Surprisingly enough to some due to the longstanding comparison between the two, there has been a distinct trend followed by millennials that has seen declining use of alcohol and rising use of cannabis. This doesn’t surprise me much, because I, along with many of my peers, have always preferred the latter for various reasons.
Personally, I use cannabis because I have much more control over myself while under the influence of it as opposed to alcohol, and it is much easier on me afterwards. I’ve never woken up from a night of smoking feeling under the weather. Conversely, I’ve spent many mornings-after-drinking with a bad headache and no motivation to get out of bed.
I also find I simply enjoy the effects of getting high a lot more than I do getting drunk. Getting high is something that I can do casually with my friends for a couple hours without impacting the rest of my day, where I feel like having more than one or two light drinks saps a lot more energy from me.
That being said, there is some pretty good peer-reviewed evidence for why people are making the switch. Below is a compilation of findings that could help you form an opinion on the topic:
Death and Overdose:
A large study published in The Lancet found that alcohol was the leading health risk for people aged 15-49 across the globe, attributing 12.2% of all male deaths and 3.8% of all female deaths to alcohol use. Additionally, research from many institutes suggest that the more alcohol you drink, the higher risk you have of developing cancer. Conversely, a 16-year study of over 65,000 Americans found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy non-users.
In most instances of responsible drinking, alcohol is far from life-threatening. However, excessive drinking – especially when binge drinking is involved – causes approximately 88,000 deaths every year in the United States.
Cannabis has yet to see any deaths from overdose, with scientists hypothesizing that the (potential) fatal dose is far above what a person could reasonably smoke – requiring somewhere between 238 to 1113 joints in a single day.
Crime:
When looking at which substance puts people at most risk for either getting hurt or hurting others, alcohol is considered to be the most harmful. That is not to say that drinking alcohol is the cause for violence, but there is a correlation between alcohol and violent behavior.
According to the NCADD, alcohol is a factor in 40% of all violent crimes.
Conversely, the opposite seems to be true for cannabis. Studies on marijuana use and intimate partner violence found that men who used cannabis are significantly less likely to commit an act of violence against a loved one compared to non-users.
Impact on Physical and Mental Capacities:
Both weed and alcohol can temporarily impair your memory, and alcohol can cause you to “blackout” and leave you incapable of remembering anything from the night before. However, alcohol use is linked to poor decision-making – causing people experiencing drunkenness to be more prone to risky behavior such as driving drunk and engaging in unprotected sex.
Driving under the influence of any drug is extremely dangerous and should not be considered. It is never a good idea. That being said, the studies that prove this seem to show that alcohol has a much more significant impact on your processes than cannabis. While marijuana increases your odds of being in an accident by approximately 83%, alcohol increases the odds by more than 2200%.
While both cannabis and alcohol use have their associated risks, the effects of alcohol appear remarkably more extreme. However, to really know if cannabis is the right drug for you, there is no substitute for trying it out for yourself. All strains have differing effects, and finding what you like best is often a product of trying a large variety. You can buy cannabis right on our website here – click on any of the products to see a description of its effects, medical uses, and aroma profile!