I personally have never met anyone with those issues after smoking marijuana. I have heard and seen of people dying/getting addicted to alcohol. You can't get addicted to marijuana either. You can get psychologically addicted but not physically. Though, both are just as bad in my opinion. It's legal in my state anyways so yeah... Yay for WA state.
Whilst you cannot get physically addicted addiction can be psychological and considering 9% of cannabis users develop dependence on it I would say it's pretty addictive on a psychological level. Of people who use cannabis daily 20% develop a dependence which is a very high number, far higher than alcoholism.
That would be because heavy alcohol users get their disease after a long period of time. Cirrhosis, heart diseases, cancer, and other things take time to develop.
It's funny that cannabis is always directly countered with alcohol because the cycle of developing alcoholism is down to overuse caused by it being so readily available and cheap. Typically people who become alcoholics start of by drinking small quantities and increase the volume they drink each time. With Cannabis it's illegality makes it less common for people to follow the same usage patterns due to the "risk" of being caught using it.
I honestly won't be surprised if the areas where it is being legalised in America will be doing studies in 20-30 years time and discovering that it is more harmful to society than alcohol because it will be used in the same manner, by abusing the amounts used.
The other thing I will never understand about "pro cannabis users" is that they always argue that it should be legal because alcohol is, surely that's a little hypocritical? Shouldn't the argument be that alcohol should be made illegal? Alcohol, as much as I enjoy a good drink now and then, is bad because when it is misused and abused and it leads to health issues and mental issues. If alcohol is misused and abused then it's just as likely that cannabis will be and will ultimately result in even more people having mental issues or health issues.
If you can argue that alcohol is a negative aspect on society as a whole then ultimately you're arguing that cannabis is likely to have the same outcome as they both have negative and positive aspects dependant on their use but both are misused as many will testify to.
I just want to make something clear, the only reason I condone alcohol and use it is because I know my limits and I use it sensibly, I do not binge drink and I do not over or misuse it. If tomorrow alcohol was made illegal I would not miss it, however with cannabis I find it to be intrusive. My neighbour smokes it daily and the smell means I cannot open my windows as it actually makes me feel physically ill, my alcohol doesn't affect him in any way shape or form. Then you have the health issues, I am a non smoker and inhaling someone's second hand smoke leaves me with a sore throat, even with cigarettes, again something that doesn't happen with alcohol. There are also studies that suggest cancer through second hand smoke when smoking cannabis with tobacco is doubled.
I'm quite a laid back guy, I'm happy for people to use what they want, when they want in the manner that they choose but when it affects me and my children I personally find it to be overstepping the line.
As I said before, in medicine, fine, I'm all for medicine improving but when it comes to people using for the "buzz" I find it selfish and intrusive.
