving to is much more potent and causes all sorts of mental issues.

In some ways this could cost the NHS more than alcohol - ok so people die and to be brutal, they're no longer around. Cannabis users may have a longer drain on the economy.

Cannabis is getting more potent. It is therefore getting more dangerous. The long term effects will not yet be known.

Cannabis is dangerous. It's dangerous because it it addictive and because of its phycological effects. It shouldn't be legalised using the argument "alcohol is bad too". Bottom line stop smoking dope and get on with your life.

yes I have used heroin quite a few times over the years and I am not addicted. It is not something I shout about in real life.
The last time was about 3 weeks ago....:(

Well. I think OP may have a point. Alcohol is probably more damaging and the cause of more deaths, in the UK, than cannabis. Probably.
And the mental Health statistics on long term significant use and then following mental health issues is a known point, but it's hard to always attribute the reason to the cannabis itself. Debatable.

" , but you can't be a casual heroin user, right? "

I do think that heroin is more addictive than alcohol tbh.
Plus because it is not socially acceptable even just casual use draws you into a sleazy scene...

thenewaveragebear1983
The argument about crackheads and their necrotising flesh is...OK but then again, that crackhead probably started on alcohol not cannabis...

Let's just say...Drugs are bad mmmkay

And drugs dealers are stand-up members of the community too. Completely law abiding and pay their taxes.

I'm not clear on what your argument is?

Alcohol is bad for us so cannabis should be legalised?

Or

Alcohol should be banned because it's much worse for us than cannabis?

I find that people making this kind of statement are rarely arguing for alcohol to be banned so I'm interested in your view.

Maybe statistics for alcohol are higher because it's legal & more easily available - and that more people drink?

1. I didn't only gain my knowledge from Louis Theroux. I actually work with real people day in day out who are living breathing evidence that drugs fuck you up.
2. Where did you get the 0.1% stat? I'd argue that over a lifetime it is significantly more than that.
3. The us states where they legalised cannabis? What, so legal cannabis doesn't affect your mental health just because it's sold by the government and not a dealer? Have a day off.

There is an argument, and extensive research into the use of tetra- hydra- cannabinol and other active components of cannabinoids to treat pain and other symptoms in people with life limiting conditions. But these drugs don't get people 'high' because that's why pharma companies are spending so much money on them not just telling people to skin up a fat one. Not everyone, even people who would use these drugs legitimately to treat pain, want to be stoned all the time.

You have the classic arguments op of all the other totally radical dude stoners I have met and worked with over the years. Go and do a few days voluntary in a drug centre where you have to help fifty year old crack heads clean the necrotising flesh wounds on their feet where they inject because they literally have no veins- and ask them if they think drugs are cool. Try and find one who didn't start on cannabis.

I see this isn't so much a discussion but a thread to tell those that have previous seeing the bad effects of Marijuana in real life why they're wrong and Marijuana is wonderful. Cool!

I don't know anyone personally who has died of alcohol abuse (I know several who have had significant battles) but I know at least 3 young men, one of whom killed himself, with cannabis induced schizophrenia.....

I think that both cannabis and alcohol can be harmful, but I don't agree that one should be legal whilst the other isn't. If cannabis was legalised it would break the link to organised crime, ensure a higher quality product, quantify the strength of the particular strain sold, allow access for medical use, restrict sales to those considered to be underage (well, to the extent that alcohol sales are so restricted) whilst generating revenue in the form of tax. It isn't as though it's difficult to get hold of because 'it's illegal' - if people want it, it's there to be had. I feel that fewer lives would be ruined by a legal product than is currently the case.

Personally, I no longer use cannabis though I did as a student and for some years afterwards - as did the majority of people I knew.