Potheads and binge drinkers are kind of like cats and dogs of the leisure world. Yeah, in the confines of a single house, they may get along fine, but in the long run, it’s quite evident they are very different creatures.
What I mean by this is the Venn diagram of people who enjoy alcohol and those who enjoy cannabis overlap probably quite a bit. People like to party; real shocker, right?
But if you venture further into the depths of each camp, meaning people who by far prefer one relaxation substance over the other, you will find some pretty obvious differences.
People who love pot REALLY love pot, and people who love hooch REALLY love hooch, and both will often throw shade at the other. 420-enthusiasts will point out how alcohol is literally poison, and drunks will point out that smoking is bad and drugs are illegal (in some places).
While both have some ground to stand on (inhaling any combusted material isn’t great for your lungs, and yes, alcohol IS metabolized into acetaldehyde, a poison), one is objectively better than the other, and that is marijuana, hands down.
Below I will convincingly and conclusively argue why cannabis is 100%, without a doubt better than alcohol!
Table of Contents
Alcohol Has Been Well Documented As Bad For Your Health
In case feeling like death the next day (or two) after indulging in some hooch wasn’t a red flag enough to you that you’re body doesn’t like this substance, it’s now been well-documented by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that there really isn’t a body part that alcohol DOESN’T impact in a NEGATIVE way.
Outside of the long-term scary, there is the very real short-term scary that alcohol brings to the party, such as making you act like an asshole, making you more prone to regretful sexual behavior, making some more prone to violence, and ultimately, leaving you feeling like regretful and shitty the whole next day.
Imbibing in excess booze makes you sloppy. It makes you reckless. It disrupts your sleep. It burns bridges and maintains toxic “friend” networks.
And for what?
Don’t get me wrong, I toss a few back on the holidays and still enjoy a draft pour at my local tap house once and a while. There is no denying the utilitarian function of moderate alcohol consumption.
Factoring In Dollars and Cents: Why Weed Is More Cost Effective
Even when talking about “healthy” moderate consumption, which is as stated in the above linked Harvard study, a whopping 3-4 drinks a day (which I have a sneaky suspicion will be looked back upon 100 years from now as an absurd proclamation) you have other factors to consider like how much that enjoyment costs!
I did a little math based on my personal consumption habits and what I’ve been spending on alcohol and weed in Oregon these last few years.
If I didn’t consume cannabis and stuck with just alcohol, as I did a few years back for a job that drug tested, then I’d probably average somewhere around 10-20 drinks a month, of which probably half would be consumed outside of my residence at a retail price point.
So let’s just say ten drinks in and ten drinks out in a month. Ten drinks in at home, we’ll estimate come in at around $10/month. Not much, especially when buying 24 packs of Busch with an occasional bottle of IPA here and there.
However, these same ten drinks consumed in bars/restaurants will easily average $7 per drink, totaling around $70/month in cost. Combine in ($10) and out ($70), and you get $80/month on just booze.
This $80 can then easily be multiplied by 3 when you factor in drunk Uber, drunk late-night dining, and potentially even Uber Eats hangover delivery the next day. As such, I figure I easily spent $300+/month on alcohol or alcohol-caused expenses.
If you do the math for what the Harvard study claimed was “moderate,” in 3-4 drinks/day, you get around 90 drinks total a month. Say you consume just 1/3rd of those at bars/restaurants; you’re easily looking at $420 plus in monthly expenses!
^Yeah, no shit, that napkin math totaled 420. If you take 30 drinks out multiplied by $10/drink and then add 60 drinks in at $2 avg/drink, that gets you $300 in out expenses plus $120 for in expenses, totaling $420 on the nose, baby!
Weed, on the other hand? I can drop $170/month on the dankest hype strains around at Oregrown, eat $30 worth of munchies snacks each month, and STILL save over $100/month by choosing to blaze over boozing.
If you’re in a legal state, you can grow your own for pennies, utterly destroying alcohol in ways of cost-benefit-output terms.
So, from a thousand-foot perspective, it’s pretty obvious that weed wins out over alcohol in both the cost to your health and the actual cost to your bank account.
^Yes, this isn’t entirely apples to apples because you could argue smoking weed is bad for your lungs, but then I’d argue, what about vaporizers, edibles, and tinctures?
Cannabis Is Legally Medicine While Alcohol Is Not
Where outside of the very short-lived boost in self-confidence and the enjoyment of the flavor AS it’s consumed, there aren’t many actual positives when it comes to alcohol; there are actually quite a few for cannabis, including holding legal status as an actual medicine in many states.
Shit, the only reason I’m able to compare legal weed to alcohol in the first place is that the entire legalization process that’s spreading across the country (THE FIRE RISES!) began with medical treatment!
While booze was probably invented to get ancient wine orgies started, the cannabis plant, on the other hand, as opposed to pure pleasure, was more commonly used for healing.
Today, the Mayo Clinic lists a growing number of various proven conditions that medical marijuana has whole-heartedly been approved for in treating, include:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- HIV/AIDS
- Crohn’s disease
- Epilepsy and seizures
- Glaucoma
- Multiple sclerosis and muscle spasms
- Severe and chronic pain
- Severe nausea or vomiting caused by cancer treatment
This tactic of first studying and documenting the actual benefits of a drug to get it approved for medical use has been a wildly successful model that hasn’t just brought cannabis to millions but opened the door to things like ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA, and more being decriminalized and ultimately, hopefully, legalized.
Alas, I am a very lucky man who has not yet needed cannabis prescribed to him for medical purposes. I have, however, chosen to access this herb via the recreational market for a few personal reasons in addition to the above-mentioned health and financial incentives.
It’s amazing, and I’m so thankful to be able to just walk into a dispensary and walk out with whatever I please, 100% paranoia-free.
Why I Personally Prefer Bud Over Booze
Like many of you reading this likely, I indulged in the ole binge drinking in my, um, let’s say ‘twenties’ quite extensively. It started in college and then morphed as a coping mechanism for an overly stressful meatgrinder of a startup job.
At my peak, I was slumming it on sidewalks tossing the whiskey bottle back at least twice a week. I was topping 200 pounds (my healthy body weight is 180-185) and, a couple of times, found myself puking in public the day after, depending on the night. I’m ashamed of that behavior and that I didn’t recognize things were getting a little out of hand.
After visiting Oregon to visit my sister, who was going to school, and after sampling legal recreational cannabis, a plan coalesced years later to get back to that place of herbal magic.
Today I really don’t binge at all. Maybe a couple of celebrations a year, and that’s about it. I’ve got a career I’m happy with, and I’m a Sprite 175-180 lbs.
I feel like I look healthier, and I know I feel healthier now in my 30s than at most of my 20s, definitely the second half. I’m certain my shift from booze to bud played a major role in this quality of life improvement.
Cannabis makes me creative, and it makes me laugh way more than alcohol. It makes food taste better and music more relatable. It makes sleep glorious. A dazzling variety of different strains and consumption methods keep it fresh and exciting.
My relationship with Mary Jane is a soft, fuzzy, and comfy one compared to my rollercoaster “friends with {no real} benefits” relationship with alcohol.
Today I’m flying the highest I have in my life, literally and metaphorically, and I hope it continues for a long while.
P.S: Before You Go, A Conciliatory Conclusion!
Before you go off to drink away the insult you may feel this blog is as a boozer, let me first say I was once like you, and I still occasionally partake. Look at my cabinet!
Just because one tribe of people isn’t 100% me doesn’t mean I want to be enemies with them.
Yeah, alcohol is metabolized into a known carcinogen in acetaldehyde. Still, we eat, breathe, and ultimately surround ourselves without poisons every day, from car exhaust to UV rays to microplastics and everything in between.
In measured time, sure, most people can get over a few hangovers in their lives with no biggie, and that’s why even though 9/10 out of ten I’ll reach for my grinder, there is definitely a time and a place in this currently grey world for wanting to poison yourself in some manner.
