Author: Charles Frank

Weed Vs Booze: Is Either One Less Harmful To Your Health?

Both can also leave you feeling a bit worse for wear the next day, though this is more likely to happen with alcohol. Getting drunk or high can feel similar to some people, while others describe the sensations as very different. Of course, the way you feel when you’re intoxicated also depends on how much of the substance you consume.

1. In comparison, the number of deaths caused by marijuana is almost zero.
2. On the surface, weed appears to be safer, but there’s simply not enough evidence to declare a winner.
3. Emily Lachtrupp is a registered dietitian experienced in nutritional counseling, recipe analysis and meal plans.
4. So far, the research suggests that while a lot of people think cannabis is helping, the scientific evidence doesn’t always back them up.
5. Getting drunk or high can feel similar to some people, while others describe the sensations as very different.

The percentage of women who use cannabis recreationally at least once a month has been inching up since legalization in 2018, according to federal government stats. Meanwhile, the portion of women who drink alcohol at the same frequency dipped for the first time in several years. Today, about 58 percent of women drink alcohol and 15 percent use cannabis on a monthly basis or more frequently.

Are edibles actually good for sleep?

Excessive alcohol can also flood the body with toxins that may harm your heart, liver, pancreas, gut, lungs, kidneys and immune system, says the NIAAA. As with the short-term effects of alcohol and weed, the long-term effects differ from person to person. Alcohol can also cause several heart, digestive and endocrine conditions, while cannabis hasn’t been definitively linked to any—yet. Jennifer Brasch, lead of addiction psychiatry for the mental health and addictions program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ont., says alcohol can induce or exacerbate mood and anxiety disorders and contribute to dementia. When Egan drank, she’d conk out, no problem, but wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep, making the next day that much worse. “If you’re hungover, only having two or three hours of sleep isn’t very helpful,” she says, adding that she got “killer” hangovers but hasn’t experienced cannabis burnout.

Research shows that alcohol at any dose can help you fall asleep faster, but it can also disturb your sleep later in the night. Around the same time, she started seeing Kasha, who introduced her to a medical cannabis grower and high-quality product. Egan realized that cannabis, just like alcohol, helped her relax, socialize and have a giggle, but without the negative side effects. In fact, she says, cannabis has eased many of her perimenopause symptoms, particularly nausea and insomnia. Today, she uses cannabis daily, both recreationally and therapeutically.

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“After going through all the data and looking at which is more dangerous in almost any metric you would pick, pot really looks like it’s safer than alcohol,” he said. “So I guess if I had to choose, that would be the answer.” Along the lines of memory, recent studies have shown that adolescents who smoke marijuana may be at greater risk for problems with memory and learning later in life. The studies remain inconclusive about how much marijuana use causes impairments of learning and memory. However, studies have demonstrated that these types of changes in the brain may increase the risk of psychological difficulties later in life. When both alcohol and drugs are in the system, the risk of having a fatal car accident is especially high.

Today, she has a THC-dominant vape pen by her bed, which she reaches for if she can’t sleep. “Having a few little puffs on that will relax my body and my mind enough to lead me to sleep” for the rest of the night, she says. Too much booze can lead to a hangover, whereas too much cannabis can make you feel burnt-out.

Short-term effects

Even though we may all have different opinions, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, while alcohol is legal to consume for people who are 21 years of age or older. On the surface, weed appears to be safer, but there’s simply not enough evidence to declare a winner. Reactions to weed and alcohol differ from person to person. There are countless cannabis products on the market and a number of consumption options, from vaping to edibles. Weed may appear to be safer than alcohol simply because we aren’t yet aware of certain risks. While Stockwell acknowledges that more research is needed into the health effects of cannabis, he points out that there have been many longitudinal studies of people who use it.

Whether you consume alcohol or edibles, the choice is up to you. There are so many reasons why someone may choose to use alcohol or edibles, and both options aren’t without risk. But if you’re looking to make an informed choice between one or the other, Newell Bissex says that edibles are a safer option. “I would not have believed this for the vast majority of my life, but research shows that the deleterious effects of alcohol—physical, mental and societal—are far worse than with cannabis consumption,” she says. If you use either cannabis or alcohol and feel like you may be developing substance use disorder, reach out to your primary medical provider or another trusted source for support.

“Generally cannabis is safer than alcohol, especially if used responsibly,” says Grinspoon. And, unlike with alcohol, fatal overdoses of cannabis are very uncommon, if not impossible. That said, it’s crucial to keep all cannabis products out of the reach of children, and for adults to partake mindfully and be aware of the risk of developing cannabis use disorder.

Melissa Egan and her wife, Kasha, enjoy kicking back with some craft beverages and tasty appetizers on the weekend. But forget wine and cheese—this Toronto couple prefers cannabis drinks and edibles. Controversy remains over what percentage of psychosis risk can be linked to marijuana use and how much depends on a person’s genetics. A study on marijuana use and intimate partner violence found that couples who used marijuana had lower rates of intimate partner violence in the first 9 years of marriage. In fact, men who used marijuana were the least likely to commit an act of intimate partner violence against a spouse. With new studies coming out and more laws legalizing the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana, the conversation seems to come up again and again.

The researchers found that, in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, about four times as many women used alcohol than used cannabis, but booze caused 15 times as many deaths and hospitalizations. Edibles are cannabis-infused foods like gummies, brownies and muffins. They get their buzz-promoting properties from a substance in the cannabis plant called tetrahydrocannabinol (aka THC), explains the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The immediate effects of weed can vary quite a bit from person to person. Generally speaking, weed tends to come with fewer risks than alcohol, but there are a lot of factors to consider. Plus, they’re unique substances that produce different effects, which makes side-by-side comparisons difficult. Violent assaults, in particular, are often fueled by alcohol. In contrast, Carroll says research shows rates of interpersonal or domestic violence are actually “lower in people who smoke marijuana than people that don’t.”

Although alcohol was once believed to protect against heart disease, the latest research in JAMA Network Open reveals that alcohol may not be so great for your heart after all and has lots of other downsides. Comparing the long-term health effects of alcohol and edibles is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges. Statistics Canada has said that the increase in cannabis consumption is likely because the drug has become more socially acceptable, and the number of retail outlets and products has been growing. Another reason could be that many women, like Egan, think that cannabis is better for their physical and mental health. Medical cannabis patients most commonly use the drug to treat chronic pain and mental illness, and randomized controlled trials on people with these conditions have been done in other countries.