In each session, participants consumed a different combination of placebo, low, and moderate doses of THC and alcohol. We believe everyone deserves access to accurate, unbiased information about mental health and addiction. That’s why we have a comprehensive set of treatment providers and don’t charge for inclusion. We do not and have never accepted fees for referring someone to a particular center.
So is marijuana really safer than alcohol?
Public health researchers have said studying rates of injuries, accidents, mental illness and teen use in the wake of the new laws will lead to a better understanding of marijuana’s public health effects. Cannabis also has health and medical benefits which include reducing pain, improving sexual libido, treating inflammation, and acting as neuroprotectants. A lot of research has also linked adolescent marijuana use with a range of negative consequences, including cognitive deficiencies and worse educational outcomes. While it’s not clear whether marijuana’s role with over the counter xanax alternative these outcomes is cause-and-effect, experts generally agree that people younger than their mid-20s should avoid pot. Health risks are just one way to measure whether marijuana is safer than alcohol. While pot doesn’t seem to cause organ failure or fatal overdoses, alcohol kills more than 29,000 people each year due to liver disease and other forms of poisoning.
The most severe long-term effects are seen in heavy, chronic, or binge users who begin using in their teens. Unlike alcohol, Baler said, the effects of chronic marijuana use are not as well established. Animal studies have indicated some possible impact on reproduction. Additionally, there is evidence marijuana can worsen psychiatric issues for people who are predisposed to them, or bring them on at a younger age. Finally, Baler said, because the drug is typically smoked, it can bring on bronchitis, coughing and chronic inflammation of the air passages.
In a 2015 study, 19 participants drank either a placebo or small amount of alcohol. Ten minutes later, they used a vaporizer to inhale either a low or a high dose of THC. Turns out, you might not need much alcohol to change the way your body absorbs THC. While this might be nice for some folks, it can cause others to green out.
Your Brain on Alcohol
The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for health is being debated once again, this time, sparked by comments that President Barack Obama made in a recent interview with The New Yorker magazine. Euphoric effects generally kick in within the first 10 to 15 minutes and are correlated with transient changes in the brain’s electroencephalographic activity (EEG) activity. Essentially, as blood alcohol content (BAC) rises, marked changes can be seen in the electrical activity of the brain. On the surface, weed appears to be safer, but there’s simply not enough evidence to declare a winner. While being intoxicated with weed feels different than being intoxicated with alcohol, the two have roughly the same effect on your cognitive abilities, reflexes, and judgment. The immediate effects of weed can vary quite a bit from person to person.
When should I seek help for alcohol or marijuana abuse?
In November 2017, a group of the nation’s top cancer doctors issued a statement asking people to drink less. They cited strong evidence that drinking alcohol — as little as a glass of wine or beer a day — increases the risk of developing both pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer. Unlike alcohol, which slows your heart rate, marijuana speeds it up, which could negatively affect the heart in the short term. When it comes to drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis, the road to health is complex and individual experiences may vary. However, despite one drug being more socially stigmatized than the other, both substances have their benefits and pitfalls when it comes to consumption. The question policy experts typically ask isn’t which drug is more dangerous, but how marijuana and alcohol should be treated through policy as individual drugs with their own set of unique, complicated risks.
- There’s also this perception that it’s extremely rare to get addicted to marijuana, but that’s a myth.
- For example, one person may have a very low tolerance for weed but be able to tolerate alcohol well.
- To err on the side of caution, assume you’ve had a bit more to drink than you actually have, or aim to drink less than you usually would without using weed.
- But scientists have had a hard time deciphering whether excessive alcohol use causes depression and anxiety or whether people with depression and anxiety drink in an attempt to relieve those symptoms.
- The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for health is being debated once again, this time, sparked by comments that President Barack Obama made in a recent interview with The New Yorker magazine.
However, excessive use can actually cause paranoia or nervousness. With proper tolerance breaks, you can lower your tolerance of THC and become less reliant on large amounts of cannabis to feel the same way and regulate your cannabis use. The researchers found significantly higher peak THC levels among participants who had alcohol versus those who had a placebo.
Both drugs may be linked with risks while driving, but alcohol is worse.
Getting drunk or high can feel similar to some people, while others describe the sensations as very different. Of course, the way you feel when you’re intoxicated also depends on how much of the substance you consume. For example, one person may have a very low tolerance for weed but be able to tolerate alcohol well. Another person might not have any issues with alcohol gallbladder misusing alcohol but still find it hard to function without weed. Weed may appear to be safer than alcohol simply because we aren’t yet aware of certain risks.
It’s about what it does to your life and the consequences you deal with because of that behavior. Meanwhile, no deaths from marijuana overdoses have been reported, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 16-year study of more than 65,000 Americans, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy people who did not use cannabis. Since 2012 when voters in Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana, and subsequently seven other states followed, science has been trying to catch up to the law.
Additionally, alcohol is more socially acceptable in public use or work situations while using cannabis at a work function could be looked down upon. While both are intoxicants they can affect the body differently and can also impact your health differently. It can cause mood swings and we’re all familiar with people who are “angry drunks.” The impact of alcohol can vary based on how much you’re using and how your body interacts with it.
Jon Caulkins, a drug policy expert at Carnegie Mellon University, gave the example of an alien race visiting Earth and asking which land animal is the biggest. If the question is about weight, the African elephant is the biggest land animal. And if the question is about length, the reticulated python is the biggest. There’s also some divergence within the specific categories of harm.
This can increase your risk for developing a dependence on alcohol, weed, or both. While there’s some research around the effects of drinking alcohol before using weed, there isn’t much about the opposite approach. There’s also this perception that it’s extremely rare to get addicted to marijuana, but that’s a myth. There’s research to show that 30% of people who use marijuana are going to develop an addiction problem. Addiction is not about the amount of a substance that art therapy ideas for addiction you drink or smoke.