Everyone remembers the classic "This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs" ad that scared the living bejesus out of people in the '80s.

At the time, the ad was meant to convey the message that illegal drugs like marijuana hurt the brain. More recent studies, however, have suggested that excessive alcohol use is actually far more harmful to the brain than marijuana use.

According to a recent report from researchers at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, which appeared in the journal Archives of Neurology, there is no longer any doubt that this is the case:

“The take-home message is that, if you want a lot, you’re going to hurt your brain. This is something we knew, but this is a huge study that quantifies that,” said Rajesh Miranda, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

When it comes to marijuana, the myth that it kills brain cells has largely been dispelled. As the Drug Policy Alliance points out, however:

None of the medical tests currently used to detect brain damage in humans have found harm from marijuana, even from long term high-dose use. An early study reported brain damage in rhesus monkeys after six months exposure to high concentrations of marijuana smoke. In a recent, more carefully conducted study, researchers found no evidence of brain abnormality in monkeys that were forced to inhale the equivalent of four to five marijuana cigarettes every day for a year. The claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on a speculative report dating back a quarter of a century that has never been supported by any scientific study.

• Heath, R.G., et al. “Cannabis Sativa: Effects on Brain Function and Ultrastructure in Rhesus Monkeys.” Biological Psychiatry 15 (1980): 657-690.

• Ali, S.F., et al. “Chronic Marijuana Smoke Exposure in the Rhesus Monkey IV: Neurochemical Effects and Comparison to Acute and Chronic Exposure to Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Rats.” Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 40 (1991): 677-82.

A British think-tank has published a report for next year's United Nations Strategic Drug Policy Review that highlights the fact that marijuana is far safer than alcohol. According the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission:

"[I]n terms of relative harms [marijuana] is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco..."

"Historically there have only been two deaths worldwide attributed to cannabis, whereas alcohol and tobacco together are responsible for an estimated 150,000 deaths per annum in the UK alone."

 The full report, which calls for the decriminalization of marijuana to reduce the harm associated with the drug (which it suggests are primarily the result of laws against it) is available here.

The Denver Post reports that yet another drunken airline passenger has been sent to federal court on charges

stemming from an incident in which they caused problems on an airplane in flight. We've heard of drunk passengers groping flight attendants, publicly masturbating and even having all-out brawls on airplanes, but somehow we have another first:

Prosecutors say Ezra James Wallace, 29, took photographs of one of the girls despite her objections and even though she covered her face with her hands. He also bound the hands of both girls with athletic tape...

Wallace later told FBI investigators that he had drank about a half-pint of vodka before to the incident...

In a written statement, Wallace admitted to taping both girls' hands and said, "It was all in good fun."

He also stated he was "drunk and blurry" and that it was hard to remember details.

He said that his son has never been in trouble before and that he is not an alcoholic — he just "drinks more than he should." 

This past summer, SAFER called for marijuana lounges in airports nationwide after federal prosecutors expressed concern over the growing number of alcohol-related incident taking place on commercial flights. Government officials shrugged off the suggestion then, and it appears they are going to just keep their heads buried firmly in the sand and continue to do so.

"Twisted behavior against juveniles on airplanes won't be tolerated," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said in a statement. 

So, let's follow this logic: Twisted behavior on airplanes will not be tolerated. Twisted behavior on airplanes is virtually always associated with alcohol use by passengers. Twisted behavior on airplanes has never been associated with marijuana use. The government continues to have a policy in which marijuana use by passengers will not be tolerated, but alcohol use by passengers will be both tolerated and promoted.

Hopefully the U.S. Attorney has a small child who can explain to their daddy how truly ass-backwards the government's line of reasoning is in this situation.