Americans love their vices. About 17 percent of people in the country admit to smoking a joint at some point, and that number keeps climbing as 24 states now allow recreational marijuana use. Alcohol remains even more popular, with at least 60 percent of the population drinking regularly.

Both substances come with health warnings. Both can alter your mind and damage your body. But when forced to choose the lesser evil, which one wins?

Dr. Daniel Amen, a brain health specialist, decided to tackle the question head-on. His team collected an enormous amount of brain scan data to find answers. What they discovered might make you rethink everything you assumed about weed and booze.

Before diving into the results, Dr. Amen offered a clear disclaimer in his YouTube video. He reminded viewers that neither substance deserves a health endorsement. Alcohol kills more people each year, causes more domestic violence, leads to more car accidents, and lands more people in jail. By those measures, booze looks like the obvious villain.

Yet the brain scans told a different story. One that challenges popular assumptions and adds new urgency to conversations about marijuana safety.

What 62,454 Brain Scans Revealed About Aging

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Amen Clinics partnered with researchers from Google, Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, and UC San Francisco for one of the largest brain imaging studies ever conducted. Scientists analyzed 62,454 SPECT scans from more than 30,000 people. Ages ranged from 9 months old to 105 years.

SPECT imaging measures blood flow in different brain regions. Reduced blood flow often signals problems. By studying 128 brain regions across thousands of scans, researchers could predict a person’s chronological age based on their brain patterns.

Here’s where things got interesting. When the predicted age exceeded someone’s actual age, scientists interpreted that gap as accelerated aging. Your brain, in other words, looked older than it should.

Researchers examined people with various psychiatric conditions and substance use patterns. They wanted to identify which factors aged the brain fastest. Several disorders made the list, but two substances stood out in surprising ways.

Weed Ages Your Brain Faster Than Alcohol

Popular opinion holds that marijuana is safer than alcohol. Many people view weed as a harmless plant, especially compared to booze. Brain scan data paints a different picture.

Cannabis abuse correlated with 2.8 years of accelerated brain aging. Alcohol abuse showed just 0.6 years. In terms of how fast these substances age your brain, weed came out worse by a significant margin.

Dr. Amen addressed why these findings matter: “Based on one of the largest brain imaging studies ever done, we can now track common disorders and behaviors that prematurely age the brain. Better treatment of these disorders can slow or even halt the process of brain aging. The cannabis abuse finding was especially important, as our culture is starting to see marijuana as an innocuous substance. This study should give us pause about it.”

Other conditions also accelerated brain aging. Schizophrenia topped the list at four years of premature aging. Bipolar disorder added 1.6 years. ADHD contributed 1.4 years. Depression, interestingly, did not show accelerated aging in the study, which researchers believe may relate to different brain patterns associated with that condition.

George Perry, Chief Scientist at the Brain Health Consortium from the University of Texas at San Antonio, weighed in on the research. He called it one of the first population based imaging studies of its kind and emphasized how essential large studies are for understanding brain health during aging.

Alcohol Still Racks Up More Real World Damage

Brain aging matters, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Dr. Amen made sure to acknowledge alcohol’s devastating social impact.

More people die from alcohol each year than from marijuana. Domestic violence rates climb when drinking enters the picture. Drunk driving accidents kill thousands annually. Poor decisions made under the influence send countless people to prison.

By these measures, alcohol causes far greater harm to individuals, families, and communities. A substance doesn’t need to age your brain faster to wreck your life or end it early.

Weed rarely kills anyone directly. Nobody overdoses on marijuana the way people overdose on alcohol. Violence linked to cannabis use pales in comparison to alcohol fueled aggression.

So which substance is worse? It depends on what you measure. Brain health points to weed. Social harm points to booze. Neither answer lets you off the hook.

WHO Says No Amount of Alcohol Is Safe

Global health authorities have taken a firm stance on alcohol. According to the World Health Organization, no level of alcohol consumption qualifies as safe. Officials describe alcohol as toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing.

Cancer risks add another layer of concern. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including bowel cancer and breast cancer in women. Even moderate drinking carries some risk.

Many people assume a glass of wine with dinner promotes heart health. Research on that claim remains mixed at best. What we know for certain is that alcohol damages cells, disrupts organ function, and raises disease risk across the board.

Marijuana hasn’t faced the same level of long-term scrutiny. Scientists continue studying its effects, and many questions remain unanswered. But new evidence about a disturbing side effect has health experts raising alarms.

