TheHappyAnimal

Hi all,
I'm new here, 2 months sober now. Body still getting back strength. Just curious if anyone here has listened to any of the videos on youtube or read any of the research of David Nutt. He's taking on the alcohol companies , explained the facts behind Amy Winehouse's death and explained why it was a missed opportunity to lay bare some of the gruesome facts about alcohol.

I recommend having a watch/read of his stuff. I've tried to contact him as well.

He also controversially was sacked as a UK Government adviser because he came out publicly saying alcohol was more dangerous than cannabis and that cannabis should be legalised to help people recover from alcohol addiction.

Personally i cant vouch for that. But hey if it works for a few , then it seems cruel not to support it.

Dee74

Welcome.

Speaking as someone who's been addicted to both alcohol and cannabis I think Professor Nutt is totally on the wrong track there - potentially moving from one addiction to another is not progress, it's sliding sideways IMO.

D

TheHappyAnimal

That was my suspicion. Thank you for your input here. I am one of the ones whose experience of cannabis is that it makes me somewhat paranoid. I think everything else Professor Nutt is doing is admirable though, though i would question whether or not he has had a lot of experience with cannabis.

Spinach

I'm not sure that's what he said?
If he did it's not very watertight.
John.
He lists drugs in an order of danger and believes that chasing and criminalising cannabis users as a huge missuse of public funds.
He has also tried to show equivalent rates of risk so they can be better understood.
I'm aware he is keen for alcohol to be seen as the danger it is to society due to its safe position.

Dee74

He also claims horse riding is more dangerous than taking ecstasy so...while I defend his right to have these opinions and to make these kind of economic reductionist arguments, I also have to question how much time he's spent down at the pointy end of things.

David Nutt: alcohol consumption would fall 25% if cannabis cafes were allowed | Science | theguardian.com

D

hypochondriac

I didn't really know anything about this guy so thanks for bringing him up. I do remember something in the news ages ago about him re ranking drugs and that alcohol was more dangerous than ecstasy or something and I liked that Not surprised he didn't last long as a government advisor though, the alcohol and tobacco companies are all over that in any government...

BackToSquareOne

Here's a link to his videos, didn't watch any yet tho :

Professor David Nutt - YouTube

Raider

I moved to Alaska at 16 and left at 21. Smoked weed everyday. It was legal up there then, and still is. When I left at 21, I never had an urge to smoke it again. Then at 23, I started a career in air traffic control where we were regularly screened for drugs. Why oh why. Cam I put down a joint and not a glass off vodka???

Spinach

Dee, thanks for the link.
Depressing.
Your right about the pointy end. His arguments do seem political rather than psychiatric or pharmacological.
He was, is used widely for quotes.
I guess you can pick those you like .
I do like risk analysis brought into real terms , that's how I had heard of him. As I said depressing , two wrongs never making a right.
John.

MattyBoy

I actually agree with the guy that cannabis is the lesser of two evils in terms of its impact on society. However, I think it is wrong to compare which is worse substance than the other as it entirely depends on the individual using it. Snoop dogg, Seth rogen, John Lennon, bob Marley etc etc could smoke all day with no problems, but for others it can cause serious problems such as paranoia, anxiety, depression, agoraphobia .. However having said that, I don't think anyone on the planet could get away with drinking all day everyday without running in to some trouble along the way... For me cannabis had zero negative impact on my life and alcohol for ME is a thousand times worse, but I know people for whom it is the other way round... Sorry I'm rambling... Just felt like writing something... Peace

DarkDays

Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,' followed by crack and heroin - CNN.com

Lancet

TheHappyAnimal

Well MattyBoy. I agree with a lot of your points. I never had an accident while stoned but several while drunk, I never caused an argument or got involved with one while stoned, again many while drunk. I never became agressive, i never got poisoning, or damaged my liver (that i am aware) while stoned.

But if you read enough Eckhart Tolle, you wont ever want to get stoned or drunk anyway. His book was a great discovery.

Raider

HappyAnimal, never had bad stuff happen on weed. Maybe it's because I was so atoned I couldn't get off the couch.....except to get a box of Twinkies,....

Dee74

Lets remember this is a recovery site.

I have no problems with people holding different opinions, but I think we need to draw the line somewhere behind the point of suggesting one drug is less harmful or better than something else here on SR.

I and several hundred other posters here have been addicted to cannabis.

Altho not intended I'm sure, it would be an insult to downplay that addiction I think.

D

caboblanco

lol how is it that allowing for pot cafes will reduce alcohol consumption by 25%

talk about pulling a theory out of your behind

Raider

Dee I didn't mean to suggest we all smoke weed. My point was I don't understand why that I can smoke bunches of it and not have the horrible withdrawals I have with alcohol.

Dee74

I wasn't singling anyone out Raider

Sharing our experience is what we do here - I just meant we should remember that even tho someone may not have had issues with weed, others of us here have, and we should be mindful of that.

D

Raider

I get it.

MattyBoy

Because alcohol has a more intense physical withdrawal syndrome than cannabis if one is physically addicted to it, although that's not to say that cannabis doesn't have psychological/physical withdrawals - it does, but there's not the same risk of seizures and/or death. Apparently, it can cause shakes in some cases though...

MattyBoy

I agree, what's more likely is that people will go in to the coffee shops on a Friday / Saturday night after they've have had a few drinks at the bar first..