Developing Brains: Alcohol Worse than Marijuana

[Tropic]

This is almost one year old, but I didn't find it on the news forum.

"One study has been published in the U.S., in the journal Clinical EEG and neuroscience: official journal of the EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ENCS), and shows that alcohol has a stronger effect on teen brain development than marijuana. The other is a study published in the Lancet, offering the results of substance classification by a number of U.K. professionals, purporting that alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana to individuals and to society.(...)"

Source: www.physorg.com/news157280425.html

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

more of the same huh? gov is wrong about info like usual..

 

[Wariat]

I always know that. Look at ex alcoholics. How unstable they psychic are... And then look at some smoker, who smoke for 10 years, and stop for any reason such as child birth.


But remember. Marihuana will be never fully legalized. They start war on MJ because of hipi, and they antiwar prostests.

Peace, and human consolidation is enemy of their busines, and making ppl against each other is theyr most powerfull weapon. Think about it.

good luck

 

[Quiet_Riot]

Of cause alcohol is worse, it desolves the brain. One beer gets you braindamage, maybe not a whole lot, but it is what it is. Imagine what a "normal" drinking teen's night out does to the brain... Or any brain for that matter.

 

[ZoeFresssh666]

i'd say alcohol is more dangerous than MJ! and imo, i think more teens drink now than 20 years ago. when life gets boring they go straight for the alcohol.

 

[bterzz]

My mother is an alcoholic of the past two years, and shes going brain dead.

Its sad, but true.....she asked me recently "how did you get your car phone charger to plug into the wall?"

I replied
"I didnt...its a WALL charger"....

 

[Tropic]

It is also interesting to note that someone who abuses alcohol can turn violent, some assholes get home drunk as hell and beat their wife, not really knowing why, excepted maybe for relieving the feeling of how shitty they feel because they have to drink everyday (this happens often here). On the other hand, someone who comes home high like a kite will probably be more interested in chillin' listening to some music, or make love to their wife, but certainly not beating her.
If cannabis isn't depenalized/legalized, then at least other substances such as alcohol and tobacco should at least be set to the same level than herb... oh wait, I forgot, they DO make money out of those two...
Down here there are lethal car accidents at least every two weeks (this is a small island with a small population, we have some of the worse road statistics), and more than 40% of them are directly linked to alcohol. So you get to read about another death in the newspaper headlines, and when you turn to the next page, they are advertising alcohol...

 

[bterzz]

Its really sad Tropic, I do agree.

What comes with the "brain damage" comes with a lot of other horrible horrible side effects...some smaller, some larger...from obesity to tragic car accidents, like you mentioned.

My mother has been fighting alcoholism for the past who knows how long it really has been around, and its completely ruined her life and is starting to ruin those around her too.

The violence is overwhelming, to see someone flip the switch so randomly and watch the eyes fill with black is scary.

The worst part about it, is it is apart of her life now. She (or so she says) tries to fight the alcoholism..She's broke (lost her job due to economy after 25 years) yet still forks out X amount of $ per day on a pack of smokes and a bottle of liquor. She has had therapy (I got her a scholarship for 3 months, 50k therapy for free) and she was doing great. Everybody loved her there and she was looked very highly upon.

She KNOWS she should not be drinking and it is killing her, yet that "instant" gratification when she drinks and the urge to drink makes it physically impossible for her to quit.

Alcoholism is a disease, blame the alcohol, not the person.

Keep educating those around you is about all we can do.

EDIT: I just wanted to mention, the amount of retarded ass punk kids that drink EVERY SINGLE day in my city is overwhelming....you wouldn't believe it. They all seem to be the scum of earth, little thieves, taggers, "wanna-be gangsters", literally white kids claiming 3 letters and tagging them around town.. etc.. I don't know what is to blame for this though, but, there are tons of teenagers that drink alcohol almost everyday, where I am from.

 

[xfargox]

I saw a video a long time ago about how alcohol affects a developing brain. It's actually kinda scary. I'm not sure what it all means as I'm no neurologist or anything, but it showed that the firing patterns were very different.

Alcohol isn't a harmless drug at all. I think people think it's as temporary as being drunk, but the cumulative effect... that's bad news.

