Did They Actually Smoke Weed Or Drink Alcohol?
Heineken recently released an interesting video (Heineken | Worlds Apart | #OpenYourWorld), where they got two complete strangers to work together in harmony to build a bar! After they built the bar, they were shown a video. This video was INTENSE because this video was THEM SPEAKING about their stereotypes and prejudices. What made it so intense was Heineken made two people, work together peacefully, and then revealed these two people had certain misunderstandings towards one another.
Once Video Was Seen, They Had Two Options: Share a beer & Discuss Differences. OR. Walk Away!
What would you do if you found out the person you helped build a bar table with was actually prejudiced against who you were?
If you identified as something and the person you were about to share a drink with was ANTI “that,” would you sit down and share a drink with them while civilly discussion your beliefs? Would you have the strength and the humanity to open up, one-on-one, and get to know why and how this person is who they are?
The premise of this four-and-a-half-minute short was to bring people with opposite opinions on HOT button topics, like climate change and the transgender community, together over a beer.
While this is a good ad idea, I’m not sure if it accurately represents conversations while drinking.
I don’t know about you, but drinking has not always led me to make the best decisions or conduct productive conversations. In the midst of a night of drinking I have even thought it was a good idea to throw a microwave off my back porch.
While partaking in the consumption of recreational cannabis I think the craziest thing I have done is mix two different kinds of cream cheeses on a bagel. I went through a bagel stage, don’t judge. For hundreds, even thousands of years, marijuana has been used to incite creativity and bring together ideas from many kinds of people. You can even argue that the high from smoking or ingesting marijuana helps to broaden your mind. Several studies have focused on this topic and proven that marijuana does, in most cases, help to increase consciousness, expand spirituality, and boost creativity.
Back to the Heineken promo, this same concept can easily be transferred to marijuana instead of beer. Setting people together in a social environment when consuming marijuana is no doubt a much more mellow environment. In real life, the settings of drinking often involve poorly thought through jargon and slinging of words that often are regretted in a sober state.
When having in depth conversations while enjoying the effects of marijuana, the chats are often much different. Marijuana creates another dimension for many who partake. The ability to fully understand topics and more fully think through ideas happens. To break it down simply, drinking speeds through the thought process and marijuana slows it down.
The fact of the matter is, consuming alcohol is more dangerous on many levels than consuming cannabis products, for either medical use or recreational use. The statistics on alcohol point to frequent deaths, arrests for violent behavior, and driving while under the influence. Alcohol is also much harder on the body, short term and long term. It can cause premature aging, liver problems, and heart disease. While moderation is the key to enjoying alcohol, more and more users are not taking this into account. Binge drinking is on the rise with underage drinkers and further adds to the driving while under the influence statistics.
The use of cannabis products is actually linked to benefits, as opposed to the many detrimental effects of alcohol. Cannabis is used in a medicinal fashion to treat headaches, body pains from arthritis and cancer, anxiety, glaucoma, epilepsy, and has even been shown to slow the process of cancer, and in some cases, kill the cancer cells. These are just a few of the cases that marijuana has been proven to help.
Alcohol on the other hand has not been proven to treat or cure anything medically. Aside from the health benefits of a small glass of red wine each day there is no significant research that shows any health benefits attributed to drinking.
Drinking can be very harmful to the body. Over years of abuse and even just normal use, alcohol can be corrosive to the body. Your liver, kidneys, even skin can suffer from the effects of alcohol.
The effects of alcohol short and long term much outweigh the risks of marijuana.
Short term, drinkers are more likely to get a DUI, have risky unprotected sex, sustain an injury from being impaired, and under certain circumstances even contract alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning can be deadly. It occurs when your alcohol blood content rises quickly and turns into a medical emergency. Pregnant drinkers also not only pose a threat to themselves, but also their unborn children. Drinking alcohol while pregnant can result in preterm birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, and fetal alcohol syndrome.
While it is not advised to consume marijuana in the United States during pregnancy, it is not linked to nearly as many complications. ADHD is the main concern when discussing marijuana and pregnancy.
Long term effects of alcohol are also detrimental to health. Heart disease, high blood pressure, many cancers, depression and anxiety, and social problems have all been linked to prolonged alcohol use. Another negative effect of drinking is the development of alcoholism. This addiction can take over the life of the user by making them depend on the use of alcohol.
While many enjoy the effects of marijuana it has been proven to not be nearly as addictive as other indulgences. When it comes down to it, marijuana is a productive high, while alcohol is not. Marijuana brings creative minds together to further discuss topics in depth. It broadens the horizons for many and allows for constructive conversations to be held between people of all backgrounds. Consuming cannabis products allows for a mellow mood and open mind. These effects lead to more well thought out discussions and the ability to more easily put yourself in another person’s shoes, if you will.
Alcohol continues to lead to closed minds. Have you ever heard of somebody getting in a fist fight while high? Neither have I. Now not to say that it has never happened, but a drunken fist fight is something that we have all heard of. Trying to discuss anything with someone who has had one too many to drink can be frustrating. I have literally witnessed a drunk girl fight with her boyfriend over how the bus stop to their house was not the right bus stop.
Fighting over something as simple as where you live certainly cannot lead me to believe that a person consuming alcohol will be open to discussing world problems in a constructive fashion. I have nothing against those who prefer to drink alcohol over smoking marijuana, but at the end of the day it obvious which is better for inciting smart discussions.
Heineken, while providing a nice ad obviously has not fully thought out the message they are sending. With the legalization of marijuana throughout the states recently, it will be interesting to see in the years to come what kind of advertisements are put out for different marijuana brands.
What is certain though is that having a beer is less likely to lead to productive thoughts than sharing a joint.