- Jonathan Marschall
- Seattle, WA
- United States
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Should alcohol be banned or be more regulated?
So many deaths, car crashes, marriages have been broken up due to the consumption of alcohol.
What good does alochol do for our society. Alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana. When was the last time you ever heard of a person getting into a car accident due to marijuana or starting a fight due to marijuana.
Was the lifting of prohibition a mistake?
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edward long 100+
Kevin Jacobson
edward long 100+
John Dunbar 10+
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/alcohol-related-deaths-_n_821900.html
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Marijuana#Effects
Rick Ryan 10+
There are also studies that indicate that limited use of alcohol is actually healthy in the prevention of heart disease and other areas of human health.
So, it boils down to which studies you want to refer to, and whether the use of the alcohol is abused or not.
The same would apply to marijuana. Some medical experts support its use for certain medical conditions. But obviously, if someone smoked a joint and got behind the wheel of a car, it could be safely argued they might be "dangerous", too.
Rick Ryan 10+
The fallacy of many non-critical thinking stances is that they use only ONE example to try to justify the claim being made. That is like a statistician using only the "data numbers" they want to use, and ignoring all the rest of them.
Alcohol use, or more correctly ABUSE, is a problem for society. But it can be a problem in many more areas than just driving and traffic deaths. And the arguement can ALSO be made that when alcohol is NOT abused, it is not a problem to society.
Edward has a valid point. If you are going to claim marijuana use is not as "traffic deadly" when driving cars, show us the facts. No one should be expected just to take your word about it.
John Dunbar 10+
Rick Ryan 10+
(Quote): "Also yes this comes from abuse of alcohol, so is heroin worse than marijuana? According to what your saying it isn't."
Brian, that is a totally illogical conclusion and illustrates several logic fallacies, one of which is False Analogy. I never implied heroin and marijuana were similar.
The most important fallacy in your arguement is your second sentence in your reply..."Theres really not much evidence either way that marijuana impairs driving." There is either evidence or there isn't evidence...how "much" is irrelevant. If there is ANY evidence produced by reasonable study that marijuana use impairs motor skill function or cognitive thinking ability/perception at the time, then it can be said it would also impair the ability of the person to operate the motor vehicle "safely". The number of tradfic deaths caused by either substance...alcohol or marijuana...is not the mitigating factor.
Society has accepted a certain LEGAL level of alcohol consumption as not being abusive, such as the blood alcohol content levels when driving a car. Over the legal limit, you are abusing it at the time under the circumstances of driving a car. That is a totally different kind of abuse than the abuse that leads to the extreme medical conditions you describe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_analogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
John Dunbar 10+
Yes society has accepted that a certain level of alcohol is not abusive... Whats the point you are trying to make? The evidence in regards to marijuana causing impairment to drivers is very thin and really cant be determined to be true or false(there is legitimate evidence both ways). My point was very simple Rick, abuse marijuana and you do not die or hallucinate upon withdrawal, you may have some very slight irritation upon withdrawal of marijuana, nothing anywhere in the same stratosphere as alcohol. To encapsulate my argument is that marijuana is at least equally or less dangerous than alcohol.
Rick Ryan 10+
Why did you introduce the subject of heroin into the topic in the first place? The topic author introduced the comparison of alcohol and marijuana in the topic question. Where in the heck did you reason that heroin is in the same category? Most medical experts would never consider comparing heroin and alcohol as "equals".
Despite your claims, I didn't either.
John Dunbar 10+
edward long 100+
By the way, the topic is asking if alcohol should be banned or more heavily controlled. You are getting pretty far from that topic when you focus on whether alcohol is dangerous or not. There are more than suffucient age prohibition laws and legal usage limit controls in place. The question being asked here is do we need even more?
Rick Ryan 10+
I see you are a psychology major. Assuming you become a practitioner of the discipline, are you telling me....
1. A patient comes to you for treatment.
2. During your analysis of the patient, you discover the patient uses alcohol in an acceptable manner within the laws established for it's use. Under those laws or other competant medical authority's standards, the patient would not be considered an alcoholic or an abuser of alcohol.
3. Would you insist to the patient that he/she WAS an alcoholic or an alcohol abuser?
4. Would you insist to the patient that the patient was using a drug...alcohol (in a responsible manner)...that was just as damaging as the "recreational use" of heroin?
I hope not.
It just appears to me that you have very strong personal views about the consumption of ANY level of alcohol. That's OK. But they aren't supported by the medical disciplines who define what alcohol deppendancy, abuse, or alcoholism is. And the laws governing the use of alcohol don't support your views either. Alcohol use is considered "OK" by the medical community up to a certain point, where it then becomes a problem for the user. And laws reflect that same philosophy, in the sense you aren't illegal drinking and driving until you reach a certain threshhold of blood alcohol content.
John Dunbar 10+
Just to make it clear I think America should end the war on drugs with exception of a few.
By the way its funny you ask as I am in training to be an alcohol and drug counselor. So no theres no way I would ever tell anybody who uses alcohol moderately to stop drinking. Also no I would never suggest that recreational heroin use(if there is such a thing, from what I understand this isn't possible)poses the same level of danger as an occasional drink.
I have no strong personal view that any consumption of alcohol is bad thats ridiculous. What I do believe is that marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol.