# Pot vs. booze **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739 "2014-01-02T21:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/41 "2014-01-03T20:35:17Z")
N/M. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/42 "2014-01-03T20:44:04Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s actually the other way around, historically. Alcohol was socially accepted, pot was not, hence “somebody made a law”. The main reason was that respectable white people imbibed alcohol, but Mexicans, blacks and other undesirables smoked pot. > > It boils down to, like many of our laws, classism, racism, and xenophobia. There is some truth to that, but it is not the whole truth. I’ve looked into this a little bit years ago, and there appears to have been several things comming together to create the current drug insanity: 1. Culture - your racism/classism thing. Alchohol and tobacco were drugs of choice for White folks and were more familiar and acceptable to them. A place where this is seen very clearly, in Canada, is a book entitled “The Black Candle” by Canada’s first female judge. 2. The basic urge to prohibition/social control of the harms of drugs. Remember that the first target of prohibition was booze, despite factor (1) above. The harms from unfamiliar drugs were exaggerated (long before “reefer madness”). 3. Patent medicine regulation. Prior to the early 20th century, patent medicines very often contained opium and cannibis, giving these drugs a bad rep - use of the drugs was associated with fraud and addiction (often the result of patent medicine use). They also often had alcohol in them, of course. 4. The use of opiates for painkilling in surgery and wound recovery, often on a very large scale following wars. Morphene addiction was once commonly called the “soldier’s disease” after the US Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/43 "2014-01-03T20:44:31Z")
Try this [chart](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Drug_danger_and_dependence.png). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/44 "2014-01-03T21:26:05Z")
> [@For You](#): > > According to The Daily Currant, [_already, on the first day of legal weed, there have been 37 fatal ODs, scores more expected_](http://dailycurrant.com/2014/01/02/marijuana-overdoses-kill-37-in-colorado-on-first-day-of-legalization/). > > note: the publication is named for produce I’m waiting for Fox to pick this up and run with it. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/45 "2014-01-03T22:08:03Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I would not be surprised if someone who was stoned more or less continually would suffer adverse effects from it, but such folks are rare. They sure don’t seem rare to me. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/46 "2014-01-03T22:16:35Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > They sure don’t seem rare to me. I guess milage may vary. 😉 I mean as a percentage of the overall pot-smoking population. A very large number of people smoke pot, and so if only 0.1% of them smoke it continually, there is still a chance that one could know a lot of them - no doubt they are not exactly evenly distributed. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/47 "2014-01-03T23:06:56Z")
As someone who has covered both regular concerts and pot events for a paper in Denver, I’ll tell you that people standing around hitting their THC vape pens are FAR more courteous and mature acting and looking than people drinking. So no, I don’t think it’s fair to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/48 "2014-01-03T23:20:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’m no prude, my poison is alcohol. I drink in moderation and you’ll never catch me being a staggering drunk or acting stupid Yer missing out, guv. ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/49 "2014-01-04T02:10:41Z")
> [@For You](#): > > According to The Daily Currant, [_already, on the first day of legal weed, there have been 37 fatal ODs, scores more expected_](http://dailycurrant.com/2014/01/02/marijuana-overdoses-kill-37-in-colorado-on-first-day-of-legalization/). > > note: the publication is named for produce This looks like absolute effin BS to me. IIRC from watching documentaries and the like, you would need to smoke something like 1000 POUNDS of Marijuana in 15 minutes time in order to OD. The point is that it’s impossible to OD (bar some synthetic hyper-concentrated form of pot that doesn’t even exist yet). One of the examples they gave was an ex-METH DEALER for Christ’s sake. His heart was probably just waiting to give out regardless of the pot. