I'm with Jeff - this isn't the only hot topic, but as a people we need to know as much as we can before we start making decisions. Not always possible, but, when it is, why not?
Definitely worth a read. For me though this serves as a perfect example of the limits of public health policies and scientific studies. The answer to all the lack of answers could be more funding for more research and more studies but I don't think the results should even matter. Whatever the ultimate conclusion, it is unacceptable to lock adults in a cage for possession of a plant and children are the responsibility of their parents.
I say we take all the money set aside for studying drugs and study the people who use them instead. I believe we'd be much better off preventing people from wanting to escape reality (though any number of means) and providing support for those who want treatment rather than obsessing over specific substances.
Drug policy is always clearest at the fringes. Illegal opioids are at one end. They are dangerous. Manufacturers and distributors belong in prison, and users belong in drug-treatment programs.
I was legitimately disappointed to read this in an otherwise reasonable piece. This is such an absurd oversimplification and overreaction.
My tongue in cheek response is - cool, now do sugar. Sugar, and the many ways it is advertised and sold/packaged to kids is killing far more people than these drugs or cigarettes are. Right?
I don’t have a dog on this fight as pot has never appealed to me. But when someone starts mentioning psychosis, my ears perk up because this is nowhere I want to go or see anyone go. I do know from family experience that pot helps with nausea during chemo. It also helps some of my clients with anxiety. But drugs can react so differently based on a person’s body chemistry. My takeaway is we shouldn’t be as blase about it as we’re becoming without more scientific data.
Studying the drug and it's clinical effects versus studying the people and their behavioral tendencies? I like your thinking, but in our current climate I can't see very many judges going with the latter; they'll be more comfortable with hard numbered statistics.
Like most things, I view this from an individual agency perspective. What's the balance of allowing people to choose to do what they want versus being socially irresponsible and allowing a wave of norms (or worse, advertising) to very nearly dictate the actions of any of the uninformed? That's tough.
Personally, my experience for YEARS with the few times I tried weed in my 30s (could count on my fingers) was that it gave me immediate panic attacks and anxiety. I recall going out with friends in Chicago for a pre-wedding dinner and we smoked prior. The dinner was Really Hard for me to get through and thankfully they were Present. I also had a Super Intense experience with a pot cookie in Santa Fe years ago when I lived in a communal house. Thank god, the baker of the cookie was in his room and guided me with music and meditation and then I took a bath/slept.
Due to those experiences I rejected Mary j for years.
Somehow my body chemistry with Mary j Is Changing though… for the better…about two years ago I was offered THC drops before bed…and the Peace and Calm Was Significant. Ever since then on the Very Rare Occasions that I do partake in the herb I Have Incredibly Powerful and Healing Times rather than anxiety. I do not partake daily and I have yet to actually purchase any. I will accept an offer once I sit with my body and decide if the herb is what I need in my body at the time after checking in with myself.
Based on my experiences the last two years I imagine I would use mj as a medicinal herb if I am ever diagnosed with anything serious and integrate mindfully.
I also believe it has to do with how it is grown and created as to how the plant affects us.
From my perspective as a psychiatric nurse, I have seen the dangers of marijuana use, especially among young people. Psychosis is not something to take lightly.
I know that people don’t like to hear this but we should understand a lot more about this drug than we do because our brains are essential to our ability to prosper and flourish and marijuana is not good for our brain.
Oh I totally agree. I hope that my comment (especially "Weed has definitely made me way more crazy") didn't sound flippant. I spent a lot of 2019 and 2020 processing all kinds of challenging personal stuff and also working on a novel in which the protagonist (based on me) is unable to figure out whether or not he is more or less real than the author (also me, obviously) but then they both realize that they're in a simulation, essentially writing each other into existence, and so they have to decide whether or not to work together in order to get free. Getting too stoned while writing really put me on the verge of losing it, especially when I had other external stressors in my life.
Nobody should take psychosis lightly. Your whole comment is right on.
Weed has definitely made me way more crazy, way more creative, and way less physically healthy, and the more I cut back the better off I am overall.
I have found weed to be way more addicting than alcohol. And social media & screens are more addicting than both of those. Which is out of whack with what most people would probably say, that alcohol is the most addicting, followed by marijuana, followed by screens.
