Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?

Product Description Nationally recognized marijuana-policy experts Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert compare and contrast the relative harms and legal status of the two most popular recreational substances in the world--marijuana and alcohol. Through an objective examination of the two drugs and the laws and social practices that steer people toward alcohol, the authors pose a simple yet rarely considered question: Why do we punish adults who make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol? Marijuana Is Safer reaches for a broad audience. For those unfamiliar with marijuana, it provides an introduction to the cannabis plant and its effects on the user, and debunks some of the government's most frequently cited marijuana myths. For current and aspiring advocates of marijuana-law reform, as well as anyone else who is interested in what is becoming a major political battle, the authors spell out why the message that marijuana is safer than alcohol must be a prominent part of the public debate over legalization. Most importantly, for the millions of Americans who want to advance the cause of marijuana-policy reform--or simply want to defend their own personal, safer choice--this book provides the talking points and detailed information needed to make persuasive arguments to friends, family, coworkers, and elected officials. http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Safer-Driving-People-Drink/dp/1603581448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306703946&sr=1-1

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ImSoJaded (2011-05-30)

Well, you can read almost every day about drunken people beating family members. I wonder when was the last time you read the same about a weed smoker.

qwertzo99 (2011-05-31)

...he has a point but he can't use one evil to justify another!

Haliax (2011-06-08)

Pot is a crutch just like booze is. -> Yeah just like caffeine, paracetamol and penicillin. Funny that you use the word "crutch" pot IS a crutch, like crutches, it helps the sick. I don't think I've ever heard of successful treatment of illness with booze though, so that doesn't qualify huh? You'll find a great many studies using pot to treat a variety of issues from chronic migraines, arthritis and even schizophrenia.
/end rant
Praise to one of the most universally useful products on earth.

monsveneris (2011-07-25)

Excellent points in this discussion. Alcohol is a drug. Liquor stores are open-air drug markets.....
"Yeh.... gimme a half-pint of Knotty-haid and a cuppa ice. I got this buzz that just won't let up and I GOTTA get sober before I drive home.... so, uh....throw a half-pint o' scotch in and we're good ta go.....!"
Humans have a right to adjust the way they feel as long as it does not have a negative effect on those around them. The use of a substance for the purposes of what certain substances DO (i.e.; sensory stimulation, pain control) becomes an incurable disease (addiction) when the cessation of use has adverse consequences on the..... (this is where there's a problem in correct identity).
If someone is injured or suffers pain-inducing disease to the extent that severe pain exists months later and there is no physical means of eliminating that pain (i.e.; third-degree burns, skin grafts, bone grafts, neuropathy, neuroma, bone disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy) and opioid analgesics are the only solution, the PATIENT is in the exact same straights as a USER. It is incorrect and damaging to continue to make substance use a moral issue. That's right, I said "use"..... humans become accused of substance abuse when it's actually being abused by the substance.
Rehabs are, as a result of the "morality" issue, ill-equipped to handle chronic pain victims whose use, need, and/or access to analgesics (that just HAPPEN to be addictive) has been compromised.... so what to do with someone whose pain is severe but outlasts the period dictated as "acceptable"? Doctors cut them off, thinking they're helping society.... what is actually happening is they're punishing the patient. True, because opioid addiction is what it is, and if the patient's requests for refills occur after pain has subsided, it is possible the patient is using the opioids to offset the horrific withdrawal.
People who are asking for a little spare change and who are labeled as "junkies" may ACTUALLY be trying to offset the sickness. They may be WAY up on tolerance and can't begin to afford the dose adequate for euphoria, but even a small amount of the drug can buy them a couple hours of "feeling normal", but deep in their souls they want the entire nightmare of addiction to be over.... patients with long-term chronic pain are in the same exact shape..... a mess, and such that it is often self-perpetuating because of the absolutely incorrect morality aspect. Go to an emergency room while on the threshold of alcohol withdrawal and get a benzo to help you feel better and keep you out of seizures. Go to the ER with withdrawal from pain meds and the next thing you'll see is the curb outside as the wheelchair dumps you....

monsveneris (2011-07-25)

and OOPS I did drift off topic with my above (fist-ever) post.... yep, it is baffling that in my entire (so-far successful) several years in recovery from hardcore drug addiction, 99% of those who tell their story begin with alcohol as the first-ever substance, and it is very rare that marijuana was the first, and often never even mentioned as an issue in their substance (alcohol is a substance) use history....
but to those who endured the post, thanks for putting up with the frustrated writer :)