A little bit of politics :)

So in my U.S. government class we read a lot of stories about politics :) And it shocked me what Barack Obama said about alcohol. It may shock you too :)
Barack Obama says smoking marijuana no more dangerous than drinking alcohol  

HE'S admitted "smoking pot" as a kid and now President Barack Obama has declared that marijuana is no more dangerous to your health than alcohol.
In a wide-ranging interview with New Yorker magazine, the US leader said while the controversial drug is "not very healthy", it isn't as harmful as some people insist.
"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol," he said.

    

When asked if it was less dangerous that marijuana, Mr Obama cautiously said it was "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer".
"It's not something I encourage, and I've told my daughters I think it's a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy," he said.            

Smoking is 1st and drinking the 4th!

Hey :D News! This time short :D
So I found out something you might find interesting. Sounds funny but you've got the point :D
Each year, 88,000 people in the U.S. die due to excessive drinking.
Alcohol is the fourth-most-common underlying cause of death (smoking is number 1), and a Jan. 7 report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that at least 38 million Americans drink too much (even if they aren't alcoholics).
Not only is that bad for our health, but it's also an expensive problem: In 2006, excessive drinking cost the economy $224 billion.
The good news is that brief screenings and interventions — a quick conversation with a health provider (or even filling out a form) and some structured follow-up — work well in curbing problem drinking.
The bad news? The vast majority of doctors aren't broaching the topic with their patients. Only one in six doctors say they routinely ask their patients about their drinking habits, a number that hasn't budged in years.
As a result, two-thirds of those who binge drink on a regular basis — the kind of people who might not be traditional alcoholics, but need help controlling their drinking — say they haven't discussed their drinking with their doctors.
I thought drinking was the first. That's why it shocked me.