The Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction have joined forces to release a new guideline regarding the safe use of cannabis. This guideline is similar to the one on alcohol use published a few years ago.
Comparing the “Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines” with “Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines” a strange conclusion can be made: the risks of alcohol are downplayed when compared to the ones regarding cannabis. To further explain, it means that people could feel more encouraged to drink alcohol, considering it a safer alternative than cannabis.
The “Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines”:
The Canadian Health Agencies created a list with all the potential harms the use of cannabis can do to the human body, such as psychomotor and memory loss, episodes of psychosis, dependence, lung problems, hallucinations and impaired vision and perceptions etc.
The guidelines regarding alcohol use do not include a list of such severe effects on human body, it is just stated that the use of alcohol may harm the brain development and the human body. As a matter of fact, plenty of studies do show secondary effects of alcohol use such as cancer, mental health problems, psychosis, injuries, and domestic violence and traffic casualties. It seems that the suggestion on the pamphlet regarding alcohol use is that alcohol is dangerous in big doses. The recommendation for pregnant women, for example, is not to drink during pregnancy, otherwise recreational use of alcohol is not dismissed.
Plenty of internet users have read the new guidelines regarding the use of recreational cannabis and they disagree will the health authorities. They claim alcohol is a s dangerous and it can also cause addiction. They consider the guidelines not enough and maybe even bad advice.
