How do marijuana, alcohol and tobacco compare regarding negative health impacts? You might be surprised—many argue that of the three, marijuana has the least negative health effects. Let’s explore.
Governmental Classification of Marijuana vs. Other Drugs
Much of the stigma comes from the fact that marijuana is still an illegal substance both at the federal level and in many states. Alcohol and tobacco are regulated, but nevertheless are legal. But legality doesn’t translate to health effects in this case.
One of the main measures of the health effects of various substances is toxicity, the measure of how much a chemical mixture can damage a whole organism or a subset of the organism, such as cells or organs in the human body.
In a recent Scientific Reports journal article, researchers rated alcohol, tobacco and cannabis according to toxicity. Cannabis was at the bottom of the list. Alcohol, on the other hand, received the first place prize for most toxicity. Alcohol joined tobacco, heroin and cocaine at the top of the toxicity list of high risk substances. In fact, these ranked even higher than medium risks like ecstasy and meth! Cannabis was at the bottom, rated 114 times less toxic than alcohol.
The scientists looked at ratios of human intake versus the toxicological thresholds of the human body for each of the three substances. Despite the health rankings, cannabis, ecstasy and heroin are all legally ranked in the most restrictive federal drug category, even though they pose low, medium and high risks, respectively. In this highly restrictive category, substances are ranked as a high abuse risk profile with no therapeutic value. It’s maddening, because cannabis is scientifically proven to have many therapeutic values, such as relief from pain, nausea, and PTSD.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ranks controlled substances on five schedules, and marijuana is on Schedule I, as a dangerous drug with high potential for abuse. Conversely, alcohol and tobacco are legal, and because of that, don’t even show up on the DEA schedules.
Overdosing and Poisoning with Marijuana vs. Other Drugs
Alcohol toxicity, measured as blood alcohol content, or BAC, happens when the BAC is high enough to produce harmful body impairments. Alcohol overdoses can result in balance issues or even coma or death. Critical signs of alcohol poisoning are vomiting, seizures, mental confusion, inability to wake up, slow and irregular breathing and hypothermia characterized by a bluish skin tint. Alcohol poisoning affects everyone differently, depending on gender, age, ethnicity and even stomach fullness. When a person drinks too much alcohol at once, the body cannot break it down and clear it from the bloodstream, therefore BAC rises rapidly and impairs brain function. When there is excess alcohol in the bloodstream, the brain cannot properly control basic life support functions like heart rate, body temperature and breathing. It is important to know that BAC continues to increase even if you are unconscious because the alcohol in the digestive system continues to enter the bloodstream.
Like alcohol poisoning, tobacco can result in nicotine poisoning. Nicotine is a naturally-occurring chemical and addictive substance found in tobacco leaves. It is possible to get nicotine poisoning when there is too much in your bloodstream. Like with alcohol, your body weight is a factor as is the source and delivery method of the nicotine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), a 150-pound adult taking in 50 to 60 milligrams of nicotine can be a deadly dose.
One cigarette has about 10 mg of nicotine, but you only absorb about 1 mg, so it is not likely you’ll develop nicotine toxicity just from smoking. People are much more likely to overdose from nicotine gum because instructions are not properly followed. E-cigarettes also pose a large risk because they utilize liquid nicotine. Swallowing the liquid or even getting it on your skin is very harmful because it is rapidly absorbed. The majority of poisoning cases happen in children who stumble upon the liquid, not knowing what it is.
Smoking creates other issues and in fact is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It is the second major cause of death in the world, responsible for over 5 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Despite the overwhelmingly harmful risks of tobacco and alcohol use, those substances are legally available much more widely than marijuana is. Indeed, the researchers of the study above concluded that marijuana “may have been overestimated in the past”, and described the risk of alcohol as “commonly underestimated”. The research’s lead author was surprised at the results, saying the differences in risk were even higher than the team expected. The team also said that even though they used a different measurement methodology, their study confirmed other earlier studies.
Conclusions about Cannabis
Marijuana does pose some health risks, but not nearly as great as the other two. For example, researchers have linked chronic marijuana to lung problems and early onset psychosis. Although more research is needed, there is concern that marijuana use might affect brain development in adolescents, particularly cognition.
Cannabis use can be addictive, resulting in a condition called cannabis use disorder. Medically, the disorder is diagnosed using 11 indicators, including dose, cumulative time spent using the drug, and the presences of cravings. To be classified as a use disorder, a person must exhibit clinically-significant behavior over a year-long period. Behaviors like prolonged use of cannabis, the inability to cut down or control use, and physical changes like motor impairment and social withdrawal have to be present.
Like any substance, cannabis can be abused if not used in moderation and by responsible individuals. The authors of the study say the relative risk of marijuana is something to take notice of, and they suggest that the energy spent battling marijuana legalization could be better spent on attention to the much more harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco.
Please don’t take anything you read here as medical or legal advice. If you need medical or legal advice, consult a doctor or lawyer. The articles and content that appear on this website have been written by different people and do not necessarily reflect the views of our organization.