A Disturbing New Cannabis Side Effect Has Doctors Worried

Emergency rooms across the country report a troubling pattern. Patients arrive with severe abdominal pain and violent vomiting. Many have thrown up for hours or even days. When doctors dig into their medical histories, a common thread emerges: chronic cannabis use.

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, known as CHS, affects long-term marijuana users. Symptoms include persistent nausea, repeated vomiting, and intense stomach discomfort. Some patients vomit up to five times per hour during acute episodes.

One strange feature of CHS caught medical attention early. Hot baths and showers provide temporary relief. Many patients shower compulsively, sometimes for hours each day, just to manage their symptoms. Yet hot water doesn’t cure anything. It only masks the problem while dehydration worsens.

UW Medicine reports that symptoms usually begin within 24 hours of the most recent cannabis use and can last for days. Chronic users may experience episodes three to four times per year. For some, CHS becomes a recurring nightmare that disrupts work, relationships, and daily life.

How CHS Develops in Long Term Users

CHS doesn’t strike overnight. Symptoms typically appear after years of regular marijuana use, often in people who started smoking as teenagers. Researchers estimate that most affected individuals have used cannabis for about 10 to 12 years before CHS develops.

Three phases mark the syndrome’s progression. During the prodromal phase, users notice morning nausea and mild abdominal pain. They may fear vomiting but never actually throw up. Some people remain in the prodromal phase for months or years without realizing what’s happening.

Next comes the hyperemetic phase. Overwhelming nausea and recurrent vomiting take over, usually lasting 24 to 48 hours. Patients often stop eating, bathe compulsively, and struggle to function. Some experience such intense pain that they scream while vomiting, a phenomenon medical staff have nicknamed scromiting.

Recovery represents the final phase. Symptoms ease over days or months and eventually disappear. But reaching recovery requires one specific action that many users resist.

Only One Cure Exists for CHS

No FDA-approved treatment can eliminate CHS while you keep using cannabis. Antiemetics, the standard drugs for nausea and vomiting, often prove ineffective. Hot showers help temporarily, but make dehydration worse through sweating. Pain relievers and antihistamines may ease discomfort but won’t stop the cycle.

Quitting cannabis completely remains the only known cure. Severe cases require hospital care. Doctors provide IV fluids to combat dehydration and restore electrolyte balance. Some patients receive capsaicin cream for pain relief or benzodiazepines to calm their systems. But all of these treatments just buy time until the patient stops using marijuana.

Most people feel relief within 10 days of quitting. Full recovery may take several months. Those who return to cannabis use often see their symptoms return as well.

Complications from untreated CHS range from dehydration and malnutrition to esophageal tears and aspiration pneumonia. Some patients have suffered scald burns from excessively hot showers. What starts as a coping mechanism can become dangerous on its own.

Medical Marijuana Still Has Legitimate Uses

Despite these risks, marijuana serves real medical purposes for certain patients. Chronic pain relief ranks among the most common applications, especially for nerve pain. Some patients use medical marijuana to reduce their reliance on opioids.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy sometimes find marijuana helps manage nausea. People with HIV or AIDS may use it to stimulate appetite and prevent dangerous weight loss. Multiple sclerosis patients report relief from muscle spasticity.

Several FDA-approved medications derive from cannabis compounds. Epidiolex prevents seizures in people with rare forms of epilepsy. Dronabinol and nabilone help cancer patients tolerate chemotherapy and assist HIV patients with appetite.

Medical use under professional supervision differs from recreational use. Dosing, frequency, and monitoring all play roles in minimizing risk. But even medical marijuana carries potential downsides that patients and providers must weigh carefully.

Both Substances Carry Serious Risks

Dr. Amen’s research adds valuable data to an old debate. Brain scans reveal that marijuana accelerates aging more than alcohol does. Yet alcohol causes more deaths, more violence, and more societal destruction.

CHS introduces another factor for chronic marijuana users to consider. A syndrome that didn’t even have a name until recently now sends thousands of people to emergency rooms each year. As marijuana potency increases and legalization spreads, CHS cases will likely climb.

Neither weed nor booze earns a clean bill of health. Both substances alter brain function, carry addiction risk, and produce harmful effects over time. Choosing between them means choosing between different types of damage, not choosing safety.

Understanding comes first. Better decisions can follow. But only if people stop treating marijuana as harmless and alcohol as inevitable. Brain health, physical health, and quality of life all hang in the balance.

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