Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Your children are likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol at some point. If you have to draw a hard line on marijuana or alcohol, which should you choose? 

, Pediatrician Aaron E. Carroll said he thinks marijuana is the better choice. 

"No one should be under the illusion that I'm arguing pot is completely harm free or that it has no issues," he said on 

. "The problem is that all of those studies could be repeated with alcohol and would likely be far worse."

He looked at a number of issues related to impairment: crime, health, violence and driving. 

"It almost doesn't really matter which metric you pick," he said. "Alcohol is just massively so much more dangerous and the statistics are so much scarier that it almost doesn't matter what lens you try to look at this through. The only one you can pick is that you're likely to get in more danger legally today by using marijuana than you are for drinking underage."

Two moms called and contributed their views on talking to their kids about alcohol and marijuana:

Alcohol or marijuana? Two parents offer their views by MPR News

Health

Shows

Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Kerri Miller Feature

Emily Kaiser

Author

Your children are likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol at some point. If you have to draw a hard line on marijuana or alcohol, which should you choose?

As a parent, you know that your child is likely to try drugs or drinking at some point. If you have to draw a hard line on marijuana or alcohol, which should you choose? A pediatrician weighs in with his opinion.

Pediatrician: Marijuana use safer than alcohol for teens, young adults

Go Deeper.

Like this?