Ever wondered why alcohol, far more of a “gateway drug” than marijuana is, remains legal despite the fact that it has been proven to stimulate aggressiveness and contribute to many social ills, including domestic violence and auto accidents? Isn’t it funny that most countries have legalized something as destructive and addictive as alcohol and not as safe as marijuana? Here are five reasons why alcohol, the most harmful drug, is sold over the counter and why no one is objecting to it…
It’s all about money
Cannabis rarely contributes to violence either to others or to oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents and violence. Alcohol especially raises risk for assault, near drowning, non-elderly fall, and pedestrian injuries. 36% of hospitalized assaults and 21% of all injuries are attributable to alcohol use by the injured person. Alcohol contributes to over 200 diseases and injury-related health conditions, most notably liver cirrhosis and cancers. About 1.3 million adults and 73,000 adolescents received treatment for an Alcohol Use Disorder at a specialized facility in 2013. Then why is it still legal? If there are no alcohol-related fatalities/injuries, how will hospitals, clinics and health professionals survive?
It’s all about money
Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for cannabis consumers. Time Magazine reports that excessive alcohol consumption cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006. This amounts to about $1.90 per drink, or about $746 per person. Three-quarters of those costs were due to lost productivity, 11% were due to health care costs, 9% were legal costs, and the remaining 8% were related to fetal alcohol syndrome and similar disorders. The research and data continues to show that alcohol pose far more and significant health problems than any other drug and most drugs combined. Then why is it still legal? The ‘studies’ result in more medication, therapy and medical expenses which the health system profits handsomely from.
It’s all about money
Alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs and using just 10 times what one would use to get the desired effect could lead to death. Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year in the United States from 2006 – 2010. People die from alcohol overdoses. There has never been a fatal cannabis overdose. In 2013, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 10,076 deaths. Then why is it still legal? How else do you make consumers addictive, increase revenues and release funding to ‘find’ a cure?
It’s all about money
The annual cost of alcohol consumption is $165 per user, compared to just $20 per user for cannabis. Those who use alcohol are much more likely to develop dependence and build tolerance. When cannabis is more available, the use of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine actually decreases. Then why is it still legal? Income is generated by selling poison at higher rates, and not by selling cure at cheaper rates.
It’s all about money
Alcohol is proven to exacerbate other addictive tendencies such as gambling, smoking, overeating, other drugs and many other physical and psychological dependencies. The casino gaming market in the United States is estimated at around $60 billion annually. Then why is it still legal? Simple. Because it mints money and drives the economy…
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It also doesn’t help, in supposedly “Christian” US, that Jesus drank wine. So pro-alcohol fundamentalists will remind you.
Prohibition didn’t work in the 1920s, and certainly can’t be reinstated now. The only solutions are education and taxation — those are the reasons why tobacco consumption in the US is at an all-time low.
well said. it is such a taboo subject, hating on alcohol. I don’t drink, so it is easy for me to do so, but out of my entire family and friends I can count on one hand the number who don’t drink at all, ever. in ways, it improves life, in others it destroys. With the wrong personality and abuse, it not only destroys that life, but harms those around it. perhaps this is why in the long run, the taxation, education rout may be aggressively pursued. I’m a big believer in personal rights, unless one infringes upon the rights of others. When alcohol effects others outside the abuser, is the substance responsible for the effect? I really don’t know. I do know I hate alcohol
No, the substance is NOT responsible. It is someone’s poor choice to consume too much of a substance that they can’t handle that then leads to more poor choices. So, it’s a matter of poor decision making , even prior to, the consumption of too much of any substance.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are one of the people that think that guns aren’t responsible either? It’s all based on someone’s poor choice? What happens if we take the gun away? nobody dies from the gun? woahhhh revelations.
Who you going to take the guns away from? Law abiding citizens?
Yes, alcohol is the most powerful and deadly drug, I just lost a friend from liver failure do to alcoholism’s. It effects every cell in the body negatively. An alcoholic’s body is considered abnormal to the medical field. Alcohol turns into basically heroin in the brain. One can use uncut heroin for a lifetime and never have a sickness. Now days the DEA and CDC are stopping opiate use from doctors, so those patients who needs them for severe pain are now left to alcohol for relief. In the states that have medical Cannabis, is good, but doesn’t do the trick for severe pain, but it takes the edge off. Still they have to use alcohol for relief. If alcohol is legal, all drugs should be. There’s no reason for this , its all money not lives that matter here.
Sounds like muslim propaganda to me… There are lots of things out there that fall under the category of “drug”…
Banning its the most stupid thing i ever heard. Nobody is forcing anyone to consume or not.
