Green | October 02, 2008 | 152 comments

Shock: cannabis is 'safer than alcohol and cigarettes'

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mattbrawn
According to a new report, not from the School of No Brainers, but from the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission, smoking fatties is less harmful than drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

They claim that the banning the herb has "backfired" and that there needs to be a "serious rethink" of the UK drugs policy.

"Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," the report claims.

"Historically there have only been two deaths worldwide attributed to cannabis, whereas alcohol and tobacco together are responsible for an estimated 150,000 deaths per annum in the UK alone."

NB. "Shock" is used in the most sarcastic way possible... :D
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152 comments // Shock: cannabis is 'safer than alcohol and cigarettes'

  • H0M3GR0WN
    • 0
      H0M3GR0WN  
    • I saw the pic and started laughing! Run kitty your gonna be put in a Bong again!!! Look at this bud, oh my god a kitty! Lets get high!

    • 3 years ago
  • simplecj
  • carsontjr
  • 1love_1world_peace
  • deeblackangel
  • Tradiggy
  • FreshBananas
  • Temporary
    • 0
      Temporary  
    • people don't need to keep stating that they've felt a certain way about the lagality of selling/possessing pot. no one cares how long someone has felt about the topic. what we need to do is get together and make a change. pot is easily grown and harvested and, therefore, the only reason it is illegal is because the government cannot tax it when it is being illegally grown and sold. make it legal and growers pay a tax with no fear of prosecution - while undercutting the going illegal rate. a big economic boost and a much more rational society with much less violence and hopefully, one day, a president voted into office by a people who truely care about the course this country takes in history. The selfishness would significantly decrease and a selfless, humanitarian society could be born.

    • 3 years ago
  • Bwittany
  • awakening
  • MizPiz
    • 0
      MizPiz  
    • NO! weed isn't as dangerous as cigarettes and alcohol, now that is shocking (say Michael in the most sarcastic tone he has ever pulled off)

    • 3 years ago
  • Imposeum
  • RojoGatto
  • gnossos
    • 0
      gnossos  
    • Everyone knows pot can't possibly kill you. If anything those two must've eaten themselves into a coma from all that deeelicious cookie dough.

    • 3 years ago
  • omg_its_dmc
  • SDLN
    • 0
      SDLN  
    • omg_its_dmc:

      I hope this helps:

      "Myth: Marijuana Kills Brain Cells. Used over time, marijuana permanently alters brain structure and function, causing memory loss, cognitive impairment, personality deterioration, and reduced productivity.

      Fact: None of the medical tests currently used to detect brain damage in humans have found harm from marijuana, even from long term high-dose use. An early study reported brain damage in rhesus monkeys after six months exposure to high concentrations of marijuana smoke. In a recent, more carefully conducted study, researchers found no evidence of brain abnormality in monkeys that were forced to inhale the equivalent of four to five marijuana cigarettes every day for a year. The claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on a speculative report dating back a quarter of a century that has never been supported by any scientific study."
      http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/#brain

      NORML and Playboy had to file lawsuits in order to get the full study released to the public so that the methodology of the experiment could be examined.

      "As reported in Playboy, the Heath 'Voodoo' Research methodology involved strapping Rhesus monkeys into a chair and pumping them with equivalent of 63 Colombian strength joints in 'five minutes, through gas masks,' losing no smoke. Playboy discovered that Heath had administered 63 joints in five minutes over just three months instead of administering 30 joints per day over a one-year period as he had first reported. Heath did this, it turned out, in order to avoid having to pay an assistant's wages every day for a full year.

      The monkeys were suffocating! Three to five minutes of oxygen deprivation causes brain damage 'dead brain cells.' (Red Cross Lifesaving and Water Safety Manual) With the concentration of smoke used, the monkeys were a bit like a person running the engine of a car in a locked garage for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time every day!

      The Heath Monkey study was actually a study in animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning."

      You can read more about those experiments in Chapter 15 of Jack Herer's "The Emperor Wears No Clothes".
      http://www.jackherer.com/chapter15.html

    • 3 years ago
  • natdagod
    • 0
      natdagod  
    • This is no news to a True smoker...
      I quit smokin The Devils Smokes(cigarette)..
      And is stickin wit Goods Sticky Blessings...

