Marijuana vs Alcohol: Which Is Really Worse for Your Health?

It’s the same medicine that comes from the cannabis plant, just with a different name for it. It can be consumed in a variety of ways, including smoking, vaping, drinking, and eating. The majority of those who use marijuana do so for enjoyment and recreation. A rising number of doctors, on the other hand, are prescribing it to treat specific medical disorders and symptoms. Marijuana addiction is not only real, but it may have a negative impact on the mental and physical health of individuals who use it on a regular basis. While marijuana isn’t a dangerous chemical, it does have some characteristics in common with other illegal narcotics.

Some animal research, for example, hints that at least some cannabinoids, the compounds in cannabis, may be protective for the neural system, Hutchison said. Studies in humans, on the other hand, have returned varied results, and many have been too small-scale to draw firm conclusions. Drinking too much, whether in a single occurrence or over time, has been found to affect the brain, heart, liver, and pancreas, as well as cause cancer in many forms.

Chronic use of alcohol can cause a physical dependency that will require outside intervention to treat this and help you become sober. Speaking of, let’s examine the addictive tendencies of these substances. It can damage brain cells and lead to deficiencies in neurotransmitters. It affects gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which can cause relaxation but long term use of alcohol can affect your levels of GABA or glutamate in the nervous system. Alcohol can lower inhibitions but it can also impair judgment, coordination, and memory. Alcohol on the other hand can heavily impact your cognitive function.

1. Some drugs are very harmful to individuals, but they’re so rarely used that they may not be a major public health threat.
2. Additionally, any deficits or issues caused by heavy cannabis use can be reversible.
3. Caulkins and Peter Reuter, a drug policy expert at the University of Maryland, suggested a model in which all the major risks of drugs are drawn out and each drug is ranked within those categories.

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 misusing alcohol but still find it hard to function without weed. Sure, research on the topic is ramping up a bit, but there’s still a lack of https://soberhome.net/ large, long-term studies. Before getting into comparing alcohol and weed, it’s important to understand some of the factors that make the comparison tricky. This article has been reviewed by Dr. Anand Dugar, an anesthesiologist, pain medicine physician and the founder of Green Health Docs.

Drug addiction can begin with social experimentation with a recreational drug, and for some people, drug use becomes more frequent. For others, drug addiction develops with exposure to prescribed medications or acquiring medications from a friend or relative who has been prescribed the medication, particularly with opioids. Not everyone reacts to marijuana, alcohol, or a combination of the two in the same manner, and many circumstances influence how a person reacts.

Weed seems to have fewer long-term risks than alcohol, but again, there’s a huge discrepancy in the amount of research on weed compared with alcohol. There’s a delay in when you feel edibles because it can take time for the THC to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Edibles need to be digested and it can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to understand how you feel. As mentioned, alcohol can cause many different negative effects on your body, most notably the liver. Chronic alcohol use can lead to liver diseases such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis, gastritis and pancreatitis. Alcohol is highly addictive and some people can have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.

Potential for misuse

“Cannabis can lead to a dependence rate of about 7%—less than half the alcohol rate—and an addiction rate that is very low but undefined,” explained Tishler. The Well is Northwell Health’s commitment to the future of health care. In this time of information overabundance, much of which is inaccurate, unhelpful, or even difficult to understand, Northwell Health is on a mission to make a difference as an honest, trusted, and caring partner.

Alcohol is everywhere yet we are well aware of the risks and dangers of alcohol use and abuse. The cannabis industry is making marijuana as readily available thanks to recreational legalization; it could be as common as alcohol. While there are some issues to the abuse of cannabis they are nowhere near as hazardous as alcoholism and the toll of alcohol on the body.

How Weed and Alcohol Stack Up Against Each Other

Cannabis on the other hand can make you feel relaxed as well decrease your depression or anxiety. Tishler believes a better question is not which substance is more addictive, but how we use them. Tishler emphasizes that understanding addiction is nuanced, and it can be helpful to distinguish addiction from dependence. These calls are offered at no cost to you and with no obligation to enter into treatment. Neither this site nor anyone who answers the call receives a commission or fee dependent upon which treatment provider a visitor may ultimately choose. For those seeking addiction treatment for themselves or a loved one, our calls are confidential and are available for 24/7 help.

Despite its expanding popularity and increasing legality, people who use marijuana for therapeutic or recreational purposes should be aware of dependency risks. In the short term, THC, one of marijuana’s chemical constituents, can cause changed moods, impaired physical movement, and hallucinations. Even more troubling, marijuana usage has the potential to cause brain damage in the long run. Having a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.05%, on the other hand, increased that risk by 575%. While both are intoxicants used recreationally, their legality, patterns of use and long-term effects on the body make the two drugs difficult to compare.

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Research shows that nearly 90% of Americans have used alcohol at some point or another. Less than 50% of Americans have even tried marijuana, and a much smaller percentage are using it on a regular basis. So the sheer numbers of people showing up in the ER after smoking pot are going to be a lot less than for alcohol. However, having worked in ERs since pot was legalized, I can tell you that people who smoke weed are showing up a lot more now than in the past, and those numbers are climbing.

How scientists rank drugs from most to least dangerous — and why the rankings are flawed

Driving stoned is safer than driving intoxicated, yet it is still a risky practice. Heavy drug use is never ideal — and marijuana is no different in this regard. People’s responses to each substance can vary greatly, so what seems safer for one person might not work for someone else. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 15 million people in the United States deal with it.

Drinking can lead to alcoholic liver disease, which can progress to fibrosis of the liver, which in turn can potentially lead to liver cancer, Murray said. “You can die binge-drinking five minutes after you’ve been exposed to alcohol. That isn’t going to happen with marijuana,” said Ruben Baler, a health scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is how to help someone with a drinking problem 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. Alcohol’s effects on behavior can also lead to more crime, while marijuana use appears to have little-to-no effect. Alcohol is a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.