Probabily this article is been wrote by a stupid ass american like usual who doesnt know shit about freedom. Do whatever you want to do, as long as you dont hurt anyone around you and everything is fine, and if you hurt your self by doing that, then get some help as you are a really weak human being that has zero self control… Just because you are a weak ass human being, means other should conform for your enjoyment…
Addiction is a medical issue, and ignorance is a choice. You’ve obviously got your perspectives geared towards the ignorance side of things. So typical of an American who thinks he’s free, and even more typical of an idiot who would start a comment by calling the author of the article a Muslim. But how could you ever know that Islam forbids alcoholic AND usury? It’s not like we live in the age of information or anything. And if you don’t know what usury is, just go somewhere and shut your face already.
Yes, addiction becomes a medical issue, but only after a series of poor personal choices. And save your lecture, I’ve been through rehab and all that sit. The bottom line is it becomes a problem when people throw caution to the wind and ignore all the evidence that’s out there. It’s only after “not giving a phuk” does it become a medical problem, or using it as a weak excuse or crutch for other problems that are better dealt with in other ways. The drug isn’t the problem. A persons poor choices are the problem and it’s the behavior of making poor choices that leads to issues with a myriad of other things. It’s the willful ignorance and stupidity that’s a much bigger problem than the drug itself.
imagine how many jobs it would create if all drugs was legalized!
If all drugs were legal just the tax revenue generated would bring th u.s. out of debt in 5 years and there would be plenty of money for those that needed help with addictions and co occurring disorders plus the 2.3 million inmates being warehoused in the prison “industry” would be reduced significantly… for starters.
Imagine how many people wont do do those jobs because theyre high
This fucking site is filled with dumb shit :/ Alcohol is legal for the simple fact that it has been legal for millennia and is ingrained in most cultures. Banning something like that will never work.
Many drugs were originally legal and commonly used throughout much of civilization… Don’t start spewing shit you know nothing about.
If you are t young to remember, Cocaine was used in Coke products.. think about it.
Actually, benzodiazapines that are prescribed and sold on the streets are far more addictive and destructive than alcohol. They carry a high suicide rate and are terrible to withdraw from. Alcohol withdrawal is a cakewalk compared to someone who is buying xanax off the street and is addicted. Ask anyone you know that has gone through benzo withdrawal and they will most likely tell you it was hell and lingered far beyond the time it was out of their system.
I’m tired of the argument on whether Alcohol or Marijuana is the “gateway drug.” The gateway drug to heroin always has been and always will be painkillers, and the DEA is just making the problem worse. People with legitimate chronic pain suddenly find they either can no longer get their meds, or they’re put on a reduced dosage by their doctors after last fall’s stupid changes to the DEA’s schedule and regulations. DEA is to blame for heroin and meth, not booze or weed.
Technically, alcohol does not stimulate aggressive behavior. It depresses some peoples’ behavioral filtering mechanisms. What results manifests differently in different people. Some people get abusive and violent. Some become the life of the party. Some drunk-post on social media. Others become more prone to impulsive actions. It can be an escape, or an enabler, or an inner voice quieter.
Certainly, some of the reason alcohol is legal is tradition, and some is economic. The absolute bottom line here – like with so many other “vices”, is that people choose it.
Comparing the relative merits of one recreational drug to another is largely immaterial. While I agree with the conclusions, and happen to think cannabis should be decriminalized, advancing the argument by claiming that I’m more likely to fall down the stairs after a couple drinks is not the pathway to the desired end. Attacking the cherished babies of your potential allies often backfires. It leads to petty pissing contests and anecdotes about burning hands while spaced out and removing brownies from the oven.
The last 2 separate jury duties I have been called to serve on have been because drivers were DUI of Marijuana… and then caused a crash causing great bodily injury to other motorists/child passengers. Stoned drivers tried to get out of the DUI (and all related felony criminal charges) by saying that at the time of collision, they were not stoned… but that they had used “medicinal” days earlier. The defense was that they were legally allowed to be operating a vehicle, and accident was not due to intoxication, THC in their system was from use weeks before the collision. Children were permanently disabled/disfigured/traumatized, and an adult was injured so badly that they couldn’t appear in court because they were slobbering retarded from head injury. I feel the offenders were gonna lie about when they had last used Marijuana. Maybe they may have been telling the truth… but I refuse to believe BS stories like that. At least with alcohol, a DUI offender has a hard time denying guilt because it is in the blood temporarily… with Marijuana it seems like people could get away with very serious crimes by saying they had smoked a week ago, and were not DUI at the time of accident. Marijuana (THC) stays in the system for a long time, even after the intoxication wears off. It possibly turns serious felony criminal acts into simple misdemeanor accidents… remember it’s all fun and games ’till someone ends up retarded or dead. Maybe that could have something to do with why Marijuana is more restricted than alcohol? I think Marijuana should stay illegal… or if it is legalized, the penalties for DUI of Marijuana should be so severe that people would never think of driving while under the effects of THC. Same severe panalties should go for alcohol. DUI is no joke people!
So it’s about the money?
The vape community also gets ensnared into big tobacco, big pharma, government greed web because vaping has the potential of saving s billion lived. But that doesn’t make them money so watch people suffer and die is their stance on the issue. Gotta get that money, no matter the cost.