      Puff Puff Pass

      We are all Terrorist who smoke according to Bush's Patriot Act..

      look it up...

    • 3 years ago
  • mookster_07
  • starr111
  • YoungholD
  • ingots
  • melynda
  • silent_line
    • 0
      silent_line  
    • This is some thing we all new for years one day i am sure it will be legal and the use of this drug wont be frowned up on.

      But then again there are so many different types of people that use this drug its hard to do the wright thing as some retarded person is going to do some thing stupid and blame it on smoking weed and ruin it for the rest of us.

      But i can only hope that one day their will be coffee shops every where and we can all go for a nice relaxing smoke with out the fear of getting busted.

      peas

    • 3 years ago
  • rooni71
  • burd
    • 0
      burd  
    • name one person who smokes a fattie and drives his car into a family? but alcohal is legal!! who smokes weed and goes home and abuses their wife? but alcohal is legal! if they can tax alcohal, they can tax marijuana, its the u.s government for god sakes! they've ben doing whatever they want for years!!!! there's so many uses for cannabis, not just smoking, not to mention if they put a tax on it, we could prob pay off our tax deffecit in no time!!! whatever happend to for the people by the people? the country i love is going to shit, wanna know who's at fault? the criminal running it!!!!! just like this obama guy, universal health care, is that a joke? taking away my second ammendmant, the right to bare arms!!! lets take away my right to protect my family, this way the only people with guns are the criminals!! WAKE PEOPLE 'WE' HAVE TO TAKE THE POWER BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE LOVE

    • 3 years ago
  • ILiveonaClock
  • dissimulator
  • BIOHAZARD
  • Gustolingo
  • donkeyfly69
  • Temporary
    • 0
      Temporary  
    • Imagine the investments that could boost our economy if pot was legally sold. Far fewer drug dealers and a much more sensible society.

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
  • futurehempfarmer
  • thewarnerla
  • patsarts
    • 0
      patsarts  
    • If the gov was smart they'd legalize it, tax it to the max and make money, while saving millions on their cops and jails!

    • 3 years ago
  • kuriusOne
    • 0
      kuriusOne  
    • first off...
      YUM!

      second, i like the educate yourself pic on the front page.
      And then to reference the same post, we NEED a real education system!

    • 3 years ago
  • Chibichan10
  • samonster34
  • annabell
    • 0
      annabell  
    • I think everyone should do some research on the benefits of medicinal marijuana. Those who are making allegations of marijuana destroying or even taking lives are simply not true. I'm sure there were other factors involved in each instance.

      On another note in regards to NATURAL supplements; Shrooms are now being tested to help those who suffer from Turrets Syndrome. It is so new and pretty much un-heard of that we do not enough about it yet, but it is in the works. It's quite interesting.

    • 3 years ago
  • ArminaEartha
    • 0
      ArminaEartha  
    • Weed is so not a gateway drug. My Friend who is now in rehab started using cocaine when she was 10! she found weed 2 years after that after getting hooked to heroin, crack, meth, and cocaine. The only reason she would smoke weed was so she could get off the high of the other drugs.

    • 3 years ago
  • MrMush
    • 0
      MrMush  
    • having read all responses- majority rules- the only problem is that people get paranoid because of the illegality- sure chemicals in smoke will harm lungs, but what is harmful to the brain? a nicotine addiction, or a 5 o'clock personality change, not to mention what happens when alcolol is taken in excess....

    • 3 years ago
  • HighFlyer
  • Alex_French
    • 0
      Alex_French  
    • i think that if cannabis COULD cause death, it would have killed more than 2 people by now. i want to know more about the people who "died from weed" because i bet they are some pretty special cases where they hot boxed a closet and fell asleep and suffocated or some dumb shit like that. i declare shenanigans... legalize it yall!

