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Comment by croes | Hacker News Reader

It's weird that alcohol is legal when marijuana isn't. The damage by alcohol is much higher.

Banning alcohol didn't work.

It’s not weird in context. The alcohol ship has already sailed. It’s deeply rooted in European culture. That wasn’t the case for marijuana. And obviously just because one bad thing is legal doesn’t mean other bad things should be legal.

I’d note that banning alcohol has worked in societies that don’t have a deep tradition of alcohol use. While alcohol is available for non-Muslims in my home country, virtually nobody uses it outside certain westernized elites.

I think Bangladesh is one of Laziza’s biggest markets for nonalcoholic beers and malt beverages. Also don’t Hindus in BD use it as offering along with animal sacrifices at temples?

Alcohol has greater cultural and historical significance than marijuana does as context, despite killing 3 million people each year.

Claiming it's okay to lose a hand because you couldn't stop from losing a leg has never been a very sound argument. There's better premises for keeping marijuana legal than pointing to alcohol.

The damage from alcohol was higher, when it was legal and cannibas was not. It remains to be seen if that stays the case.

No it doesn’t. This is very very very settled science. Billions of people hVe been smoking the reefer for Millenia.

Withdrawing from alcohol has well documented, and extremely dangerous physical side effects (this is why it’s done in a hospital when possible). cami is does not.

Weed is stronger and more available now than ever. I've seen people get constipated, get night terrors, cold sweats, etc. from marijuana withdrawals. So I think GP is right, it's left to be seen.

> get night terrors [...] from marijuana withdrawals

This one can be really bad, although it only lasts for about a week. Dreams so vivid it's terrifying, even when the content of the dreams seems mundane. If somebody were already marijuana as an emotional crutch, I think the bad dreams could have them running back to marijuana immediately.

I think you're undwrestimating it quite severely. I've had vivid nightmares every single night for months at a time after quitting weed(really heavy user).

And hyperhidrosis for several weeks at least.

Billions?

Anyone who claims science can be “settled” immediately discredits themselves. Science is never settled, even the hard sciences, and we have only just begun to study the effects of THC. Lots of things considered 100% true a decade ago (like it doesn’t have physical addiction) have been proven as misguided myths or lies.

“Very very very settled science,” what an absolute joke. No one engaged in the scientific pursuit of truth uses phrases like this.

The societal damage and consequences of having people becoming lazy on their couch after smoking weed is largely underestimated.

This is the real risk with cannabis.

"Randy: Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but… well, son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored. And it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything."

Well, also schizophrenia. Hope you like insane people wandering urban areas and harassing normal people, because you're going to get a lot more of that!

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