Summer El-hamarnah
Stephyn Phillips
AD 92
14 April 2015
Alcohol vs Marijuana: Who’s the worse monster? “I like liquor-its taste and its effects- and that is just the reason why I never drink it” says Stonewall Jackson (Terri Guillemets). This quote is about Jackson choosing not to drink because of what it does to someone and their body. There are many things in which alcohol can be harmful and do damage to the body. Others might find no joy in drinking alcohol, therefore one might choose marijuana. Whether it’s alcohol or marijuana, both have the potential to harm the human body. Although both might have benefits, but the negative outweighs the positive. Especially alcohol, it has much more harmful effects than marijuana. Studies have shown that more people have done harmful and dangerous actions to either others or themselves, yet it could be unintentionally. According to Joe Brownstein of Live Science, although [both] alcohol and marijuana, both effects on the body, in the long term, statistically, alcohol does more damage than good. In other words, alcohol can do quite the effect on a person. For example, someone could drive drunk and get into an accident, killing/ injuring not only whoever is in the car but also whoever is in the other car. The real question here is which is worse, in the sense of doing more damage to the body; alcohol or marijuana? With statistics and facts, it all points toward that alcohol is much more damaging and harmful than marijuana. When one drinks alcohol, there are many risks and effects whenever one drinks alcohol. Whenever one drinks, they can dink a little or a lot; moderate drinking or heavily drinking. According to Lilian Cheung in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, “ Heavy drinking can damage the liver and heart, harm an unborn child, increase the chances of developing breast and some other cancers, contribute to depression and violence as well as interfering with relationships, [whether] it’s romantic, friendship, or even family relationships.” This shows that alcohol can damage a lot of things. For example’ as said in the previous quote, alcohol can be physically and emotionally damaging. “Heavy drinking and moderate drinking can each have their own effects, therefore heavy drinking has more damaging effects. This can lead to alcoholic liver disease, which can progress to fibrosis of the liver, which in turn can potentially lead to liver cancer” (Brownstein). Which can mean that drinking heavily can have its toll on the human body.
On the other hand of matter, he effects of marijuana are much less likely to harm someone than alcohol would. Whenever marijuana enters one’s bod, no matter how it gets into one’s system, it affects almost every organ in the human body, the nervous system, and the immune system. Smoking marijuana can increase the heart rate by as much as two times for as long as three hours at one time. Some people have heart attacks right after use, as well as having an increase in bleeding, lower blood pressure and affects blood sugar. As far as physical effects goes, there are many, but not quite harmful as the effects of alcohol. The effects of marijuana include dizziness, shallow breathing, red eyes, dilated pupils, dry mouth, and slowed reaction time. “The after effects of marijuana can make people feel happy, relaxed, detached from reality, paranoid, depressed, and have short term forgetful. The after effects of drinking alcohol; i.e. hangover, include headaches, nausea, vomiting, weight gain and high blood pressure” (DrugAbuse.com). Although many risks and harmful effects are there; however, there are benefits to drinking, moderately not heavily. While some people might find it hard to limit drinking to only one or two, however; benefits are present from moderate drinking. According to David J Hanson of Alcohol Problems and Solutions, moderate alcohol consumption has also been linked with….ranging from better sensitivity to insulin to