    • 3 years ago
  • Ryz0n
    • 0
      Ryz0n  
    • I don't think society deems cannabis "physically" harmful as in its fatal potential. The real harm perhaps is its long term implementation in altering people's brains and lungs for the worst. The only reason alcohol is more tolerable is because it doesn't change brain chemistry nearly as much as cannabis.

    • 3 years ago
  • Imwired
  • SDLN
  • petarro
  • Blkwdw
    • 0
      Blkwdw  
    • Everything in moderation. I just found in my studies, that too much refined sugar can be harmful and interfere with metabolism and vitamin uptake and can contribute to obesity, acne, vitamin A and E deficiency and high cholesterol leading to arteriosclerosis and death, who is banning all this sugar incl, high fructose corn syrup (worse). So keep drinking, smoking cigarettes eating and die. But marijuana is dangerous. Riiight.

    • 3 years ago
  • DreSandoval
  • doctor_strangelove
  • keeshii768
  • gasolineinjected
  • chillwillNJ
  • regjoeschmo
  • airinmagoc
  • joshua2310
    • 0
      joshua2310  
    • Legalizing this herb/medicine would help out our crumbling economy.

      If not at least we can all chill a little, and jam some Bob Marley.

      One Love.

    • 3 years ago
  • Betico
  • cheakywillie
  • regjoeschmo
    • 0
      regjoeschmo  
    • Im shocked and amazed... You know with all the news about marijuana overdoses, and related car crashes.... (sarcasm). Really folks this is a no-brainer, even the pot-heads can think this one through with no effort......

    • 3 years ago
  • blackdaylight
  • insanejain
    • 0
      insanejain  
    • I bet its the tobacco and alcohol companions who put lobbying for ban of marijuana! but idk...who knows...?

      still i am wondering now if marijuana were to be legal how would the tobacco and alcohol companies try to market marijuana products?

    • 3 years ago
  • VegaNerDiva
  • FazeB
    • 0
      FazeB  
    • Trouble is not all politicians like the acrid smell or the munchies associated with weed. I guess it should be cured in a Chablis or something...

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
  • yayi1
  • mikesupertramp
  • Alkimista
    • 0
      Alkimista  
    • I got contact just from reading these responses! why legalize it? just decriminalize cannabis. if you legalize it, they'll just tax the hell out of it. not that i care either way.

    • 3 years ago
  • hippisteve
  • Big_Black
  • krush_productions
    • 0
      krush_productions  
    • Cannabis is love.(period)

      The United States war on drugs is not real! Sure all the "underlings" might think they are working for a good cause; busting those evil dopers but...they're just helping to recirculate the "evidence". The CIA sells crack to Harlem, Compton, and Watts to name a few. Marijuana isn't a drug, it's a plant. As for those two deaths(wiki sourced; so i can't give it too much credit) occurred in the same case involving two gentlemen, a very very small crawlspace, and a cone or two. They died of smoke poisoning due to very poor ventilation aka world's smallest "hotbox". I still find it hard to believe with things like the gas mask that allow high volumes of smoke to linger in a small enclosed space while the recipient breathes away.
      How can some thing like alcohol and tobacco be legal if they kill much more than this Controlled Substance? perhaps it's because Marijuana is a teacher, and the government doesn't like you learning anything not shoved down your throat by the Education system.
      So do your self a favor, roll one up and go on a hike...life's better that way.

    • 3 years ago
  • rabidlemur
    • 0
      rabidlemur  
    • Considering Alcohol and Tobacco are two of the worst substances you can put in your body I wouldn't take it as a huge victory that its "safer"

      Interesting report, it is nice to get some information from reputable sources and not the usual High Times or DEA.

    • 3 years ago
  • jenm742
    • 0
      jenm742  
    • rabidlemur:

      like the response (why safer?) well my answer to this would be that in some cases glass has been added to weaker types of cannabis to make it look like a stronger version so they can get more money for it this is very harsh. you can check the strength by looking at the size of the THC particles through a magnifying glass. in some cases asbestos has also been used. like it or not people will do it legal or not make it legal then this will not happen. As the guy in the earlier response said alcohol has worse repercussions violence death and so on. weed just chills you out so much safer than other legal drugs like it or not beer is a drug just a legal one not necessarily the safest.

