Pot vs. Alcohol
20 April 2009
by
lolife
Filed under
drugs
This is a phenomenally convincing article by a former police chief about the major policy inconsistencies regarding alcohol and marijuana. Alcohol is legal and highly costly to society. Yet no one wants to prohibit it. Why? Because we tried it and it didn’t work. How dense do you have to be to not apply the same logic to marijuana? Prohibition is hurting, not helping and we need to fix the major policy inconsistencies regarding alcohol and marijuana. It will save money and lives.
Hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur annually. There has never been a single recorded marijuana OD fatality.
According to the American Public Health Association, excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of death in this country. APHA pegs the negative economic impact of extreme drinking at $150 billion a year.
There have been no documented cases of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker, nor has pot been scientifically linked to any type of cancer. (Don’t trust an advocate’s take on this? Try the fair and balanced coverage over at Fox.) Alcohol abuse contributes to a multitude of long-term negative health consequences, notably cirrhosis of the liver and a variety of cancers.
It’s not even close. If you were going to pick one of these to prohibit, it would be alcohol. Yet we prohibit the safer one! Drug wars are running wild in Mexico, there are non-violent hippies taking up jail space in the US and we are turning our backs on taxing a multi-billion dollar industry.
WTF.
(belated thx to dez for the tip!)