Alcohol Or Tobacco abuse, which is worse?

Both are a big problem globally. Both have been known to kill. But in the debate of which is the worse of two evils, which one do you feel is more of a killer than the other?

alcohol can lead to other problems due to changes in aggression, lack of good judgement and such.

alcohol kills the liver over time
tobacco kills the lungs over time.. the severity of each depends on the person and how often you drink/smoke.

drinking every once in a while isnt bad. there is no such thing really as smoking some of the time, you either do or dont.

but you have a much better chance of making a good life if you smoke everyday instead of drink everyday. neither is healthy, but at least you can function and are not always drunk

Probably tobacco I work as a nurse and I take care of patients with damage secondary to cigarette smoke every single night I work. While when I worked trauma I had many mor e alcohol so I wiould say that alcohol is more of an acute problem while tobacco is chronic.

Tobacco.

Every 1 I know that's addicted to cigarettes hates smoking them. At least the alcoholics enjoy their drink.

My Grandfather was an alcoholic who had his favorite drink every day. He died a happy man at 95 yrs old.

alcohol abuse is worse for society
tobacco abuse is worse for you personally

But given a choice, I'd say alcohol is worse. I say that because when people are drunk, they tend to bring other people into their negativity, such as drunk driving, etc.

Tobacco is the leading cause of most preventable cause of death at 18.1% while alcohol is third at 3.5%

Probably tobacco is more fatal. Too much smoking could cause you to have lung cancer. On the other hand, excessive alcohol drinking could harm your liver and you could have heart problems due to this.

I don't normally like comparing one addiction against another, they are all dangerous in their own ways. Is alcohol worse for you than tobacco? They both leave a lasting effect on the body, they both can kill you so who are we to say which is worse?

Agree, dangerous in their own way. How many car accidents are there caused by drunk drivers?

Alcohol by far is the worse of the two. There is no such thing as a homicide that involved the use of nicotine. When was the last time you heard of a vehicular homicide or a back alley brawl because someone had too much to smoke? You will never hear that.

Define "worst."
Worst is a highly subjective term, my worst is different from you worst because we use different criteria to determine it.
Personally I now dislike both, they are equally as awful.
BUT they also feed off each other, so I say when you combine smoking and drinking that is truly the worst.

On the point about alcohol is worst for society and tobacco for personal, I'm not sure its that simple.
Yes alcohol results in fights, violence, car crashes ect but Tobacco use is one of the top killers in the world. Society pays the price when people are put into the public health system (well in the first world country's, I am not sure if the developing countries have a public health system yet.) Lung cancer treatments costs society a lot of money.

They are both pretty bad, just in different ways. @thepieeatingjay is right to say that alcohol is more detrimental to society whilst tobacco is worse on a personal level. Illnesses related to both habits are a massive drain on government funding.

I think since alcohol affects the brain, then it's the more dangerous among the two, since alcohol gives people more guts to do crazy and illegal things. At least with cigarettes, the person's personality remains intact and it doesn't make the person unreasonable and a troublemaker.

Obviously they are both detrimental to health, but I see alcohol as having more problems. Alcoholics often effect those around them in negative ways, whereas smokers can only effect those around them with second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke is a killer, but can be combatted by smoking outside which many smokers do. Alcoholics on the other hand often don't have control of their emotions or actions which can be both mentally and physically harmful. Not having control of these things is honestly really scary for family members and friends a lot of the time; alcoholics can often get violent or mentally abusive. Bottom line is they both aren't great and have their negatives.

Both when abused can cause severe health problems and other issues on life.
But right that smoking can still make you function better than drinking alcohol that will make you drunk. But smoking on public places could also harm others more through second hand smoke while drinking in public could make one violent or annoyance which is also harmful to others but depends of the personality of the drinker or the effects of alcohol on him.

Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.


Alcohol is worse.

Someone who is drunk is a danger not just to himself but also to those who are around him. Alcohol is the cause of up to 39% of traffic-related fatalities. And since alcohol increases the risk of accidents not just on the roads the number of people who lose their lives or get seriously injured because they were drunk is higher.

Smoking however affects only the smoker or those around them who inhale secondary smoke — all of them health-related issues.