Think of the Environment!!!!

       So far I have focused on the pros and cons of the two drugs based on the person who takes them. In this post I want to look into the environmental effects of the drugs. The environmental effects I am interested in is the disposal process of both drugs.
       When looking into environmental effects I wanted to make sure I was getting a credit source and not a pharmaceutical company or a environmental extremist. For the Vicodin source I found the Hazardous Substances Data Bank which is run by the government. Hazardous Substances Data Bank focuses on the U.S. National Library of Medicine's reports of substances toxicology, environmental health, etc. Like several of my other sources they are run by the government; however, in this case I think it is beneficial to my research as they are pro Vicodin. According to the H.S.D.B. when Hydrocodone, the opioid found in Vicodin, is heated up it can actually release toxic fumes of nitrogen oxide. This is pretty scary especially considering that most people keep pills in warm places, i.e. the kitchen, closets near heaters, cars, etc.  Their research also states that if the Hydrocodone is released into the environment by any means of waste it has the potential to pollute the soil and water it comes into contact with. It can also contaminate any humans or animals that come into contact with the polluted soil or water.
         Once I had my source for environmental effects of Vicodin I knew that finding one for Marijuana would not be easy. The source I found was a paper written by the Botec Analysis Corporation; a company that specializes in crime and drug policies. In this source they were contracted by the state of Washington in order to analyze and advise the government on the best way to maintain drug control with Marijuana. This is another good source for me because they were contracted to help Washington state maintain drug policy in order to keep Marijuana legal. There analysis of the drug could potantielly help other states when they try and make the drug legal. Botec explains that the major impact on the environment that growing Marijuana has is energy. The plant requires a lot of energy to properly grow so depending on how it is grown, i.e. indoors, greenhouse, or out doors,  there is a potential for fossil fuel waste. They also mention that because it is a plant and can be grown outside it has the same environmental contamination potential as all field grown products. This includes:

- Nitrous Oxide Release
- Water Contamination
- Soil Carbon Sequetration
- Release of toxic chemicals (herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides)

Having to more sources really helps me when considering which drug is better but at the same time it raises more questions. Both products have the potential to release Nitrous oxide and both can avoid this. If we already deal with the environmental contamination's listed for marijuana for other farm grown products, why is it so bad? If my research has shown me that the Cannabis Sativa plant is beneficial for medical reason as well as to make products why is it illegal? Why is this subject so controversial? Does Vicodin have a warning label for how to properly discard it? Should both drugs have warning labels for discarding? Marijuana seems to only have potential for contamination when being grow; why has no one study the release of marijuana into the air (smoke)?


While researching I found a few videos that though they may not be 100% creditable they do make you think twice. Though I attempted to find videos for Vicodin it seems that there has been no research into the drug.