A brain doctor has revealed whether alcohol or weed is worse for your health following the revelation of a worrying new side effect.
The expert has lifted the lid on which vice has a worse impact on your health as, back in 2023, a whopping 17% of Americans admitted to smoking a joint at some point in their life.
There are now 24 states in the US that have legalized mariguana for recreational use but a higher percentage of the population, around 60%, drink alcohol.
So, how do alcohol and weed affect your health? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is actually ‘no level’ of safe alcohol consumption.
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This is due to the fact that it is a ‘toxic, psychoactive and dependence-producing substance’.
It has been found that alcohol is linked to causing at least seven different types of cancer, including common cancer types such as bowel cancer and breast cancer.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Clinic finds weed, derived from the Cannabis sativa plant, has several short-term and long-term effects, though scientists are still studying just how harmful it can be.
In the short-term, it can make users feel nauseous, dizzy, disorientated, sleepy or ravenous with a serious case of the munchies.
Yet medical marijuana is also used to manage certain symptoms, providing chronic pain relief, stimulating the appetite and managing multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms.
So, with this in mind, you might be thinking alcohol is probably the worst of the pair.
Now, Dr Daniel Amen has set about examining the age-old question, and the results might surprise you.
“Now those of you who follow me know neither one are good for you,” he stated as a disclaimer in his YouTube video. “And quite frankly there are more deaths every year from alcohol than there are marijuana.
“There's more domestic violence, there's more drunk driving accidents, there's more bad decisions, people ending up in jail.”
However, he said in Amen Clinic's brain imaging study, they conducted a study where they 'evaluated 62,454 spec scans' and looked at 'how the brain ages' and what accelerated aging.
They found both marijuana and alcohol accelerated aging, and in that study, marijuana was surprisingly worse.
His insight comes as health experts have recently raised the alarm over increased hospital visits in connection with heavy weed smokers.
Emergency departments have treated patients with abdominal pain and severe or prolonged vomiting, with their common trait being they are chronic cannabis users.
The condition is known as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a disorder that triggers unpleasant symptoms such as nausea.
UW Medicine explains the gut condition usually occurs within 24 hours of the most recent use and can last for days, with chronic users experiencing symptoms as many as three to four times per year.