Drugs vs. Alcohol

Why is it ok for someone to go to the bar after work with some co-workers, get completely drunk, and drive home wasted, but it is not ok for someone to stay at home with a few buddies and smoke some marijuana? I don’t know that answer, but I would really like to know.

Alcohol in today’s society is not even considered a drug. People always say, “Drugs and Alcohol”, but if we are really going to say it that way, it needs to be, “Drugs and Drugs.” We look so down on drugs such as in marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and pills, but oh no it’s ok for some guys to have a little too much to drink at a bar, and DRIVE home. What is wrong with that picture? How are guys sitting at home, smoking a bowl harmful? I don’t get it, yet I would get in a lot of trouble if I were to do that. There is a one in seven chance that the police will catch a drunk driver. Statistics say that more than 100,000 U.S deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption, and youth who drink alcohol are fifty times as likely to do cocaine as opposed to youth who never drink alcohol. Marijuana has no overdose deaths, no driving accidents, and all the effects of marijuana are for the person’s use not the community’s safety. The most marijuana does on a short term effect is the person smoking really has the munchies, that’s about it.

So why does our society allow certain things? It can’t be for the business part of it, because if the U.S. were to legalize marijuana, then they would make trillions of dollars. It can’t be for the safety of the drug, because alcohol is probably in the top 3 worst drugs, even though if you ask people they will say alcohol is just alcohol, not a drug. Our country puts shame on drug users, whether it is in sports, celebrities, or anything. They bash them and give them the hardest time about it, like Lindsey Lohan and her cocaine, but when someone gets a DWI, and then they just say it and leave it alone.

Alcohol has been a major factor in affecting people’s lives, families, and friends. I have seen multiple bumper stickers that say something to the effect of, “My son died from a drunk driver”, or “My son was a drunk driver and got killed.” Why does society even allow things for that to happen? I am telling you that there is at least one way to stop drunk driving, there can’t be zero ways to stop it. The law has all these technicalities that make everything so complicated and sometimes not fair.

A big issue I think is that a teenager about my age wants to have or go to a party, his or her mom says yes, however she wants him to have the party at home and she will be supervising. She also said that if the party was going to consist of drinking, that she would take all the keys when people walked in through the door. Now, the party gets a little rambunctious, and the police come to see what is going on. What ends up is, the mom gets in a lot of trouble because she knew about what was going on. Now to me, why in the world would a mom or dad get in trouble for being responsible? It really doesn’t make sense to let your kid go get hammered and have the possibility of dying because he needs to drive home. Why can’t parents take care of their kids if they want to have a little fun? I definitely think that there need to be some changes in the way things work with our drugs and alcohol.

Basically I think that our society has played off alcohol as an acceptable thing, and because of so much advertising and so many different kinds of alcohol, how can you not want to drink? It’s hard for teenagers to not drink because so many people do it and its “ok” in today’s society. I think that society should change the way things go with our acceptance of drugs and alcohol. Now I don’t exactly know how to fix it but we need to because twelve people die every minute from drunk driving! Zero have died from marijuana, you do the math.