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > [LAPD Targeting Stoned Drivers With Roadside Weed Tests](http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/12/dui_drug_test_los_angeles_weed.php) This must be an improved version of the ‘swab’ test. These were a joke when I was in HS 5 years ago because they were so unreliable. People who had just smoked, smoked earlier that day, or just smoked all the time would pass these and they also generated false positives. > [@Malthus](#): > > For driving while stoned being dangerous, I myself am pretty certain that is true. Driving while impaired in any way is dangerous. While it seems inherently true that the best driver is a sober driver, I want to add that I have never had a single person I know get in an accident because they were stoned. I’ve had 3 friends die from alcohol related accidents(not all their fault) and many more than that have been involved in alcohol related accidents. > [@Magiver](#): > > It would be interesting if mainstreaming this drug and keeping the cost down would wipe out the idiocy of meth, crack, heroine and other drugs that virtually destroy people’s ability to function. Decriminalizing/legalizing Marijuana throughout the US will have positive effects, but more than likely, this won’t be a major contributor. We would have to legalize all drugs, like Portugal, in order to achieve this kind of effect. It would totally disrupt and reduce a significant amount of gang-related activity, because there would be no such thing as a ‘drug dealer’ anymore. > [@DrCube](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s actually the other way around, historically. Alcohol was socially accepted, pot was not, hence “somebody made a law”. The main reason was that respectable white people imbibed alcohol, but Mexicans, blacks and other undesirables smoked pot. > > It boils down to, like many of our laws, classism, racism, and xenophobia. This is propaganda. Watch _Reefer Madness_ [Reefer Madness - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness) and you’ll see what I’m talking about. You might even get a kick out of it. You can watch the actual movie or highlights on youtube. Marijuana is actually illegal mostly because of protection of corporate profits, yellow journalism, and corrupt legislators. You can read more about it here: > **[How Marijuana Became Illegal](http://wafreepress.org/article/090304marijuana.shtml)** but essentially, hemp was known to be a far better choice(by a select few) for making certain products. Business owners repressed this knowledge (so they wouldn’t go out of business to this new, cheaper version of their product) and advocated the propaganda which helped lead to it being made illegal. A few other factors were directly involved, like Harry Anslinger promoting the prohibition of pot to further his career in his government agency and certain legislators being incompetent, ignorant, or corrupt. The illegalizing of Marijuana was literally based on a lie. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > So cases of extreme abuse of either substance aside (nobody likes a sloppy drunk/stoner), is it fair to say that as a rule, having a drink (whatever the venue) is far more accepted socially than standing there blowing a spliff? And will it remain so because smoking pot is just inherently silly looking behaviour? Generally speaking, yes, it is more socially acceptable to have a drink than to smoke pot, but that has nothing to do with ‘looking silly’. Certain styles of smoking pot are more glamorous than others, just like drinking. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/50 "2014-01-04T02:25:54Z")
> [@YoungKusher](#): > > This looks like absolute effin BS to me… Look again at my comment in small print: the source is a publication named for produce – another example of “produce” might be, say, _Onion_s. hth ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/51 "2014-01-04T02:44:39Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Look again at my comment in small print: the source is a publication named for produce – another example of “produce” might be, say, _Onion_s. > > hth Lol yeah, my bad, I didn’t really catch why that was important. And I didn’t look too closely at the website itself. My response to your post was just a knee-jerk reaction to what I thought was possibly one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen in my life. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/52 "2014-01-04T02:51:03Z")
> [@youngkusher](#): > > this looks like absolute effin bs to me. Iirc from watching documentaries and the like, you would need to smoke something like 1000 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes time in order to od. The point is that it’s impossible to od (bar some synthetic hyper-concentrated form of pot that doesn’t even exist yet). One of the examples they gave was an ex-meth dealer for christ’s sake. His heart was probably just waiting to give out regardless of the pot. WWWWHHHHOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH. (Pinkman is a Breaking Bad reference.) 'Tis the funnies! ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/53 "2014-01-04T03:45:52Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > WWWWHHHHOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH. > > (Pinkman is a Breaking Bad reference.) > > 'Tis the funnies! There it is. I’ve never watched Breaking Bad. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/54 "2014-01-04T06:28:26Z")
