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Comment by loeg | Hacker News Reader

Alcoholics have family members, too, but we aren't going to criminalize alcohol.

As someone who was raised by aggressive alcoholics, and I have myself struggled with weed addiction in the past (and seen weed addiction in others), it's really difficult to compare the substances. Yes, weed dependence is bad and people need to be aware of it, but alcohol (and I'd even say nicotine, but that's a different subject) are far more insidious than weed

Could you elaborate on the nicotine thing? I would say alcohol is far, far, far more insidious than both nicotine and cannabis; I would also say nicotine is less insidious than cannabis.

What do you mean by "insidious"? To me the addictiveness plays a role, and nicotine outshines alcohol & THC completely in that dimension.

I guess I was considering the effects it has on other people. Sure, nicotine is far more addictive, but I've never heard of a parent being abusive because they had 1 too many cigarettes.

I guess what I mean is, nicotine is more self-contained than the others.

Yeah, nicotine is a mild stimulant; it's really not a big deal, which is why it is mostly tolerated. The bad interpersonal effects actually come from stopping nicotine, which makes people grumpy, but it doesn't last very long.

The problem is that it's a slow burn because it's consumed by smoking, and this is really the most pleasant way to consume it. People don't like the externalities associated with it, and that's pretty much it.

What's the difference? It takes years of ramping up to become an alcoholic. That's why you don't have many teenagers who are alcoholics. Weed? All it takes is one puff and you are hooked for life.

The alcoholics I have known were so from the first time they got drunk.

Perhaps the reason you don't see that is it is more difficult for teenagers to get alcohol. At one point in my life it was actually more difficult for teenagers to get alcohol than it was for them to get marijuana

Ha ha ha ha ha! That's a good one. Now do "race music"!

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