Search Results: alcohol (744)

“We kill your liver!”

Marijuana is safer than alcohol. It’s a simple message based in a lot of truths. But Big Alcohol doesn’t like that, nor do they like the insinuation that their legal product leads to more violence, health issues and social problems than cannabis.
“We’re not against legalization of marijuana, we just don’t want to be vilified in the process,” an anonymous alcohol lobbyist tells the National Journal this week. “We don’t want alcohol to be thrown under the bus, and we’re going to fight to defend our industry when we are demonized.”

Driving impaired isn’t cool, regardless of what substance you’re on. But a Columbia University study of alcohol and drugs in fatal crashes shows that marijuana impairment is among the least common factors, while alcohol and prescription drugs remain the highest.
According to the, 31.9 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes come up positive on drug screens. Add alcohol to the mix, and you become 23 times more likely to get in an accident than someone who is just solely drinking.

Chuck Coker/Flickr

Who regulates medical marijuana in California? Well, basically, nobody. State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wants to change that. Today he announced legislation, introduced last month, that would bring medical cannabis under the policing of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The proposal is called AB 473 and it would mandate that the ABC police “the entire supply chain” and “work to eliminate criminal involvement in the industry.”The language of the bill also states that pot would be tested and that guidelines for growing would be established. LA Weekly has the rest.

Tobacco News

New Study Scanned Brains of 92 Subjects, 16 to 20, For 18 Months

A teen who uses alcohol is likely to have reduced brain tissue — but a teen who uses marijuana is not, according to a new study.
Scientists looked at the brains of 92 adolescents, ages 16 to 20, before and after an 18-month period, reports Kathleen Miles at the Huffington Post. Half of the teens — who already had histories of alcohol and marijuana use — continued to use both in varying amounts during that year and a half. The other half of the teens abstained or consumed very minimally, as they had during adolescence.

West Coast Leaf
Medical marijuana makes our roads safer, according to a new study

​A groundbreaking new study shows that laws legalizing medical marijuana have resulted in a nearly nine percent drop in traffic deaths and a five percent reduction in beer sales.

“Our research suggests that the legalization of medical marijuana reduces traffic fatalities through reducing alcohol consumption by young adults,” said Daniel Rees, professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver who coauthored the study with D. Mark Anderson, assistant professor of economics at Montana State University.

Kush Clothing

​Alcohol causes far more damage to users and to society than does the use of marijuana, according to a new study published online in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the journal of the British Association of Psychopharmacology.

Researchers at the Imperial College of London looked at “the relative physical, psychological, and social harms of cannabis and alcohol,” reports Paul Armentano at AlterNet. They determined that marijuana smoking, particularly longterm, does some harm to the lungs and circulatory system, and increases certain mental-health risks (which is debatable).

Photo: NewsChannel 3
Jeffrey Hagerman, Karl’s Korners: “We had opened up a dispensary in the back”

​A corner store in West Michigan, specializing in party items like beer and chips, was recently raided for also dispensing marijuana.

The son of the owner of Karl’s Korners in Oswego said he has a medical marijuana license, and so does his partner. But selling marijuana out of a party store is against both liquor laws and a local ordinance, reports WWMT NewsChannel 3.
“We had opened up a dispensary in the back,” said Jeffrey Hagerman.
Hagerman said they started up a compassion center in the back of the business, beyond he beer cooler and the snack counter.
“My partner and I both hard medical marijuana cards, performed patient-to-patient transactions,” Hagerman said.

Graphic: Safer Texas Campaign

​Texas politicians are heavily under the influence of alcohol — big alcohol industry money, that is.

With Texas politicians collecting a significant percentage of their campaign contributions from the alcohol industry after the November election, the Safer Texas Campaign is renewing its call on elected representatives to stop accepting such money until Texas allows the regulated use and sale of marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol.
According to campaign records provided by the nonpartisan, nonprofit FollowtheMoney.org, the five Texas politicians who have received the largest contributions from the alcohol industry are:
• Governor Rick Perry
• U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
• Lt. Governor David Dewhurst
• Texas House Speaker Joe Straus
• Attorney General Greg Abbott
These five politicians accepted a total of $1.4 million from Big Alcohol during the 2010 election cycle, according to the Safer Texas Campaign, which is a project of ProtectYouth.org.
1 2 3 4 75