    • 3 years ago
  • rainbowryan420
  • BFAM_RVS
    • 0
      BFAM_RVS  
    • Interesting information....bud smokers that don't drink or smoke cigarettes know this already, as their lifestyles don't involve as much bullshit unlike the bullshit that comes with drinking (violence, deaths, destruction of relationships, etc.)....truth

    • 3 years ago
  • dissimulator
  • Humdrum
  • jenm742
  • Humdrum
  • jenm742
  • jenm742
    • 0
      jenm742  
    • If anyone is interested type this in to you tube and watch it this is real reason cannabis was made illegal in America theirs numerous other documentary's Ive seen but this is all i can find for now. (Modern Day Slavery: Racism and the Drug War ). Hope this shows you just what governments are really capable of Britain is no better. have fun.......

    • 3 years ago
  • dwb2585
  • globewatcher
  • jenm742
    • 0
      jenm742  
    • If any one knows anything about American prohibition in 1920 to the 1933 then surly that's proof enough that prohibiting things just makes things worse it paves the way for more crime lords IE Alcapone along with over famous mobsters. it also created a massive depression. Once prohibition was abolished things started to look up again you only have to look at Amsterdam. It has a lower heroine problem than most parts of Europe if not all and since weed is legal there chances are people may have cut down on the harsher drugs. lets face it, its easier than going down the illegal root. it is also safer for customers who smoke weed due to the fact that its produced by a company and not by some seedy drug dealer. sorry about the little rant lol

    • 3 years ago
  • WorldPeaceTV
    • 0
      WorldPeaceTV  
    • jenm742:

      Joseph Kennedy..John and Roberts grandfather, made his millions taking Canadian whiskey over the state line during prohibition...Can you say "millions of dollars pocketed"?? The 'crime' then was similar to smuggling weed.

    • 3 years ago
  • torybart
    • 0
      torybart  
    • jenm742:

      Then lets look at it this way, marijuana prohibition is just breeding the next generation's politicians. They will come from healthy families who smoke marijuana and hopefully will have a better perspective than our current politicians.

    • 3 years ago
  • mikesupertramp
    • 0
      mikesupertramp  
    • my take is that they should allow cultivation of marijuana and still outlaw distribution and sale. think of it this way, those who want to smoke it can just grow it legally without dealing with the violence and scum of selling drugs which is really where our problem is at.

    • 3 years ago
  • rainbowryan420
  • annabell
    • 0
      annabell  
    • mikesupertramp:

      I was going to make a similar point. The fact is, if we ever did legalize, I'm sure the government would come up with a list of stipulations. The fairest way is similar to Canada; Legal to possess, I'm not sure what there laws are in terms of growing, but that should be another one. The only thing that should be illegal is the distribution.

    • 3 years ago
  • iHughes
  • Helen_Croydon
    • 0
      Helen_Croydon  
    • The report found that there was very little crime associated with cannabis as it's a relatively cheap drug so users are not as likely to steal to feed their habits as they would with say, more expensive Class A drugs.

    • 3 years ago
  • rainbowryan420
  • shroomfairy
  • aspenlve
    • 0
      aspenlve  
    • It's 4:20 in the morning and the phone rings at the white house.....Who do you want to answer it?

      Stress kills. Smoke pot and live longer!

    • 3 years ago
  • marpunk
    • 0
      marpunk  
    • I'm glad to see this in the news, as long as the message is alive and voted, I think its getting the respect it needs.

    • 3 years ago
  • intelligenceisacurse
  • SweetRainy
    • 0
      SweetRainy  
    • intelligenceisacurse:

      Thank you - I've copied this to MySpace-to share with others - a beautiful, thoughtful song - I like that his intention is to leave this earth for his children better than his ancestors left it for him - a noble cause - bless him and all of the others whose hearts are filled with these intentions and bodies are busy acting it out - Love, SweetRainy

    • 3 years ago
  • torybart
  • sickinjersey
  • WhiteNoise
  • ArtisGilmoreHOF
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