And coffee, forget it. I'd give up a toe before I'd give up coffee.
I'm with Jeff - this isn't the only hot topic, but as a people we need to know as much as we can before we start making decisions. Not always possible, but, when it is, why not?
I think legalization will open up more studies to find out more.
Definitely worth a read. For me though this serves as a perfect example of the limits of public health policies and scientific studies. The answer to all the lack of answers could be more funding for more research and more studies but I don't think the results should even matter. Whatever the ultimate conclusion, it is unacceptable to lock adults in a cage for possession of a plant and children are the responsibility of their parents.
I say we take all the money set aside for studying drugs and study the people who use them instead. I believe we'd be much better off preventing people from wanting to escape reality (though any number of means) and providing support for those who want treatment rather than obsessing over specific substances.
I was legitimately disappointed to read this in an otherwise reasonable piece. This is such an absurd oversimplification and overreaction.
My tongue in cheek response is - cool, now do sugar. Sugar, and the many ways it is advertised and sold/packaged to kids is killing far more people than these drugs or cigarettes are. Right?
I don’t have a dog on this fight as pot has never appealed to me. But when someone starts mentioning psychosis, my ears perk up because this is nowhere I want to go or see anyone go. I do know from family experience that pot helps with nausea during chemo. It also helps some of my clients with anxiety. But drugs can react so differently based on a person’s body chemistry. My takeaway is we shouldn’t be as blase about it as we’re becoming without more scientific data.
Great comment, great scout.
Studying the drug and it's clinical effects versus studying the people and their behavioral tendencies? I like your thinking, but in our current climate I can't see very many judges going with the latter; they'll be more comfortable with hard numbered statistics.
Like most things, I view this from an individual agency perspective. What's the balance of allowing people to choose to do what they want versus being socially irresponsible and allowing a wave of norms (or worse, advertising) to very nearly dictate the actions of any of the uninformed? That's tough.
Personally, my experience for YEARS with the few times I tried weed in my 30s (could count on my fingers) was that it gave me immediate panic attacks and anxiety. I recall going out with friends in Chicago for a pre-wedding dinner and we smoked prior. The dinner was Really Hard for me to get through and thankfully they were Present. I also had a Super Intense experience with a pot cookie in Santa Fe years ago when I lived in a communal house. Thank god, the baker of the cookie was in his room and guided me with music and meditation and then I took a bath/slept.
Due to those experiences I rejected Mary j for years.
Somehow my body chemistry with Mary j Is Changing though… for the better…about two years ago I was offered THC drops before bed…and the Peace and Calm Was Significant. Ever since then on the Very Rare Occasions that I do partake in the herb I Have Incredibly Powerful and Healing Times rather than anxiety. I do not partake daily and I have yet to actually purchase any. I will accept an offer once I sit with my body and decide if the herb is what I need in my body at the time after checking in with myself.
Based on my experiences the last two years I imagine I would use mj as a medicinal herb if I am ever diagnosed with anything serious and integrate mindfully.
I also believe it has to do with how it is grown and created as to how the plant affects us.
From my perspective as a psychiatric nurse, I have seen the dangers of marijuana use, especially among young people. Psychosis is not something to take lightly.
I know that people don’t like to hear this but we should understand a lot more about this drug than we do because our brains are essential to our ability to prosper and flourish and marijuana is not good for our brain.
Oh I totally agree. I hope that my comment (especially "Weed has definitely made me way more crazy") didn't sound flippant. I spent a lot of 2019 and 2020 processing all kinds of challenging personal stuff and also working on a novel in which the protagonist (based on me) is unable to figure out whether or not he is more or less real than the author (also me, obviously) but then they both realize that they're in a simulation, essentially writing each other into existence, and so they have to decide whether or not to work together in order to get free. Getting too stoned while writing really put me on the verge of losing it, especially when I had other external stressors in my life.
Nobody should take psychosis lightly. Your whole comment is right on.
Weed has definitely made me way more crazy, way more creative, and way less physically healthy, and the more I cut back the better off I am overall.
I have found weed to be way more addicting than alcohol. And social media & screens are more addicting than both of those. Which is out of whack with what most people would probably say, that alcohol is the most addicting, followed by marijuana, followed by screens.
And coffee, forget it. I'd give up a toe before I'd give up coffee.