Drugs and Alcohol?

Question

Whats the difference! How can one be socially accepted but the other not. Forgetting all laws and moral high-grounds-they both alter the state of the user just in different ways, how can the public seriously be told they can use one but not the other?Is this not the most contradictory set of laws today?! Why is it as children we are actually taught about not using drugs and how bad they are, almost as if it is the worst thing you can ever do, yet hardly a mention of alcohol and the damaging effects it has on peoples lives. What do others think?

Answer 1

i foresee some serious problems relating to alcohol especially in the up and coming generations, its totally out of control and i blame the 'alcopop' manufacturers who are more or less drug pushers!

Answer 2

I think both should be treated the same. Why is it that alcohol and tobacco are accepted and others are not, that is a good question. I guess it comes down to "God made pot, man made beer, who do you trust?" kind of attitude. I think that if it was naturally made, it wasnt really meant to hurt us.

The drugs that are chemically compounded, those can hurt you if not watched. Alcohol is the same way. It can hurt you if you dont have the control over it. There was a time where there was No alcohol being able to be consumed or purchased. The Prohibition period didnt last all too long, but it does explain that we have been down this road once before.

Answer 3

Alcohol IS a drug. It is considered socially acceptable because as long as you are drinking in moderation you don't do stupid stuff because of it. Also, if you go back to the days of prohibition you will see that it doesn't work. Just because marijuana is illegal doesn't mean that people don't use it - it means it is an "underground" economy - you can still get it if you know where to look. Drinking excess amounts of alcohol is NOT socially acceptable - nobody wants to hang out with a raving drunk except other raving drunks, and sometimes not even then. Also, to say there are no health consequences from smoking ANYTHING is to deny reality. The real reason marijuana is illegal goes back to the 1930's, and it is kept illegal primarily to protect economic interests of certain companies, and because it is a political issue. If the politicians thought they could get elected because of legalizing marijuana, I can guarantee you things would change.

Answer 4

I personally think that marijuana should be legalized! Alcohol causes people to do more stupid things than pot! I don't understand it personally!! I think to legalize more dangerous drugs would be very foolish but marijuana, C'mon!!! The only reason it is not legal is because the local and state governments can make more money by throwing offenders in jail and charging hefty fines!! Also raising our taxes to build bigger jails and prisons to house non violent pot smokers! Alcohol causes far more violent crimes and deaths! Oh, and as for the claim that pot is a gate way drug, that is bull too!!! Some one was really fishing when they came up with that one!!! I know people that have smoked for twenty years plus who don't do any other drugs!Thats like saying if a vegetarian trys chicken, pretty soon they will be hooked on beef too!!! Please!!!Oh, well!!! Let's just keep on throwing the non violent pot smokers in prison with the violent offenders, maybe they will learn how to be violent offenders too!Just say no to stupid laws designed to make the govenment rich and keep the tax payers poor!!

Answer 5

I believe the American Medical Association defines alcohol as a drug, but rumor has it they were drinking when they had that meeting. (Rimshot!) But seriously, I'm in agreement with you. I hear in the rural area around the high school sports team I follow, parents actually support teen drinking, even though it's illegal. I think part of the answer is tradition; "Our parents did it, and we did it, and we never got killed in a DUI accident" - which is stupid. Another part is The Benjamins - follow the money - here in Missouri, every time the legislature considers raising the liquor tax, a representative of the Busch family of St. Louis comes calling, probably with under-the-table gifts, and publicly with the "promise" of taking the brewery out of the state if the taxes are raised. It's ALL about the Benjamins.

Answer 6

My mother in law is an alcoholic and it has been such a struggle to get her into somewhere she can detox and rehabilitate, at the moment she is waiting for a letter with a date she is going in but in the mean time she is a constant drain on the NHS' already stretched resources by phoning ambulances, doctors etc because she thinks she is ill, dying etc all through the evils of drink, if this were someone who was on drugs they would be locked up for possession or being under the influence, no difference as far as i am concerned as she can be just as dangerous as someone who is out of it on drugs

Answer 7

I think you are absolutely one hundred percent correct. The legal treatment of alcohol is disproportional to the law on other drugs.
Alcohol is easily as dangerous as cocaine if not more, and kills more people every year than cocaine, ecstasy and heroin put together.

But why does the state think it can tell adults what they do with their own bodies in the first place?

Answer 8

I see your point...some area's do band Alcohol...dry counties...and some people do raise their kids not to drink...they did try to band alcohol during prohibition but to many people were mad about that...anyway in our family we don't make alcohol an issue we drink a glass a wine with dinner or at family parties we hope that we would show that alcohol in moderation is OK...that is how we learned and we all turned out OK...not stupid drunks or anything but casual drinkers...

Answer 9

I completley agree. I think alcohol is worse than most drugs and is so easy to get hold of. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy a drink and i've dabbled with most stuff but i think its really sad how the laws are messed up. they need to sort it out because its only getting worse.

Answer 10

Ban them all. Neither should be socially acceptable.

We would free up more than half the resources wasted by the NHS, social services, police etc and may even get some politicians that make sense occasionally.