I’ve been about as close to an overdose on marijuana as a person can get. I stumbled around, vomited up the brownies, and passed out, and had to be helped home some hours later. I have also overindulged in alcohol, though never to the point of needing medical attention. I’d take the pot overdose any day of the week. At no point was I in any kind of real physical danger with the marijuana, while I could easily have been with alcohol. The difference is night and day. Weed is immeasurably safer. Plus, as a bonus, I woke up from a night of insane overindulgence in marijuana feeling fresh, rested, and ready to start my day. I actually felt better waking up from too much weed than I feel if I go to be sober. Hangovers are a goddamn nightmare, and again, the difference is night and day. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/55 "2014-01-04T10:50:23Z")
I just wanted to touch on another aspect: > [@QuickSilver](#): > > I realize it’s a (my) cultural bias to view someone holding a snifter of cognac as something sophisticated while the same person trying to light a bong and going through the comic antics of holding a lung full of smoke as just looking ridiculously juvenile. Thanks for acknowledging the coexistence of sloppy drunks and stoners. Crude is as crude does. Pot smoking is intrinsically intertwined with the arts in ways that far exceed alcohol. There are, of course, exceptions and whatnot, and alcohol’s age makes it much more prevalent, but assuming legalization becomes widespread we will see a bloom in culture and creativity. Not in a ‘oh, people are high so they’ll make better art’ kind of way, but in a ‘people who like to get high are an excellent market for fine arts.’ To see what I mean, take a quick look over at Reddit’s [glassheads](http://www.reddit.com/r/glassheads/)subreddit. Though you may not be drawn to everything (and there are a number of baser pieces), you’ll see a host of creativity, talent, and focused aestheticism. One of my favourite youth-gone-by/sentimentally attached possessions is a beautiful piece of glass given to me by the owner of Graphix, a pioneer in glassmaking. And it’s not just glass and wood carving. Our [Pax](http://www.ploom.com/pax)(a small vaporizer) rivals Apple products for its design–even it’s packaging was an elegant waste of cardboard. You don’t have to have personally experienced it or viscerally understand the linkages between pot and the arts to recognize the widespread and pervasive connection. So yes, there will always be dumb, juvinile stoners , but (IMHO) the predominant pot culture will mirror the cognac and wine market much more than the wine cooler and beer. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/56 "2014-01-04T11:27:19Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > Not that I necessarily would be, but considering the prevalence of PSAs regarding Drunk Driving, or Drinking and Driving in all forms of media, it’s odd that I’ve heard completely zero about there being some kind of problem with Stoned Driving, or Smoking and Driving. In my area there has been a recent PSA campaign against “buzzed driving” very much equating it to drunk driving. They don’t explicitly single out marijuana, the ad say it doesn’t matter what you’re messed up on, it’s bad for your driving. Which is my take on it. If you’re behind the wheel you need a clear head. If by some weird quirk of metabolism orange juice gets you high don’t drink OJ and drive. I know too many people who think potheads buzzed and driving are somehow safe. They aren’t. Granted, they tend to drive a 2mph in the right line so they’re easy to go around but that doesn’t mean they’re safe. They are an annoyance and an obstruction. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/57 "2014-01-04T12:20:31Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > And it’s not just glass and wood carving. Our [Pax](http://www.ploom.com/pax)(a small vaporizer) rivals Apple products for its design–even it’s packaging was an elegant waste of cardboard. Nice. My [Magic-Flight](http://www.magic-flight.com) was a little cheaper, still a nice mini vape. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/58 "2014-01-04T14:20:13Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > And it’s not just glass and wood carving. Our [Pax](http://www.ploom.com/pax)(a small vaporizer) rivals Apple products for its design–even it’s packaging was an elegant waste of cardboard. > [@kayaker](#): > > Nice. My [Magic-Flight](http://www.magic-flight.com) was a little cheaper, still a nice mini vape. Nobody rolls a tight joint anymore, eh? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/59 "2014-01-04T14:39:23Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Nobody rolls a tight joint anymore, eh? 🙂 If I had my own garden I’d actually prefer a joint or cone. Efficient use of a scarce resource leads to small pipes or vaporizers (along with the health concerns of complete combustion).😉 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739/60 "2014-01-04T15:22:12Z")
All kidding aside, this “high”-tech machination is really not something I was ever aware of. Ignorance fought. When I want to get high, I just mix or pour a drink of preference in a simple glass and enjoy the resulting buzz\*. Couldn’t be simpler. (\* Remember kids, always drink responsibly and in moderation.) What some of you guys do borders on what I might call a hobby. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-vs-booze/677739.md?page=2)