Developing Brains: Alcohol Worse than Marijuana

[yossman]

If the best you can do in this short lifetime,is to listen to goverment and the so called leaders,then that to me is a life wasted,the proof is right before your eyes when it comes to drinking,just take a look around within your own circle,the answers are all there,friends,family and work mates i see constantly struggle with booze,from addiction, violence,abuse and rape........here in the uk,in any big city, the sound of police and emergency services sirens can be observed like clock work every friday to sunday night.
If maryjane caused even 5% of this chaos,there would be outrage.
Fact:sheep people are strange,don't be one of them...peace yossman

 

[Kerouac]

I drink probably two times a week on average.In the summer sometimes more and I also smoke.
I quit MJ a while ago because I was getting those negative thoughts/anxiety blues.At the time I was going threw depression ..taking other drugs such as E , shrooms ,lsd etc.
Now I can say I'm over that fully (I was 18-19 at the time).
I know from experience that drinking is far worse I mean I like to have some beers like any other guy , nothing wrong with that .. but I've also seen its affect on people...car accidents , fighting ... cheating on their women etc its insane.
I wish I had the balls to take that first toke again I'd never look back , all the laughs and good times acutual intellegent conversations etc (had to have one with a drunk guy) But i'm scared of going back to that bad place when I'm stoned.

 

[guest456mpy]

licommo

Your information regarding cannabis prohibition is wrong, it was made illegal to control and suppress black and latin minorities. Laws were passed to make it illegal more than 40 years before hippies even existed.

small timeline of of cannabis in america:

1619
Jamestown Colony, Virginia passes law requiring farmers to grow hemp.

1700s
Hemp was the primary crop grown by George Washington at Mount Vernon, and a secondary crop grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

1884
Maine is the first state to outlaw alcohol.

1906
Pure Food and Drug Act is passed, forming the Food and Drug Administration. First time that drugs have any government oversight.

1913
California, apparently, passes the first state marijuana law, though missed by many because it referred to “preparations of hemp, or loco weed.”

1914
Harrison Act passed, outlawing opiates and cocaine (taxing scheme)

1915
Utah passes state anti-marijuana law.

1919
18th Amendment to the Constitution (alcohol prohibition) is ratified.

1930
Harry J. Anslinger given control of the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics (he remains in the position until 1962)

1933
21st Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, repealing alcohol prohibition.

1937
Marijuana Tax Act

1938
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act

1951
Boggs Amendment to the Harrison Narcotic Act (mandatory sentences)

1956
Narcotics Control Act adds more severe penalties

1970
Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act.
Replaces and updates all previous laws concerning narcotics and other dangerous drugs. Empasis on law enforcement. Includes the Controlled Substances Act, where marijuana is classified a Schedule 1 drug (reserved for the most dangerous drugs that have no recognized medical use).

1972
Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act.
Establishes federally funded programs for prevention and treatment

1973
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Changes Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs into the DEA

1974 and 1978
Drug Abuse Treatment and Control Amendments. Extends 1972 act

1988
Anti-Drug Abuse Act.
Establishes oversight office: National Office of Drug Control Policy and the Drug Czar

1992
ADAMHA Reorganization.
Transfers NIDA, NIMH, and NIAAA to NIH and incorporates ADAMHA’s programs into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

 

[Godless]

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.

If I could go back in time and replace all the alcohol, tobacco, PCP, speed and huffing with smoking cannabis...

It is funny how even us stoners will say that kids shouldn't smoke pot, when I'd bet that a high percentage of us did toke up when <21.

It is a hard, cold reality that kids want to party. Period. We'll never ever ever be able to change this fact. We may suppress it, but that makes it manifest in worse ways.

When the authorities responsible for the child deny the reality of that desire, they are essentially freeing the child to choose whatever comes their way and if it isn't cannabis, it will be more harmful.

What this lame article (no offense to the OP at all) fails to mention is if the study determined that there was any concrete evidence that cannabis has an effect on a developing brain and/or that it is a negative one. We all know that alcohol is fucking poison and kills brain cells.

As a parent, this study makes me think that I should wholeheartedly encourage my kids to smoke pot when they have time to party with their friends - maybe if I am honest with them that pot isn't dangerous, they'll believe me when I go into great depth on exactly why alcohol is indeed harmful. And just maybe, they'll choose pot instead. Or at least the cannabis will help protect their brain cells after chugging a beer bong.