#marijuana vs. #alcohol - comparing health consequences

 

"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life," president Obama said during an interview with The New Yorker magazine. "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."

How apt is the comparison between these substances? 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.

Short-term health consequences 

Drinking too much alcohol can quickly kill a person. The inability to metabolize alcohol as quickly as it is consumed can lead to a buildup of alcohol in the brain that shuts down areas necessary for survival, such as those involved with heartbeat and respiration. Marijuana affects the cardiovascular system, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, but a person can't fatally overdose on pot like they can with alcohol.

Alcohol is more likely than marijuana to interact with other drugs. The way that alcohol is metabolized in the body is common to many drugs that are taken for a variety of conditions. This means that for people taking drugs or medications while drinking, the alcohol can increase or decrease levels of the active drug in the body.

Because marijuana can impair coordination and balance, there is the risk of hurting oneself, particularly if someone drives or chooses to have unprotected sex.

Long-term health consequences

The long-term effects of drinking heavily are well known: alcoholic liver disease can progress to fibrosis, which in turn can potentially lead to liver cancer. Why some people have a higher risk than others of developing liver disease from drinking is not understood medically or biochemically.

Unlike alcohol, 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, because the drug is typically smoked, it can bring on chronic bronchitis.

It's unclear why marijuana smoke does not have the same result as tobacco smoke on the lungs, but perhaps some beneficial compounds in the marijuana smoke cancel out the ill effects, or perhaps the other health habits of marijuana smokers are different from those of cigarette smokers. Researchers looking to study long-term marijuana use have had difficulty in finding people who regularly smoke marijuana but don’t also smoke tobacco cigarettes. And the illegality of marijuana has also limited research in this field. In young people, marijuana interferes with connections being made in the brain at a time when the brain should be accumulating memory and life experiences. Effects, however, vary from individual to individual and also depend on the consume.

Benefits

There is no known medical use for consumed alcohol, but there are health benefits observed in moderate drinkers, including lower rates of cardiovascular disease and possibly fewer colds.

As for marijuana, whose legalization for medical uses has been a matter of strong public policy debate for years, there is ample evidence that beneficial compounds can be found in the plant. Researchers are working to try to identify the ingredients in marijuana that have potential for use in cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, glaucoma and other diseases.

The year 2014 has brought with it the first legal sales of marijuana to people who aren't using the drug for medical reasons in the United States since the 1930s, as voters in Colorado and Washington state brought about this policy change.

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.