Does Miley Cyrus support marijuana use?

There is a commonly-held belief that only alcohol is safe to consume. However, this view is becoming challenged more and more everyday. As opposed to giving you my view on the matter, I will present you with the facts and you may come to your own conclusion. Please be aware that ANY substance whether legal or illegal comes with its own risks. While some have higher risks than others, it is important to understand that NO substance should be taken lightly.

Recently, Miley Cyrus made the claim that marijuana is safer than alcohol. Ms. Cyrus has certainly come a long way from the innocent Hannah Montana character on Nick. While she did not go into extreme detail, she explained that she has seen others' lives spiral downhill with alcohol but not marijuana. When considering the thought-process behind statements like this, consider the following:

According to the CDC, some of the alcohol-related health risks include: violence, child neglect, miscarriage, birth defects, heart-attacks, risky sexual behavior, alcohol poisoning, vehicle-related deaths, miscarriage, throat cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and other cancers. The list goes on and on. Almost thirty people die every day due to alcohol use. To be fair, it is estimated that eighteen percent of motor vehicle-related deaths could be attributed to other substances used in conjunction with alcohol (including marijuana).
In 2009, over 24,000 people suffered alcohol-related deaths.

While over 34,000 people died from drug use (legally prescribed and illegal), I could find no concrete data on marijuana-related deaths. Most deaths in the US are coded so there are infinite ways to quantify data. However, it was not difficult to find pages of alcohol-related injuries and deaths but nearly impossible to find any deaths related to marijuana usage (unless it was combined with alcohol or some other drug statistic).

When you look at the numbers, the most staggering  numbers are not just related to recreational substances, but prescribed medicines. According to drugwarfacts.org, the number of prescription-related deaths was over 22,000. According to the CDC 100 people in the US die each day from drug overdose (some may have been combined with other drugs like heroin).

Many people use marijuana as a way to cope with illness. I have never heard of alcohol being used in a medical fashion. To be clear though, marijuana does have its drawbacks like any other mood-altering substance. It may cause slow reaction time, paranoia, etc. Some critics call it a "gateway drug" and content that it can lead to heavier drug use. According to the Huffington Post, there was a study done on a possible drop in IQ in those who regularly used the drug before the age of 18.

In 1994 there was a study done in Tennessee where out of almost 180 motorists stopped for reckless driving, almost half tested positive for marijuana. In addition, marijuana stays in the system for several hours and like any potentially-dangerous substance, it is not safe to operate any type of machinery while under the influence, especially when things like reaction time, reasoning, and judgment are impaired.

Whatever peoples' reasons, theoretically the case could be made for banning any dangerous substance especially when it could potentially put your life or others' lives at risk. While Miley Cyrus seems to lean more toward the notion that marijuana is safer, it is important that you do your own research and have an informed opinion.

Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_256.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.dNJavAU6.dpbs
http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/rxbrief/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-d-braunstein-md/marijuana-facts-fiction_b_2575507.html

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