Marijuana vs. Caffeine | Fifth Ave Green House

Cannabis culture – “In the hands of the wise, poison is medicine. In the hands of fools, medicine is poison.” – Casanova

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Popular drugs

Like most drugs, this one has many names. In the scientific community it is sometimes referred to as “methyl theobromine” or “guaranine” or “theine”. On the street it would be called a “stimulant”, “upper” or “pill pill” or “headache pill”. It is also available in the standard form “hot drink” or “soft drink”. Similar to sugar and alcohol, it is viewed more often as a food than a medicine. What is it? Caffeine.

It is the second most popular psychoactive substance in the world after sugar. It is estimated that worldwide caffeine consumption is 120,000 tons per year, which is the equivalent of one delicious cup of joe per day for every person on the planet.

Caffeine is naturally found in more than 60 plants around the world.

Caffeinated beverages like coffee have been drunk for more than 1,000 years. It is said that tea has been drunk for more than 4,000 years. Chocolate (which also contains a small amount of caffeine) has been around for nearly 4,000 years and has been popular in Europe since the 16th century, with a taste that was instantly popular. We associate the UK with tea shops, but coffee and chocolate drinks have also been a huge hit there.

Today, caffeine has been isolated from its plant sources and can also come in the form of a white powder.

This is also found in PEP pills, diet pills, and headache pills.

Caffeine is one of the headache medications because if you stop taking caffeine you will get a headache. If you suddenly stop using it, you feel sick and you usually get a headache. They add caffeine to the headache pill because people are generally addicted to caffeine, and the headache pill is meant to “meet that need” and “give them a dose”, not because caffeine itself cures headaches.

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Cannabis in comparison

Compare that to marijuana, another popular soft drug. marijuana is the world’s most popular “illegal” substance. Estimating the prevalence is a little difficult.

Since possession can sometimes be punishable by long sentences and sometimes even death in human trafficking, global statistics on cannabis use do not provide an entirely accurate or accurate picture of popularity. However, official estimates of lifelong use could be 20 to 50 percent of the world’s population. The number of users who use it more than once a month is closer to 10 to 30 percent, depending on who you ask.

Cannabis has been used as a medicine / sacrament and a source of food and textiles for thousands of years.

Because of the hundreds of different cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis, none of which are toxic and all of which are medically active, it is currently being studied as the source of hundreds, if not thousands, of new drugs.

How do the most popular illegal drugs compare and contrast with the most popular drugs in terms of their effects and risks, and their current cost to society as they become more legal by the day?

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The effect

Caffeine is a stimulant. Stimulants are used to combat lethargy, reduce drowsiness, reduce appetite, and help focus.

Cannabis can sometimes act as a stimulant too, if the correct strain and dosage is used. It is also often used as a relaxant, which appears to slow the passage of time and has powerful mind-enhancing properties.

Because of the hundreds of different terpenoids and cannabinoids in cannabis, it can be a drug for many diseases. Humans are only just beginning to discover the strains and effects of cannabis in order to realize their true potential.

Overdose risk

Caffeine and marijuana are similar low-risk drugs, but there are some key differences. The first is the risk of overdosing.

Deaths from caffeine overdose are rare, but do occur a few times each year. The deadly doses of caffeine in adults range from 3,200 milligrams to 10,000 milligrams at a time.

A typical 8-ounce cup of joe can contain between 80 and 180 mg of caffeine. In some cases, energy drinks contain 2 to 3 times as much as 357 mg. Anti-sleep and diet pills contain up to 300 mg.

One Dunkin ‘Donuts Coffee with Turbo Shot contains 436 mg. A box of “CrackHeads2” coffee beans contains 600 milligrams and has a warning label – “one box a day”.

More than six boxes at a time can be dangerous for adults.

Pure caffeine powder is sold in a container of 124 one-gram cartons. That’s 124,000 milligrams – more than a dozen fatal overdoses per container.

The number of people who die from caffeine overdose is small, but with the advent of energy drinks, caffeine intake has increased in recent years. Some researchers believe that many heart attack deaths may actually be undiagnosed deaths from caffeine overdoses, which increases the actual death toll significantly.

Compare this to cannabis, which has so far not had any confirmed cases of death from overdose.

But even small amounts of cannabis use can lead to uncomfortable experiences – especially if the condition is unfamiliar, stressful on the body, or the mind is unprepared for the potential effects.

Almost every user of edible cannabis products will feel sick if they ingest enough of them. Moderation is the key to avoiding negative effects. When smoked, very small amounts of marijuana work almost immediately, allowing “self-titration” or quantification. This is not possible with medication taken orally (such as caffeine).

Excessive death

According to the US Bureau of Mortality Statistics, long-term caffeine use can cause “stress, ulcers, and irregular heartbeats” and kill 1,000 to 10,000 people annually in the US.

According to the same source, the death toll from cannabis abuse was zero again.

Withdrawal symptoms

According to a 2005 report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include “headache, restlessness, insomnia, confusion, nausea, anxiety, restlessness and tremors, cardiac PAL and high blood pressure two, and then they fade.”

Caffeine withdrawal headaches are considered “extremely common”.

With marijuana: “When people have no withdrawal symptoms at all, they are very mild.” Typical withdrawal symptoms can include irritability and mild insomnia.

Based on my personal experience, you may not miss the relaxing, hungry, and happy stuff anymore, but unlike caffeine, there aren’t any “extremely common” marijuana withdrawal headaches and the like

Of course, if you are using marijuana for medical reasons, these symptoms can return when you stop. This is not a withdrawal, but the result of taking a beneficial drug.

The body damage

The most common side effects of caffeine, especially in large doses, are diarrhea, dizziness, fast heart rate, hyperglycemia, blurred vision, drowsiness, dry skin, ketones in the urine, loss of appetite, nausea, stomach pain, tiredness and difficulty breathing, vomiting, anxiety, cold sweats, Confusion, tremors and irritability.

On the contrary, cannabis has a lower acute toxicity than any other drug. Side effects at high doses are cognitive impairment, psychomotor impairment, anxiety, agitation, panic and paranoia.

One area where cannabis is at higher risk than caffeine is the damage beginners take at typical doses. This could affect the age limit (if any) for obtaining legal cannabis.

Social costs

It is not easy to estimate the cost of cannabis and caffeine to society. Both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Canadian Center on Drug Abuse limit their research to tobacco, alcohol, and “illicit drugs.” They do not contain drugs or caffeine.

The real cost of caffeine abuse is recorded throughout the day when caffeine is treated as a drug rather than a food, and when caffeine screenings have become the norm after traffic accidents and premature deaths.

Likewise, the costs of so-called “cannabis abuse” are often confused with the costs of “prohibiting” or problems arising from a lack of education about the harm reduction of cannabis.

When Cannabis is fully legalized When all users and educational institutions work together to reduce their harm, the real cost of cannabis to society can be reasonably assessed.

Conclusion

All in all, caffeine is clearly riskier, dangerous, deadly, harmful and expensive than cannabis in every category – deaths from overdose, deaths from overuse, withdrawal symptoms and acute toxicity.

The only area where cannabis is at higher risk is in the level of impairment beginners experience.

Laws that make marijuana more harmful than caffeine do not reflect reality and should be questioned by drug pacifists. Society should treat any drug according to the risks involved, rather than creating rules based on ignorant myths and racist, outdated traditions.