Alcohol Vs. Marijuana
...na, while lots of alcohol in a brief period of time can lead to alcohol poisoning, an emergency medical condition that can be fatal. Aside from direct health effects, getting behind the wheel while drunk or high poses significant risks to you and others. Marijuana and alcohol have both been shown to significantly reduce reaction time and motor coordination, two skills that are essential to safely operate a motor vehicle. In fact, many activities, such as sports or riding the subway, become dangerous when drunk or high. In general, being drunk or high compromises sound judgment and may lead to unhealthy or risky decisions that you wouldn't make when sober. Is it possible to die from a pot overdose? Dear Reader, The term "overdose" (or OD) refers to the negative, sometimes fatal, effects of taking an uncommonly large amount of a particular drug or combination of drugs. Although commonly associated with illegal, recreational drugs, such as heroin or cocaine, it is equally true that many common and beneficial drugs (e.g., over-the-counter medicines and prescription medications) can be harmful when taken in sufficiently large quantities. For example, aspirin can be dangerous if taken in large enough doses because it is toxic to the liver. Even too much water can be unhealthy in certain circumstances! Given this, it might be surprising to know that in all the many years people have been using marijuana, to the best of anyone's knowledge, no one has ever died from a pot overdose. In technical jargon, marijuana has no level of acute toxicity. So, while marijuana poses certain hazards, such as the possibility of slamming your car into a lamppost while stoned or the cancer risk of chronic smoking, the possibility of ODing isn't one of them. Dear Alice, Does marijuana have any real, lasting effects? Signed, Cannabis Dear Cannabis, Rumor always had it that there were few, if any, physical or psychological effects of smoking pot. Recent studies, however, have revealed evidence of some long-term physical effects. Smoking pot causes changes in your brain's chemistry, specifically, inhibiting the function of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a chemical that transfers information from one nerve cell to another. This accounts for what happens when a person is high--s/he loses his/her short-term memory. Smoking pot interferes with one's intellectual performance and impairs thinking, reading comprehension, and verbal and arithmetic problem solving. Marijuana smoking is particularly harmful to the lungs, more so than tobacco cigarettes. Joints are most always smoked unfiltered and down to the smallest butt possible and, to get the "best high", one must inhale deeply and hold the smoke longer in their lungs than tobacco smoke. Marijuana smoke co...