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Originally Posted by peter12
You brought up two vague anecdotes as a stand-in for how seriously society views drug use viz-a-viz alcohol acceptance.
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That's not what a strawman is.
A strawman is a mock representation of someone else's opinion created for the purpose of attacking it.
I'm talking of my own experiences, so it's not a mock representation of anything. You could argue it's a "weak man" argument if I was attacking those anecdotal views. But really I'm not. I'm simply explaining my own views and where they come from.
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I've known alcohol to destroy careers. Drunks leave jobs fast. They are quickly shunned by families. Everyone knows that an alcoholic spouse is most likely a violent one as well.
Marijuana use is treated as a joke.
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Well, then what you're saying is that I'm generalizing needlessly. Which again is not a strawman.
I am of course talking of my experiences here in Finland, but honestly I would not expect it to be that different from Canada.
It's very easy to fool yourself into thinking that marijuana is a joke before you actually run head first into situations when it's suddenly not a joke. Which usually happens when something bad actually happens, or when the law or social workers get interested in you.
The fact that something is a crime makes a big difference for most people.
A quick check pointed out that in Canada, more than half of all drug crimes are cannabis related, and most of those simple possession offenses, mounting up to 100k+ cases per year. That's seems like a lot of work over "jokes".
Also, a statistical fact, alcoholics can keep jobs for years easily. Just like many other addicts.
Btw, interesting how you're comparing "drunks" and "cannabis use", as if those are the equivalents of each other.