Solving That It Is Healthier To Smoke Grass Or Drink Alcohol

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Solving that it is healthier to smoke grass or drink alcohol

Alcohol and marijuana are two of the most used intoxicating substances on Earth. As such, there is no shortage of debate about the ways in which they help or harm us. Scientific literature highlights a series of health risks secondary to marijuana or alcohol consumption, from memory loss to liver disease. Even so, many health experts promote marijuana as a miraculous cure, while researchers discovered that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can generate great health benefits. So what is the truth? For those who try to choose the healthiest poison, should they resort to grass or alcohol?

It is a difficult and complex question because the two substances differ in legality, methods of ingestion and long -term effects. However, with the reform of drug policy on the horizon in many states, as well as greater research ongoing, there is now more clarity on the subject. Here is a closer look at how alcohol and marijuana are compared to health.

Marijuana vs alcohol

Marijuana is the most commonly used "illegal" drug in the United States, with a 12% reported by people 12 years and older. The laws surrounding marijuana are changing rapidly throughout the country. Today, recreational use is totally legal in 11 states, while medicinal use is legal in 34.

When marijuana is ingested, more commonly by smoking or eating it, chemicals called cannabinoids are released in the body. A particular cannabinoid, the THC (main active ingredient of marijuana), enters the brain and adheres to cannabinoid receptors. Once activated, dopamine is released, and the result is a ‘high’ that is associated with thought problems and a slower reaction time. The effects vary according to the user, but may include a pleasant euphoria, altered senses and humor changes.

Now that we have taken a broader look at marijuana, let’s turn our attention to alcohol. In a nutshell, alcohol consumption is extremely popular in the United States. According to the surveillance system surveillance system of 2018 behavior factors carried out by the CDC, more than half of the US adult population. UU. He informed having consumed alcohol in the last 30 days.

When someone drinks alcohol, the ethanol chemical compound enters the bloodstream and is transmitted throughout the body. Alcohol reduces inhibitions and produces coordination and judgment problems, difficulty speaking and fainting. Like marijuana, alcohol causes a dopamine discharge in the brain. But, how much alcohol affects a person depends on several factors, including their height, weight, age and more.

Consequences for short and long term health

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, alcohol consumption can damage the brain and most body organs, including the heart, liver and pancreas. You can compromise the immune system, increase the risk of cancer and put fetal development at risk. In comparison, the adverse effects of the use of marijuana include short -term memory problems, motor coordination problems and, in high doses, paranoia and psychosis.

The National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism Abuse estimates that approximately 88,000 people die annually due to alcohol -related causes, which makes alcohol abuse the third cause of avoidable death in the United States. In addition, it is well established in the medical field that alcohol is attributed to poor mental health and can exacerbate underlying mental health disorders.

In a transverse population survey published in the European Journal of Public Health, the researchers registered alcohol consumption habits and self-informed mental health states of approximately 2.700 Finnish adults. In general, it was discovered that excessive alcohol consumption was associated with more poor mental health, specifically a lack of satisfaction with life and psychological anguish.

Marijuana, on the contrary, is not toxic and is unlikely to cause death due to overdose. No marijuana overdose deaths have been reported, according to a 2017 resource guide published by the DEA.

But, although CDC explicitly declares that a fatal overdose of marijuana is unlikely, that does not mean that it is harmless. Marijuana consumption has been associated with altered brain development, especially in adolescent users . In addition, a cohort study showed an association between frequent consumption of cannabis in adolescents and the increase in anxiety and depression risks. The researchers randomly monitored 2 classes of students from 44 schools for 6 years. After adjusting the concurrent use of other substances, the daily consumption of marijuana among the participants was associated with an increase of more than five times in the chances of informing depression and anxiety.

But, in an interview with the New York Times, the DR. Ziva Cooper, Director of Research of the Initiative for Cannabis of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and one of the authors of the exhaustive national academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. CANNABIS Report: refuted the common belief that marijuana causes schizophrenia. "We still don’t have the evidence of support to indicate the address of this association," he said. Dr. Cooper ‘[The Committee of the Cannabis Research Initiative of the UCLA] also concluded that a cannabis consumption history is associated with better cognitive results in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders,” he added.

Between the two, it seems that marijuana is also much less addictive. According to the criteria for dependence on the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, approximately 9% of those who experience with marijuana will become addicted. For alcohol, however, that percentage rises to 23%.

What is healthier?

Modern research more and more recognizes cannabis as a valuable help in pain control. According to Peter Grinspoon, MD, author of the Free Reills memories: Dr. Confronts His Addiction, marijuana is a safer alternative to opiates in the treatment of chronic pain. ‘It is impossible to take an overdose and much less addictive,’ he wrote in an article for the Harvard Health Blog, ‘and can take the place of [non -steroidal anti -inflammatory medications] as advil or aleve’.

As for cancers, marijuana gets another victory. Alcohol consumption is overwhelmingly related to various types of cancer, confirms the CDC . On the other hand, a systematic review published in the International Journal of Cancer combined the results of six studies and found no association between lung cancer and the usual or long -term practice of smoking marijuana.

As a testimony of the benefits of alcohol, the Harvard University School of Public Health found inverse associations between the consumption of mild to moderate alcohol and the risks of heart attack, stroke and death for all cardiovascular causes. Even so, the generalized scientific consensus is that less alcohol is the best.

The bottom line

The key conclusion is that, despite all the risks and benefits indicated, anyone who consumes alcohol or uses marijuana must be cautious. There is no clear answer for what substance is better for health because both entail several risks for those who use it.

Even so, marijuana does not present the same serious hazards for health as excessive alcohol consumption. Marijuana is less addictive, it is unlikely to lead to deadly overdose, it does not cause cancer, at least, according to current evidence. Not to mention that marijuana consumption does not usually cause the hangover that is more common with drinking.

Considering only the facts, marijuana is the healthiest option. But, if you decide between the two strictly for health reasons, the best option is probably neither. 

Free Solving That It Is Healthier To Smoke Grass Or Drink Alcohol Essay Sample

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