What would be the net benefit to society if cannabis were adopted as the recreational drug of choice?

Ganja Theories: How Would Society Be Affected If Cannabis Was The Main Legal Recreational Drug?

A recent YouGov poll found that about 1 in 4 people in America believe it would be “better” in general if people smoked more marijuana than they drank alcohol.

The question, “Would it be good or bad if the average American drank less alcohol and used more marijuana?” 27% received a “good” and 20% a “poor” rating. However, around 38% of the population believed that it would neither be “good” nor “bad”, but simply “be”.

Naturally, the younger the voter demographic, the more they agreed with the idea that “using more cannabis instead of drinking alcohol” would be good. But this question brings us to today’s ganja theory – would cannabis have a net benefit if it were the main legal recreational drug of consumption? In other words, if cannabis were consumed as commonly as alcohol – would society receive a net benefit?

For the rest of the article we will discuss this idea.

From a health standpoint, more weed would be better…

When comparing alcohol and cannabis, it is striking that cannabis is the “less harmful” of the two substances. First, unlike alcohol, you cannot cause a fatal overdose with cannabis. The LD-50 of cannabis when tested was said to be somewhere between 1:20,000 and 1:50,000, meaning that one would have to consume an inhuman amount of cannabis to induce a lethal dose.

The LD-50 rating – is a system for indicating the toxicity of a drug, in which 50% of the test animals die when a dose is administered. When this happens, the LD-50 of a particular drug is determined. However, when it comes to cannabis.

Currently, the LD-50 of marijuana is estimated to be around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman’s terms, to cause death, a marijuana smoker would need to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in a marijuana cigarette. Marijuana cigarettes supplied by NIDA weigh about 0.9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana in about fifteen minutes to produce a fatal reaction. – SOURCE: Facts on Drug Policy

Compared to alcohol which sets an LD-50 at around 13 shots where 1 shot = 45ml (40% AVB). In other words, just over a pint of spirit could kill you, or at least theoretically 50% of test subjects would have a lethal dose here.

Not to mention that the overall toll alcohol takes on the body is quite extensive.

Here is a short list of illnesses that can only result from excessive alcohol consumption;

• Alcohol use disorder, also known as alcoholism

• Alcoholic polyneuropathy (peripheral nerve disease)

• Alcoholic myopathy (muscle tissue disease)

• Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (heart disease)

• Alcoholic gastritis (stomach inflammation)

• Alcoholic Liver Disease

• Alcohol-induced pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)

• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Birth Defects)

SOURCE: DrugRehab

And compare that to cannabis;

Sure, I could list some other “potentials,” but none of the other items on the CDC’s list can be said to come from cannabis alone. However, when it comes to alcohol-related illnesses, there is extensive research on the subject. Perhaps more conditions will emerge over time, but for now, the list of verifiable side effects is fairly short.

Simply put, when one compares the health effects of alcohol consumption to the health effects of cannabis use, there is a net benefit to society, as not only is cannabis a less dangerous substance, but it is also less likely to develop addictive behaviors.

Drive…

While no one argues that cannabis and driving should be banned – if we compare the drunk dodging of someone driving under the influence to that of someone who has lost their mind over weed – we can see that cannabis drivers are doing this (on average) drivers tend to be slower due to more intoxication. Compared to alcohol, which makes people drive faster and drive more recklessly.

Recent studies also showed that while crash rates increased in some states that legalized cannabis, only those that combined alcohol and cannabis posed a statistical threat;

Accident rates rose as recreational marijuana use and retail sales became legal in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and another from the affiliated Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) shows .

However, preliminary results from a separate IIHS study of injured drivers visiting emergency rooms in California, Colorado, and Oregon showed that drivers who only used marijuana were involved in accidents no more frequently than drivers who did not use the drug. Source: HLDI

In other words, alcohol is the leading cause of road deaths, which claim more than 10,000 people each year due to drink driving.

If cannabis were the predominant drug of choice, it could reduce annual road fatalities, since “drivers who only used marijuana were not involved in accidents more often than drivers who did not use the drug.”

More productive…

We’ve been told stoners are lazy, but recent research tells us a different story. For starters, states that have legalized cannabis are seeing employees take fewer sick days, and a recent study found that students who smoke marijuana were more interested in taking on more challenging tasks than their non-smoking peers.

That’s not to say that cannabis keeps you motivated, but it does show you that the old “lazy stoner tradition” is outdated. However, being drunk significantly affects your ability to produce.

A LinkedIn post by Dr. Daniel Amen explained;

In fact, the evidence from our brain imaging shows that alcohol is the complete opposite. Even ONE glass of beer or wine a day can be directly toxic to brain function. The SPECT scans of people who drink too much alcohol — more than three drinks a week — look toxic.

It is associated with fatty liver disease, peripheral neuropathies (pain and tingling in the hands, legs, and feet), damage to neurons, particularly in the cerebellum, which is involved in coordinating body and mind, and mood. It interferes with the absorption of vitamin B1, which predisposes people to serious cognitive problems. – SOURCE: Dr. Daniel Amen

bottom line

While most Americans believe that it is probably best to reduce the use of both drugs, the fact is that if you switched from alcohol to cannabis, you would see a marked improvement in your life in general. If this were adopted by the masses – “fact checkers (me)” believe there would be a net benefit to society.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

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