Modern U.S. culture was heavily influenced by the use of mood altering substances. At most major televised events there are either sponsors or advertisements representing some sort of alcoholic beverage. This has been the status quo for a long time and the majority of Americans don't think twice when they see this.

But to look at the normalized stance alcohol has from a different perspective, instead of a heartwarming Budweiser commercial with the dog and the horse, replace it with with the same plot of the commercial, but only with cannabis.

Even just the thought of this would repulse so many Americans. What's going through most of their heads is not the fact that marijuana is a dangerous substance, the main concern is that there may be kids watching. Children are usually the center point of arguments that come from anti-marijuana individuals. But let's think about this. How much harm has each substance really done? Let's compare alcohol to cannabis and see which we should be more concerned about in a realistic way.

Before comparing the two substances recreationally we have to imagine what it would be like if there was no stigma or cultural influence around alcohol or marijuana. This is not the easiest thing to do because our society already has concrete beliefs around both. Just imagine that we are treating them as equals and only judging them by factual statistics.

First off, let's go over fatality. The LD50 (dose which is lethal to half the test population) of alcohol is 0.40% BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). 88,000 deaths are attributed to alcohol-related deaths annually. Alcohol also attributes to almost one-third of driving fatalities.

No deaths have ever been attributed to cannabis overdose.

Next, let's focus on violent crimes. Alcohol is a contributing factor in 40% of all violent crimes committed. It is also more common for someone to rape, murder and abuse their spouse or child on alcohol than on any illegal drug.

There isn't any known correlation between cannabis and violent crimes.

So why do we have such a discrepancy in logic between the status of these two substances in America? How can one be so hazardous, yet can be bought at your nearest gas station? The most dangerous aspect of marijuana is being caught with it.

The illegalization of cannabis started in the early 1900s. Mexican immigrants were migrating north and brought marijuana with them. The U.S. media demonized the Mexicans as well as their traditions, making the use of cannabis a devious endeavor.

So this all started from race, how American of us!

Taking a look at this insane ideology and you can really see how bias and twisted our society is. One thing that should be stated is that yes, alcohol in moderation can be safe, but so can most illegal drugs. But we don't see it that way because of how strong our culture's influence is.