2+formal+essays

**Compare and Contrast** **English 1010** **Lowery**
 * Kyler Kane**

** High vs. Smashed **


 * Since man has walked the earth they have been trying to find ways to be more creative, make the ordinary into extraordinary and just have fun. To do these things people have tried and created many different activities and substances. However there are two substances that have remained firm in our culture; one is widely accepted where as the other is publicly despised. In the confines of our society however this “secret” pleasure is one of the most important substances to have grown.**
 * Marijuana is the cash crop of choice for society, the usage of marijuana has been around since circa 7,000 B.C. In fact it has only been illegal less than one percent of the time that it has been in use. Yet despite the growing number of people doing it, it has remained illegal. Alcohol on the other hand, has been around almost as long, but has been widely accepted. Although it was taken during probation they found it necessary to bring it back. The battle between these two substances has been a long journey and in the end booze has won. Why has this substance been accepted over the other however?**
 * If we look into the effect of alcohol we can see a plethora of emotions and affects it has on us. Some are enjoyable where as others are unbelievable. More people are affected negatively by alcohol than any other substance. (1) “//250,000 people have died in alcohol-related accidents in the past 10 years; 25,000 people die each year in alcohol related accidents; 500 people are killed weekly and 71 people daily in alcohol-related accidents; one American life is lost every 20 minutes in an alcohol-related car crash; and one out of every two Americans is likely to be involved in an alcohol-related accident in his lifetime. Every year, 708,000 persons are injured, 74,000 of them seriously, in alcohol-related crashes. About 2,000 people receive injuries each day in alcohol-related accidents.”// It is sad to think just how many people are killed or seriously hurt. Yet this drug has been legal?**
 * If we look into how many deaths are related to pot, you will come up with none. In fact you will hear the opposite about pot. Marijuana has become a strongly accepted medicinal drug. This drug has been used to treat Insomnia, arthritis, helps people with cancer, back pain and so on. So why isn’t it legal? In the early fifties a movie known as “Refer Madness” hit the shelves; this movie was about how pot makes you crazy and KILLS PEOPLE. It has been this conditioning that the older generations have no legalized the miracle drug. We can see a new trend coming along now however. Since our parents generation went through the 60’s and 70’s we have seen a lot of publicity saying its “ok” to do. That is why 13 out of the 50 states have decriminalized the drug. This is not to say its legal; you just won’t get in too much trouble if any at all for having it.**
 * Alcohol although having a very negative outcome on people doesn’t even make money for the United States. In fact if you think about all those car crashes, the people injured you will realize how much alcohol really costs us. Think of it this way in most states just the ambulance ride alone costs anywhere from 500-1000 dollars; Helicopters must be five times that! Then you have to look into the medical bills for all these people, If any of them are missing insurance (which I would say the majority of them are) Then it is our tax dollars paying for it. In a recent study they said annually we lose around 136 billion dollars!**
 * Marijuana on the other hand, has become a cash crop. If Marijuana was legalized in California alone, we would pull in a net of one billion dollars a year. There are entire towns in California dedicated even today to just growing pot and hemp products. You might be thinking, only one billion? Alcohol still takes away so much money. Well you have to think that if all 50 states made it legal you could at least triple the usage from a larger scale of people. Not to mention that over 40% of people in jail, are in there for marijuana. We now need to realize how much of our money goes into feeding these people in jail, and getting their clothes and medical! So taking that away will actually give us a lot more revenue from this drug. To really top the charts you could also account for all of the anti smoking pot propaganda, the government would save a lot of money cutting these out of the market.**
 * I would have to add however that alcohol does have an age restriction, and I think that is a good idea. If marijuana were to become legal it would need an age restriction as well. I personally would be ok with it only being a schedule two drug. Although there are a lot of “positives” compared to alcohol both share some similar traits.**
 * Like alcohol I can see that marijuana would be abused, especially if it were legalized over night. We would see a strong change within our culture for a couple of years. Everyone would start smoking just because they could at this point. This is not entirely good, where as alcohol has a lot of physical damage, marijuana has some hefty ones as well. For instances, burning any sort of plant lets out carcinogens which destroy cilia and your lungs. This could lead to breathing problems later on in life. I feel that our generation deems this illegal activity ok, but this could just be a repeat of how cigarettes went. Doctors used to prescribe cigarettes to treat coughing and no one knew the long term damage that they would lead too. This is how marijuana could become.**
 * The damage alcohol causes is a far higher severity however. A strong alcoholic is actually in worse shape than a coke addict. Although this aspect of alcohol is not seen as much, they go through the worst with drawls. By law hospitals even have to accept any person who is going through this with drawl because people can die from going cold turkey. This is a devastating condition that alcohol could lead to. Although too much of anything is bad, it seems that alcohol is the most abused substance in history. People destroy their kidneys and livers far more than someone destroys their lungs.**
 * But really looking at both subjects there is an obvious indicator which is worse for a person, and for the economy. Yet there are no anti drinking ads on television or nearly enough information about how serious alcohol addiction is. The truly worst part of alcohol is the fact that it is often not the person drinking who is hurt the most, but the family who they affected…**
 * I cannot truly understand why alcohol is legal or why pot is illegal, but I can understand why that should be swapped. The time we are on earth is astronomically short, yet the pain a substance can bring to a person makes life feel like an eternity. Both substances can cause harm in the end, but like my favorite quote says, “Man made booze, God made pot, who do you trust?” (author Unknown)**