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by jbrot 1787 days ago
Very surprising to see this headline (although I doubt it will come to pass). Given recent movements towards ending the war on drugs (e.g., legalizing Marijuana), it seems rather hypocritical to then try and ban cigarettes. Admittedly this is in the UK, and I’m not super familiar with their politics.
1 comments
smt88 1787 days ago
The taxpayer cost of legal marijuana is far, far, far less than the taxpayer cost of legal tobacco.
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mc32 1787 days ago
What would it be if it reaches saturation like cigarettes did?
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smt88 1787 days ago
First, the number of marijuana users is likely not far away from the number of tobacco smokers in the US.

It still wouldn't be close. It's much more expensive to treat a single case of cancer (or lose a person's life) than it does to treat a single case of... whatever marijuana causes.

Just the fact that marijuana isn't known to dramatically increase fatalities in its tens of millions of users should tell us what we need to know.

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boxed 1787 days ago
...so far. But the sociatal cost of cigarettes is all about the cancer. Smoking weed has the same problem. Legalizing smoking weed was/will be a mistake. Other methods of ingesting are another story entirely.
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robbedpeter 1787 days ago
Nobody is going to be smoking 20+ joints per day, every day. Cigarettes also have more carcinogenic chemicals per unit of inhaled smoke, so it's not a 1 to 1 comparison. Smoking weed also has anti-inflammatory effects, and other chemistry that counters some of the negative effects of combustion.

It's not great for you, but its level of harm is closer to vaping than to smoking cigarettes.

If someone does persistently smoke comparable amounts of marijuana per day, they're also likely to have a substance abuse issue. I don't think even Snoop or Willie do it like that.

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bko 1787 days ago
Marijuana has other negative side effects especially when used by people under 18. I don't know about the long term evidence, but I would bet there are cognitive issues associated with regular use, such as short term memory loss.

It is also surprisingly common and socially accepted to drive while under the influence.

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