Americans are using marijuana more regularly than alcohol, interesting new data shows.
About 17.7 million people in the United States use the drug daily, compared to 14.7 million daily drinkers, according to results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
This is the first time since records began in 1979 that marijuana has surpassed alcohol, a trend that experts say is a direct result of widespread legalization.
Marijuana advocates argue that this change benefits the health of the country. The lower health risks of marijuana, compared to alcohol, have long been a key argument of the pro-legalization lobby.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it would reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, placing it in the same category. safety category like some types of Tylenol and steroids.
Country music star Willie Nelson has long campaigned for marijuana and recently announced that he will write a cookbook featuring his favorite cannabis recipes.
However, a series of recent studies have raised growing concerns about the large number of health harms associated with regular marijuana use, particularly because today’s marijuana plants are at least four times more potent than they were 30 years ago.
Some products sold in dispensaries, such as resins and oils, contain 90 percent THC (the active ingredient in marijuana that causes the high) compared to four percent in 1995.
But what if you’re not a daily user and only consume it regularly, similar to how most people do alcohol? Is it really less harmful?
The answer is not necessarily. But the related ailments are different and depend on the amount and frequency of use.
As marijuana legalization has spread across the United States, reaching 24 states, numerous studies have begun to shed light on the alarming health repercussions.
Research published Monday showed that the number of hospital visits for cannabis poisoning among older adults tripled after the drug was legalized in Canada in 2018.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, although others have legalized it for medicinal purposes only.
Meanwhile, in California, where the drug has been legal since 2016, hospital admissions for cannabis-related complications have skyrocketed: from 1,400 in 2005 to 16,000 in 2019.
And the most recent data from the CDC showed that approximately 130,000 people under the age of 25 are admitted to the hospital for cannabis-related reasons each year in the US.
Experts say the reason for these marijuana-related admissions ranges from mental health crises, including psychotic breaks and suicide attempts, to heart and lung problems, and even a little-known vomiting condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome that is believed that affects up to a third of regular users.
There is also ample evidence showing a sharp increase in marijuana-related DUI cases in regions where the drug is legal.
In Canada, for example, marijuana-related traffic accidents requiring emergency room treatment increased by 475 percent between 2010 and 2021, while drunk driving accidents increased only 9.4 percent .
But marijuana-related hospital visits still pale in comparison to alcohol-related admissions, which are said to number nearly 2 million each year, according to CDC data. And it’s worth noting that while hospitalizations for cannabis-related accidents are in the hundreds, those involving alcohol are in the thousands.
There is no doubt that when it comes to acute physical illnesses, chronic excessive alcohol consumption is more dangerous.
Studies have shown that regular alcohol consumption can increase the risk of a number of conditions, including heart problems, liver disease, stroke, diabetes, and several types of cancer.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), half of all alcohol-related cancers occur in those who drink less than three and a half liters of beer a week.
Additionally, a recent edict from the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction states that just two drinks a week are enough to increase the risk of a number of conditions, including heart disease.
The WHO recently changed its alcohol guidelines to state that no amount of alcohol is safe.
Excessive drinking has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease by at least 45 percent and heart attacks by 72 percent, according to Harvard studies.
Experts believe that alcohol triggers health problems by damaging DNA. In the body, alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde, a chemical that damages DNA and prevents the body from repairing it.
Once the DNA is damaged, the cells can grow uncontrollably and create a cancerous tumor, in addition to damaging the cells that line the blood vessels, causing problems in the cardiovascular system.
Each year, about 178,000 deaths in the United States are attributable to alcohol, compared to about 300 from marijuana.
But cannabis is not safe for heart health. Those who use cannabis daily (and mostly smoke it) are 25 percent more likely than non-users to have a heart attack and 42 percent more likely to have a stroke.
However, the effects of marijuana on mental health are arguably more significant than those of alcohol. And a life-shattering psychosis can occur after a single joint or edible.
A 2019 study by researchers at Kings College London found that daily use of high-potency marijuana can increase the risk of psychosis five-fold.
Bryn Spejcher, a 34-year-old audiologist from California, suffered a violent psychosis after smoking marijuana, something she normally disliked. She stabbed her boyfriend 108 times, as well as herself and her beloved dog.
While alcohol deaths can be much higher in numerical terms, cannabis-related deaths tend to be more violent and extreme.
Perhaps one of the most chilling cases of this was seen in the recent story of Californian audiologist Bryn Spejcher, who stabbed her date 108 times, killing him, while suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis.
Spejcher, now 34, had only taken drugs “a handful” of times in his life.
A DailyMail.com investigation published last year found that at least 290 American children have suffered brutal, preventable marijuana-related deaths over the past decade.
The cases include the Texas man who murdered his nine-month-old baby with a knife while suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis, and the Illinois mother who choked her four-year-old daughter while screaming, “I’m going to send Emily to see Jesus.”
Other studies have found that regular marijuana use makes you three times more likely to die by suicide, and recent experiments in the United States have found that teenagers who regularly use drugs have delayed development of areas of the brain. involved with reasoning and learning.
Scientists believe that the THC in cannabis interferes with brain signals that control mood, attention and memory, as well as feelings of reward and pleasure.
By comparison, a 2022 review of 23 studies by experts at Canada’s McMaster University found no significant risk of depression or anxiety in teens who drink excessively.
CDC researchers found that between 2015 and 2019 there were about 90,000 deaths among adults ages 20 to 65 per year between 2015 and 2019 in which alcohol was an underlying or contributing cause.
Then there is the risk of addiction.
It has long been argued that cannabis addiction is incredibly rare. However, experts now say that this is a harmful myth.
Studies by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimate that around four million Americans meet the criteria for “marijuana use disorder” or addiction.
Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that nearly one in five people who smoke cannabis met the criteria for dependence.
Danish research involving 6.6 million people born between 1985 and 2021 revealed that 41 percent of cannabis addicts were diagnosed with major depression.
They also found that chronic marijuana use quadrupled the risk of a person being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
What’s more, experts say there are still large gaps in our knowledge about the long-term impact of high-potency marijuana, while data on the risks of alcohol are abundant.
“We have decades of research on the health effects of alcohol consumption,” internal medicine doctor Salomeh Keyhani told the Washington Post.
‘But cannabis research is still evolving and it will take years to understand the public health consequences of its marketed use (in new products and doses). ‘
Ultimately, Dr. Keyhani says infrequent marijuana use is unlikely to cause much harm if you use a low-strength product and don’t smoke.
She says: ‘I suggest they try CBD edibles with less than five percent THC content, with the caveat that edibles can enter the system more slowly and unpredictably, so patients should start low and go slow. .’