Pubdate: Wed, 29 May 2002
Source: Philadelphia Weekly (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Philadelphia Weekly
Contact:  http://www.phillyweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1091
Author: Liz Spikol

SMASHED OR STONED?

Booze Is More Destructive Than Pot -- But Not By Much

Here's something I've never understood: If alcohol is legal, why not pot? 
It seems inconsistent. Marijuana is less damaging than alcohol, isn't it? 
That's what I always thought, anyway, as did my pot-smoking friends.

I don't smoke pot or drink--never much liked either one--so I don't have 
any particular ax to grind. But I will admit that I've always felt alcohol 
was far more pernicious. And according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and 
Human Services, there are more than 48 million Americans who use alcohol 
one or more days each week, which is two and a half times the number of 
Americans who used marijuana once in 1999.

If marijuana is used less frequently, is that because it's less addictive 
or because it's illegal? It's almost impossible to tell. Here's a 
comparison of alcohol and marijuana on several key issues complete with 
scorecard*. Keep in mind that there is less research available about pot. 
After you read this, you might want them both to be illegal.

Criminalization: Criminalization of alcohol didn't work. The 18th Amendment 
was passed in 1919, supposedly to solve problems associated with 
drunkenness, such as disorderly conduct. But after the first couple years 
of relative law abiding, it soon became clear that the chaos surrounding 
alcohol's illegality--organized crime, bootleggers, grown men drinking out 
of teacups--wasn't serving the country's best interests. In 1933 
Prohibition was repealed, and it's been all disorderly-downhill from there. 
Criminalization of marijuana is likewise characterized by failure: drug 
deals gone bad, pot laced with PCP, costly incarcerations and trials. If 
walking down the ganja-soaked streets of Philadelphia is any indication, 
criminalization and enforcement aren't very effective. And if pot were 
decriminalized, like alcohol, it could be monitored and regulated. On the 
other hand, monitoring alcohol intake has only given us more evidence 
against it. Alcohol being legal scores 3 while pot being illegal scores 3.

Addiction: In the past decade, researchers have come to understand alcohol 
dependence as a disease that is inherited. This is not the case with 
marijuana, which has not been proven to be physically addictive. It is, 
though, similar to alcohol in that its psychological dependence is 
characterized by uncontrollable cravings and a build-up of physical 
tolerance. Bottom line: While addiction to alcohol is a disease and has 
greater societal implications, dependence on marijuana doesn't have much to 
recommend it. Alcohol: 1. Marijuana: 4.

Health risks: When it comes to prolonged and excessive use, pick your 
poison. Alcohol has been linked to liver and heart disease, ulcers, 
hepatitis, cancers and physical dependence. Pot, like tobacco, can lead to 
mouth, throat and lung cancers as well as short-term memory loss, impaired 
fertility and chronic, decreased motivation. Abuse of both can cause 
depression, paranoia and problems with friends and family, and at the 
workplace. Alcohol: 1. Marijuana: 1.

Fatalities: The U.S. Department of Health reports that alcohol-related 
deaths total 100,000 annually from all causes, including traffic accidents, 
liver disease, related violence and falls. They put marijuana and other 
illegal drug-related fatalities at under 10,000 a year. This is especially 
clear when looking at the problem of drinking on college campuses, where 
1,400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from 
alcohol-related injuries. Alcohol: 1. Marijuana: 2. Speaking of college 
students ...

Bingeing: Have you ever heard of binge toking? It's simply not an issue. 
But binge drinking is a serious problem on college campuses. In 2001, the 
Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study found that 44 
percent of college students were binge drinkers. Binge drinking also 
factors heavily in sexual assault, rape and unsafe sex. The study 
determined that more than 70,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 
were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape and more than 
100,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 had been too intoxicated to 
know if they consented to having sex. As far as pot goes, urine tests of 
sexual assault victims who only had one drug in their systems (as opposed 
to a mix of alcohol and Ecstasy, for instance) showed alcohol was present 
in 69 percent of cases while marijuana was present in 18 percent. Bottom 
line on college campuses: Alcohol: 1. Marijuana: 3.

Impaired driving: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 
40 percent of fatal traffic accidents involve alcohol. In 2000, there was 
one alcohol-related fatality every 32 minutes and one injury every two 
minutes. Three of every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related 
crash in their lifetimes. The numbers for marijuana--again, not as readily 
available--don't begin to equal the severity of alcohol. After all, who's 
ever heard of Mothers Against Stoned Driving? But let's be clear: Though 
not as statistically perilous, using marijuana when driving is a huge risk 
because it triggers impaired judgement and slow reaction time, among other 
things. Plus, teens are more likely to smoke pot while driving than to 
drink alcohol. Alcohol: 1. Marijuana: 2.

Violent crime: Bureau of Justice statistics for 1998 show that nearly four 
in 10 violent crimes include the use of alcohol. It's easy to picture an 
aggressive, violent drunk--most domestic abuse cases involve alcohol--but 
harder to imagine a pot-addled fellow beating someone to a pulp. As Judy 
Mann wrote in the Washington Post last year, "Marijuana itself does not 
induce violence. People don't smoke a joint and decide to shoot somebody. 
What produces the violence associated with marijuana is that it is illegal. 
The same dynamic caused the murderous Capone-style violence during 
Prohibition. And once Prohibition was repealed, the violence associated 
with the bootleg trade vanished, although the gangsters that it spawned did 
not. ... We must make the distinction between violence associated with a 
drug and violence associated with the drug trade." Okay, we will: Alcohol: 
2. Marijuana: 4.

Final averages:

Alcohol: 1.4

Marijuana: 2.7

* Scores based on a 1-5 scale, 1 being just awful and 5 being relatively 
benign."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens