Alcohol and nicotine have become widely socially accepted among teens. However, marijuana, despite being scientifically proven to be “less dangerous,” is not. As a society, all three substances must be held to the same standard in which they are classified as drugs. To do so, alcohol and nicotine need to be treated the same way that marijuana is as potentially dangerous substances.
As a teenager, when I think of social gatherings and what substances appear frequently, alcohol and nicotine immediately come to mind. Whether it’s a party, a concert or even the student section of a sports game, substances are sure to make an appearance.
Marijuana, nicotine and alcohol are commonly used by teenagers in our community. According to an OD Free Marin report from 2023, “ [Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) juniors] use alcohol or drugs at a rate twice as high as the rest of California.”
While it is true that teens in Marin have high tendencies to indulge in substances, some are more accepted than others. It appears that marijuana has a negative perception in comparison to other substances. Alcohol in fact is the most commonly accepted substance among Marin teenagers. According to that same OD Free Marin report, excessive underage drinking in our community is because parents often model excessive drinking, therefore normalizing alcohol for their kids.
Marijuana is a harmful drug that can have very severe and consequential effects on people long-term, especially for teens. Studies have shown that frequent marijuana use can lead to both mental and physical illnesses: depression, anxiety, derealization, respiratory problems, cardiovascular issues, lung damage, pregnancy deficiencies and more.
Despite all of these negative effects, according to a UCLA Health article, smoking nicotine can prove to be more fatal than marijuana. Nicotine is highly addictive, more so than both alcohol and marijuana. According to the same study, “With nicotine, there is about a 30 percent chance you get addicted. With [marijuana], there is about a 9 percent chance.” This is especially dangerous considering nicotine, like alcohol, is available to all U.S. residents over 21 years of age, whereas marijuana is only legal in 37 states. Nicotine causes several health risks much like marijuana, except they’re even worse: heart rate increase, blood pressure increase, lung failure, blood vessel damage, peripheral artery disease, anxiety, depression, memory, impulse control and more. While it may be true that marijuana is deserving of its bad rap, why don’t we feel the same about alcohol and nicotine?
Marijuana rightfully gets a bad reputation for many reasons. Nicotine and alcohol also have bad reputations, but do not receive as much backlash as marijuana does. This is likely to do with the fact that it has had a different route to legalization than alcohol and nicotine have. In the past, alcohol and nicotine have been viewed much more favorably by society. Cigarettes were portrayed as “healthy” and “masculine” from their invention, to the 1960s. When researchers found that nicotine had actually been hurting people rather than helping after the 1964 Surgeon General’s report, the perspective shifted on nicotine, but not as much as you’d think. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1965, 42.4 percent of people smoked. That number was still a decently high 11.6 percent in 2022. Although it has been over 60 years since nicotine was first bashed by the public, the narrative around nicotine for a long time was largely positive. This is why nicotine, in some cases, is still socially accepted in today’s society.
Alcohol is similar to nicotine in the sense that it is socially acceptable to drink. In Marin County, alcohol consumption is through the roof. According to Marin Prevention Network, “39 percent of Marin County [11th graders] report using alcohol in the past month versus 29 percent in California. And for [TUHSD] that number jumps up to 47 percent.”
According to a World Health Organization study, alcohol contributes to 4.7 percent of global deaths as 2.6 million people pass away each year from alcohol related instances. An additional 480,000 people die from nicotine use per year as well. While it is harder to find the exact number of people who die due to marijuana related causes per year, it is still credited with contributing to a significant number of deaths.
Marijuana is viewed negatively in our community, often shunned upon whereas nicotine and alcohol are more commonly accepted, but all three substances need to be set at the same standard. They all have negative effects on the human body, and to improve as a community, we need to start bashing alcohol and nicotine to the same degree as marijuana.
