General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLadies, you might want to swap the bourbon for a bong
It felt serendipitous that I was in Denver when I read that theres been a steep rise in womens binge drinking across the United States. Because it struck me that if women smoked pot now legal in Colorado with the same gusto with which they seem to imbibe alcohol, perhaps wed be in better shape.
A new study, published in the American Journal of Public Health this month, shows that while mens binge drinking increased just 4.9% between 2005 and 2012, womens rates rose by a whopping 17.5%. Thats a lot of bourbon."
But unlike marijuana use - which outside of memory impairment shows very little in terms of severe physical damages long-term use of alcohol has extremely serious consequences. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 5.8m American women have some sort of alcohol disorder and 26,000 women die from alcohol related causes annually. Deaths related to cannabis are so rare that German researchers claimed to find the first two cases just last year.
Theres a societal benefit to using weed instead of alcohol as well. Drunk driving kills 30 people every day in the US, but since Colorado has legalized marijuana, car crash fatalities have been on the decline. And lets be honest Ive bet youve seen plenty of drunken fights and violence in your lifetime, but the only thing a high person is likely to get worked up about is the number of cheetos left."
Im not advocating that women break out the bong and start a daily weed habit, but if youre going to use a substance on a regular basis, it seems clear that marijuana use does significantly less damage than drinking. Especially if youre using it to help quell anxiety issues. "
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/27/ladies-you-might-want-to-swap-the-bourbon-for-a-bong
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)initially. saying. the based they weighed the increase. were women lower than men and just catching up? about the same? what???
i drink wine here and there. we have real issues with alcoholism in a line of my family. hits the women as much as the men. i prefer pot to booze, or being around a person that smokes pot to drinking, any day of the week.
meow2u3
(24,775 posts)The resulting weight gain from the munchies. I already have more extra padding than I want, so why the hell would I want to pack on more pounds?
damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)I used to dabble in the use of alcohol and while fun when I was drinking it I always felt like I was poisoned the next day and it took a few days to recover. I won't touch the stuff now and it's hard to get together with people without a drink heading in my direction. " Oh come on you can have just one."
No I can't.
madokie
(51,076 posts)I thought when I quit drinking I'd put on the pounds but that never happened but as soon as I quit smoking pot I started packing 'm on.
rurallib
(62,477 posts)especially beer.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)That's not to say some people may gain weight, but most don't.
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/08/24/aje.kwr200.abstract