Paul Armentano has spent a great deal of time writing about cannabis. In this “Truthout Interviews,” he compares the deleterious health consequences between cannabis and alcohol by reviewing the medical research on each and finds that when compared side by side, alcohol is much more harmful to one’s health than cannabis. As Armentano points out, it’s not that cannabis is an innocuous drug, but rather it does not reach the threshold established by the Drug Enforcement Administration in categorizing controlled substances. Indeed, alcohol and tobacco should qualify as controlled substances for their addictive qualities and propensity for abuse. However, Congress exempted both substances from the drug schedules – most likely due to intense lobbying from the industries that profit from them. As Armentano argues, what is needed (and is happening in many parts of the US) are changes in the laws regarding cannabis that impose harsh penalties on users of a drug that should not be classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.
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