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Most people haven't, yet that doesn't stop them from insisting that pot is completely safe and has no side effects. The side effects of marijuana use can be pretty significant

It is addictive despite lots of people insisting that it isn't:



and it has some nasty long term effects:




and some nasty shorter term effects:






Here's the thing though, modest use (even daily use) of alcohol has nearly no negative side effects. Liver damage requires heavy regular use. One or two drinks a night isn't going to do it, even over a long period of time. And alcohol doesn't cause mental problems or aberrations in either short or long term barring heavy use.

It's pretty much impossible to use marijuana in small enough doses to use it regularly (much less daily) and not risk all of the nasty long term symptoms listed on that site.

I know lots of people who drink one or two glasses of wine or beer a night, never get more than a mild buzz, and suffer no ill effects and don't feel any need to drink at any other time. Very very few people who smoke marijuana use it this way. Nearly every pot smoker I've known smokes pot at all times of the day. They may insist that they're just smoking a joint at night, but they'll sneak off during lunch break and smoke, or when hanging out at a friends house, or at a picnic, or the park, or pretty much any free moment when they think they can go off and smoke some pot.


As you say, it's hard to compare them directly since they are very very different substances. However, despite insistence by pot smokers to the contrary, alcohol really is less intrusive as a substance. I happen to support legalization, but I also think we need to be honest about what we're really talking about. Very very few people use pot in the same "one or two drinks a night after dinner" way that most people drink. Most pot smokers, if you equated their smoking habits to drinking habits would be identified as an alcoholic by most observers. It's kinda important for us to realize this.


I'm all for letting people make their own mistakes though. As long as we hold them accountable for them. I don't think we should be arresting people because they're doing something which isn't endangering anyone, but which could if used improperly. To me, that's just a bad way of doing it. I don't support legalization because I think pot is a great drug and is perfectly safe or any of those other claims. I support legalization because I think people should be responsible for their own bad choices. Let them make them if they want to.



Correct. Pot inherently doesn't put other people in danger (no more than drinking does). My issue is with people who try to insist that it's perfectly safe. It's not. I've just met waaaaay too many long term pot smokers with really really bizarre mental "issues" to not make the connection. Even long term alcoholics can recover if they stop drinking (physical damage aside). The mental damage done over time by pot use will never go away. Once you're a basket case, you'll always be one.

Edited, Jun 23rd 2011 6:00pm by gbaji

So I should take my stash down to Virginia for my sister's chemo?

That's talking about physiological changes to the brain itself. The bits about the pretty measurable and significant (to severe) psychological effects from long term use are pretty well founded.

Did someone argue that marijuana should be illegal because it caused fatal overdoses? I must have missed that.



Don't recall these arguments being made either.

Suggested Reading

Edited, Jun 23rd 2011 7:31pm by gbaji

Sorry Guenny, your arguments for legalizing marijuana hold no value. It's like the rich arguing for tax breaks for themselves.

Is this a peer reviewed study?

You fail to mention the virtues of the evil weed. It's far less toxic to the system, and less addictive, than your standard narcotics. For folks that experience long-term chronic pain and/or nausea pot can be much a less 'life-impacting' medication.

Hemp, currently illegal as well, is a high yield, strong, durable, fibrous plant used to make textiles, fiber and fuel.

No caffeine by noon and the headache will haunt me for the next two days.

I was just wondering about this. Is pot physiologically addictive? I've heard it isn't, but I'll admit I never looked into it.
Edit: And a better question: how addictive. I think I read the stat that 9% of users (or was it chronic (heh) users?) get addicted to it. I'm wondering how that compares to tobacco or alcohol.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 9:56am by LockeColeMA

In your case, then, they may hold water. But I wouldn't listen to a prostitute talk to me about the moral implications of extra-marital sex any more than I would listen to a stripper talk to me about the value of modesty.

This is why I avoid marijuana discussions, even though I'm obviously the most educated here on the subject. However, my points were not opinion, they were fact. It's irritating to see people go back and forth saying "well, it MIGHT be similar to the amount of deaths caused by alcohol..." when it fact, it's not even on the same field. People just can't get that out of their heads, however.

Ah, I thought the bill was just about legalizing it in general, not for medicinal purposes.

Aren't they a bit conflated anyway, though? I feel like the two debates are often used interchangeably, even by pot advocates. I feel like both sides have lent credibility to the idea that the legalization of medical marijuana is just a stepping stone to full legalization.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 11:30am by Eske