 

[Tropic]

bterzz, hope your mother will fight her way out of this one. It is a very difficult fight, indeed. The fact that she knows what's right for her, yet the physical addiction preventing her from getting free of this brings a heartache.
It seems that teenage drinking is a major problem in several places. Over here in some towns they have forbidden sales of alcohol on Wednesday afternoons, because kids never have class during these afternoons and spend their time drinking (they usually have a bigger brother/"friend" buy the alcohol for them). I remember when I was a teen, I found more interesting stuff to do with my free time than getting dead drunk.
xfargox, gotta agree, people think once the effects wear off, they're totally "detoxified", but this is far from being true.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

might be a bit better then the 'holes' meth leaves in the brian... oh wait, brain dead is brain dead... drunks do seam very low-brow. look @ bush, cant even handle his beer at a G8 conferance.

 

[Tropic]

Digitalhippy, what you say about Bush reminds me of Boris Eltsine (no offense meant to anyone)...

 

[nepalnt21]

i always thought this was common knowledge... i mean of COURSE a straight up poison is worse for you than a plant that DOESNT HARM YOU PHYSICALLY AT ALL

 

[Centrum]

I think the " worse then " doesnt make either any better for developing brains.

If i could go back in time and not have smoked during my teens 11 - 18, i would do it in a heartbeat.
I personally feel like i took something away from my own development that was needed.

Thats my take on myself, not anyone else.

 

[FreeMan]

My brother bought some rizzla from his local shop the other day only to be asked the question 'do you smoke?' as in do you smoke weed. My bro usually shys away from answering such a question but for some reason he stood his ground (i have him in training ) and a debate ensued. The shopkeeper actually suggested that he put down the weed and go on he alcohol. He backed this suggestion with 'I've seen too many people go under on weed', which was highly amusing for us both as we've spent pretty much our whole youth watching people around us who we love 'go under' on the booze.

We all know the deal, I think it's a shame we even waste our consciousness engaging in debate about it, and I think the less educated amongst us couldn't really care which is worse. They are just following the de facto line on things i.e. alcohol is legal so it's ok, and I don't think they will change their mind until they are commanded to.

Don't get me wrong, this sort of report is very useful, but I don't think it's a lack of scientific evidence that weed is safe which is keeping it in legislation. In fact, the more evidence which shows it is the magical fix all plant we believe it is... the more resistance I think we'll see. Imagine the oil, pharmaceutical and intoxicant industries being made redundant over night. For every positive cannabis report, there is a bogus psychosis report just sitting there waiting to be issued.

 

[Tropic]

Centrum, I totally agree with you, teenagers (read: individuals that have not achieved complete brain development) shouldn't (ideally - I don't claim to have followed this exact path) be consuming alcohol, cannabis, or any other psychoactive substance.
My point, by posting this article, was mainly to give arguments in favor of cannabis in its comparison with alcohol. That's a point I often bring up when debating with people about this subject. Now I have a source to back up my statements when discussions about this arise.
FreeMan, while I do get your point, I believe it is far from being a waste of time engaging debate on this subject with people who have different views. Not all of them are narrow-minded, some (not many, I agree) will understand your point eventually. I don't think remaining silent is going to help change minds. Props to your brother for being honest to his ideas.

 

[FreeMan]

FreeMan, while I do get your point, I believe it is far from being a waste of time engaging debate on this subject with people who have different views. Not all of them are narrow-minded, some (not many, I agree) will understand your point eventually. I don't think remaining silent is going to help change minds. Props to your brother for being honest to his ideas.

Hey Tropic... What I've come to realise is there are a certain number of people who really won't change their mind until they are told to, but you are right, a fraction of people are receptive to our cause. It got to the stage where I was so tired of trying to convince people of it's safety compared to alcohol that I exhausted any desire to try.

I'm not saying we shouldn't debate this stuff and get the information out there, as even if you open 1 set of eyes out of 10, that is a success... I just think it's a shame spending so much time on the other 9 when you can usually determine who the 1 is in a couple of exchanges of dialogue.

Sorry if I sounded negative at first, the last thing I wanted to do was breed the very energy that puts them in that frame of mind in the first place!

Keep up the good work guys, maybe I can send some of those 9 I come across your way for some round 2

 

[Tropic]

Got to admit that on some occasions it is a waste of time. But even if we don't get people to change the way they see things, they will hopefully think about the debate later, and maybe change their views just a bit, or question what they thought was right in the first place. Then again, some of them will never make the effort to question themselves, and there are those who won't admit even when they know they are wrong...

 

[FreeMan]

I guess all we can do is plant those seeds and hope they grow. It just gets frustrating when things aren't moving at hydro speed... but maybe we'll get a better taste in the end with the organic soil method

Peace all

 

[licommo]

But remember. Marihuana will be never fully legalized. They start war on MJ because of hipi, and they antiwar prostests.

dont be full.... hipies r just american bullshit, which in that period manipulates people.