This Is The Classic Apples And Oranges Debate. Why Are

Often, the alcohol will bring out a violent temper and often, alcoholics abuse, physically and mentally, their friends and family. Drinking makes the drinker feel he is more confident. The drinker thinks he is in control, even if a little high, and he might get behind the wheel of his car and go for a drive. Drunk driving is deadly. Hundreds of thousands of people get killed every year due to drunk driving.(Castro 60) Other physical effects of drinking are vomiting, passing out and sometimes, if enough alcohol is consumed over a long enough period of time, or if mixed with other drugs, death.

Alcohol consumption affects every aspect of the human body, specifically the brain, liver, central nervous system, pancreas, stomach, and increased cancer risks.

Every year, 400,000 Americans die of complications caused by tobacco products. Smoking kills more Americans each year than alcohol, crack, heroin, murder, suicide, car accidents, fires, and AIDS all put together. Every week, eight children under the age of eighteen die from alcohol related crashes. Alcohol abuse contributes to almost 50% of all traffic accidents, suicides, and homicides. However, despite the proven dangers of these "socially acceptable" drugs, they are still legal. Marijuana, a much less acceptable drug, is not legal however, despite the fact that research has yet to pin any specific dangers to this drug.

The effects of ethanol on humans starts when the alcohol enters the bloodstream, and the more alcohol that enters the bloodstream, there’s a higher risk for effects. Some of the effects include, “reduced inhibitions, slurred speech, motor impairment, confusion, memory problems, concentration problems, coma, breathing problems, and even death. Additionally, alcohol can cause car crashes and accidents, risky behavior, violent behavior, and suicide or homicide.” Alcohol can also take effect on the brain, heart (cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, stoke, HBP), liver (alcoholic hepatitis), pancreas, can cause cancer, and can cause damage to one’s immune system.

Marijuana is not a dangerous drug and has never killed anybody. Alcohol and tobacco is extremely addictive. Alcohol causes bodily harm to health and has severe effects on a person behavior. Alcohol alone can cause gastritis, pancreatitis, ulcers, liver cancer, cirrhosis, and other liver diseases. The over consumption of alcohol can lead to alcohol poising, brain damage, and death in severe cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “In 2013, alcohol overdoses alone caused nearly twenty-five thousand deaths. Nearly sixteen thousand of the twenty-five thousand deaths were a direct result of liver disease”. (Jack Brewer,2014) According to Jack Brewer; In 2012, there was two point two million arrests were the of alcohol-related crimes. Tobacco is just as bad as alcohol. Tobacco causes lung cancer and throat cancer. Tobacco contains at least nineteen different types of cancer and is the major cause of cardiovascular disease. According to the CDC, tobacco is the cause five hundred thousand deaths per year. Medical bills for tobacco-related health complications is approaching one hundred forty billion dollars a year. (Jack Brewer,2014) Despite the known health risks of both of these drugs they remain legal and available almost everywhere. According to __________, it is scientifically proven that marijuana is not toxic to humans. It is physically impossible to overdose on marijuana. Marijuana

Alcohol and Tobacco is both legal and harmful to human beings but marijuana is illegal and is not harmful yet it is considered an illegal substance compared to legal substances that are harmful to the human body.

The Health assessment of an alcoholic is far worse as they can suffer from a number of health complications and diseases that are associated with alcoholism such as liver disease, alcohol induced pancreatitis, cancer and cardiovascular disease (Rehm136). Not to mention the many types of injuries that be sustained while intoxicated, such as alcohol poisoning, broken limbs, or blackouts (137).

Alcohol is a depressant that affects every part of your body because once it’s consumed, twenty percent is absorbed in the stomach and eighty percent is absorbed in the small intestine. Excessive use of alcohol could cause other health problems such as, arthritis, cancer, heart disease, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, kidney disease, liver disease, nervous disorders, obesity and psychological disturbances. Alcohol related liver disease is a major cause of death in the United States.

If marijuana is so “awful” to be illegal in some states, why would alcohol or cigarettes be any better, Should alcohol and cigarettes be illegal too? Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost. Cigarettes have some of the same negative effects and some that are far worse. Marijuana should be legal throughout the country for both medical and recreational use. Marijuana has many medical benefits, it can be used as a food source. So if cannabis has these benefits, why would it be illegal?

