[Editor’s note: This post is excerpted from this week’s forthcoming NORML weekly media advisory. To have NORML’s media advisories delivered straight to your in-box, sign up for NORML’s free e-zine here.]
Health-related costs per user are eight times higher for drinkers than they are for those who use cannabis, and are more than 40 times higher for tobacco smokers, according to a report published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal.
According to the report, “In terms of [health-related] costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user.”
The review, authored by researchers from the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia at the University of Victoria and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse at the University of Ottawa, stated: “Alcohol is used by a very large number of people with the vast majority of these using in low- or moderate-risk ways. Conversely, cannabis and tobacco are used by far fewer people. The majority of cannabis use is low- and moderate-risk, however, while the majority of tobacco is high-risk.”
The study reported that social costs applicable to marijuana are primarily “enforcement-related.”
The authors concluded: “The harms, risks and social costs of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco vary greatly. A lot has to do with how the substances are handled legally. Alcohol and tobacco are legal substances, which explains their low enforcement costs relative to cannabis. On the other hand, the health costs per user of tobacco and alcohol are much higher than for cannabis. This may indicate that cannabis use involves fewer health risks than alcohol or tobacco.
“These variations in risk, harms and cost need to be taken into account as we think about further efforts to deal with the use of these three substances. … Efforts to reduce social costs related to cannabis, for example, will likely involve shifting its legal status by decriminalizing casual use, to reduce the high enforcement costs. Such a shift may be warranted given the apparent lower health risk associated with most cannabis use.”
According to a recent Rasmussen national poll of 1,000 likely voters, Americans believe by more than two to one that alcohol is “more dangerous” than marijuana.
Sunday November 22, 2009 CBS Sunday Morning glorifies the drug dealers of prohibition by showing moonshine and how misunderstood the drug lords are that now enjoy riches. Why would a network show portrait moonshine consumption at 10am Sunday morning????? Because they are $$$ greedy baby raper juice pushers that`s why. All these pro-alcohol idiots are doing is targeting children now. So whats the dea going to do???? Probably make it legal for 4 year olds to drink alcohol…………These liquid drug lords and their drunken braindead followers will never stop at targeting the children will they.
Sunday November 22, 2009 CBS Sunday Morning glorifies the drug dealers of prohibition by showing moonshine and how misunderstood the drug lords are that now enjoy riches. Why would a network show portrait moonshine consumption at 10am Sunday morning????? Because they are $$$ greedy baby raper juice pushers that`s why. All these pro-alcohol idiots are doing is targeting children now. So whats the dea going to do???? Probably make it legal for 4 year olds to drink alcohol…………These liquid drug lords and their drunken braindead followers will never stop at targeting the children will they.
I would gladly throw away my cigarettes and smoke weed instead. when are these idiots in government realize that marijuana has been used by many different cultures for over 2000 years- with no violence,addiction or medical problems! This is supposed to be a FREE country-FREE to do as WE choose as long as it does’nt interfere with anothers RIGHT to do as THEY choose. I wish I could just live off the land in peace and harmony with mother nature
Why do pot smokers use a roachclip? Because pot holder was taken allready.
one day i walked out back and found a reefer plant growing.this was a first for me
my mother was murdered in1980 and the person that killed her has more rights than her family.my father paid for the killing and her kids are paying now,and reefer is wrong.i dont get it
Its all about money. Pot will never be legal as long as politicians hands are in the asspockets of big RX, tabacky and alcohol. Oh well, I enjoy throwing pot seeds all over the place(especially gov’t land) and watching them grow with ease. Tis much more work for them to chop it down than me 2 drop a seed. Overgrow the gov’t is the only hope 4 legalization. Save your seeds and sow them EVERYWHERE!!!!
Pot often destroys lives. It may be the worst of all old school drugs as it can be next to impossible to get people off of pot who have a serious habit. As far as what diseases it causes we have little knowledge as it has not been studied in populations isolated to use pot alone. Obviously any form of smoke from any substance is bad for the lungs. Whether you smoke corn silk, tobacco or pot you will certainly corrupt your lungs and that may well imply heart damage as bad lungs can make the heart work too hard.
[Editor’s note: Pot often destroys lives. ???
You know what destroys lives? Totally incorrect scientific information can kill]
…and yet it will STILL never be legalized. How did the netherlands manage such a herculean task as regulating and decriminalizing cannabis?
[Editor’s note: By not being a ‘Doubting Thomas’.]