To make things clear, tobacco and alcohol are legal drugs that can be very harmful to the body. Marijuana is less harmful than both of those, yet it is illegal. According to a survey by pew research, 70% of Americans agree that hemp is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. Only 15% believe marijuana is worse. The public opinion on weed is changing significantly, with many people believing a couple of completely legal substances that are more harmful than one illicit drug. Ebsco had data from a survey over a one-year period of time. Within that time frame, out of the millions of people that smoked weed, only 10 died. All 10 of these deaths came from people who were being irresponsible with their smoking. There are other surveys that did similar things, and they all came out with deaths from marijuana under 100, with thousands of deaths from alcohol and tobacco. Alex states, “In the same period, 2,530 deaths were attributed to alcohol, 880 to Valium, and 390 to aspirin.” This is proof that marijuana is a lot less harmful than many people think. More people died from aspirin than weed, and that’s saying something. Overall, marijuana isn’t as deadly as people make it out to

Alcohol is a chemical resulting from fermentation or distillation of various kinds of vegetable matter (AP Psych). Alcohol has many effects on the body including your brain, the digestive system, sexual and reproductive health, the heart, the liver, the pancreas, and the immune system. Alcohol can cause a shrinking brain, behavior changes, hallucinations, blackouts, dependence, slurred speech, cancer, fatigue, lung infections, heart damage, liver damage, stomach distress, pancreatitis, birth defects, frequent diarrhea, infertility, thinning bones, sexual dysfunction, changes in coordination, malnutrition, muscle cramps, diabetes complications, and numbness in extremities (The Effects of Alcohol on Your Body). For heavy drinkers, ulcers and hemorrhoids can occur. If a woman is pregnant and drinks alcohol, this can harm the unborn child. “Women who drink alcohol while pregnant put their unborn child at risk. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD) is a serious concern. Other conditions include: learning disabilities, long-term health issues, increased emotional problems and physical developmental abnormalities” (The effects of alcohol on your body).

If you would’ve asked someone what is the deadliest drug in America, he will probably say its, heroin or meth, but the answer is sadly none of these Illegal drugs, actually, the deadliest of them all, is the one that is Legal in 50 states! Its alcohol. Alcohol causes an estimate of two hundred thousand unparalleled deaths a year in America, where Marijuana casualties are close to zero. So, the question that asks itself is, why is it socially acceptable to drink, but pot is permissible and people who do it are either demonized or criminalized? It’s mainly

The fact that marijuana is not legal could simply be a government thing. There was an magazine I read doing this research called ‘Hightimes’, stating that “Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug”, which means it would have potential for high chances of abuse. Pretty much stating that the chances of people get on marijuana get hooked, become addicts and dominate their lives are very high. This unquestionably happens in some cases. This also happens in the case of alcohol, and alcohol is perfectly legal. Other sources claim that marijuana is a ‘gateway’ to other drugs, which has been known to be true. The majority of people that accept marijuana see is as a step to pretty much saying its ok. One of the famous statement abusers use are “If they say marijuana is bad and obviously it is not, then I wonder what else is not bad”. This mind set could lead you to the use of recreational drugs, such as alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, and "abnormal" recreational drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, and meth.

Alcohol can have numerous effects on your body such as high blood pressure (hypertension), pain in the pancreas, shrinking frontal lobes poor coordination, slurred speech, it can put you in a diabetic danger zone, your liver takes most damage, you could suffer from blackouts, have shifty eyes you could become dependent in it you could have stomach distress, suffer from malnutrition, you could have major mouth problems, hallucinations you could have strange sensations, having to use the bathroom a lot you could be fighting fatigue, it could also cause infertility, muscle cramps birth defects, and not to mention the stress it puts on your heart.

Many individuals abuse alcohol because it is a learned behavior. It is also a way for someone to avoid having to deal emotions so they use alcohol to mask how they really feel. The more an individual consumes alcohol the more they are at risk of becoming an alcoholic which leads to having severe health problems which later can lead to death. Excessive drinking increases a person to have a high blood pressure. Cancer in the “pharynx, liver, kidney, pulmonary” and also the brain is damaged.