It's always good to hear what the experts have to say on these matters.
this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2024
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There are bad outcomes to cannabis use. It can kick off schizophrenia and depersonalization disorder, it actually can lower your IQ, and ending up in hospital because of palpitations from the high doses in gummies also happens, as well as cannabis hyperemesis, and it can affect sexual health and cause long term changes in the brain. This podcast did some great research https://www.psychiatrypodcast.com/psychiatry-psychotherapy-podcast/2019/5/1/marijuana-and-mental-health
Do I think recreational use is any more risky than alcohol? No. But using alcohol every day isn't great and neither is cannabis. A drink or two, a joint on the weekend? Not a big deal. Have some fun.
I think legalization in Canada is a bit mixed, dispensing with arresting and prosecuting people for having a little pot was a waste of time, and I don't really care if people relax with it. But there is a demonstrated increase in adverse outcomes from cannabis with legalization on the studies. And the 90 zillion weed stores in every city is overkill. Literally one on every block.
I don't use cannabis, the two times I've tried it it just made me tired so I don't see the point, but I don't care if people do. I just don't think it's wise not to know the risks.
While I think that legalisation, or at least decriminalisation, for personal use is probably the right policy decision I agree with Elton to a degree.
Currently there is a fairly well established cultural belief at least in English speaking countries that marijuana is not addictive, not dangerous to health, and not problematic at all.
The belief that marijuana is largely harmless persists despite the fact that we all know people who smoke excessively to the point of making their lives worse and if they come to this realisation they find it incredibly difficult to stop.
Criminalisation of marijuana, especially combined with over policing of specific communities as occurred in the USA, is a disaster. But not recognising the very real harms that marijuana does to some peoples lives is also a disaster.
I smoked a lot of weed, is addictive to a point but after 3 days sober it's not hard to not smoke weed. I haven't smoked weed in years. Nicotine on the other hand has it's claws deep in my soul. I could smoke weed tonight and not touch it again for 3 years, if I was years off of not having nicotine and I had a couple vapes I'd be back to a full time nicotine user within a week. That's both something that has happened and a hypothetical because of have to not currently be a nicotine user.
Shut up and play your piano, redcoat.
Noted drug scientist Elton John? Or the musician? Because I don't give a fuck what some entertainment celebrity has to say about that.
It can make sense if you flesh it out. The headline and two lines the musician said about it are shallow, but there's a grain of truth in there.
I do believe that overuse of marijuana is going to be a negative. Kids under 24 using marijuana is going to be a negative. And both of those are going to increase with legalization.
Neither are as harmful as prohibition, but they're still harmful.
Potheads don't need to be on quite the same level as alcoholism, but it should be closer than it is. If you're not acknowledging the harm of using the legal system to enforce this, his quote makes sense. He may not have stated it well.
Issue being that legalization always leads to less and safer use.
Safer, sure. Less? Absolutely not. More people will use marijuana when it's legal.
Factually incorrect across the U.S. in legal states.
And yet in Canada after legalization use has infact remained the same.
I only found sources claiming usage frequency remained the same but the amount of users has increased.
nice.
But OP's feelings say otherwise!
I tend to agree, but not for the typical reason...
I'm a cynic. Legal weed opens the door to a new industry with all the worst aspects of big pharma and big tobacco all rolled up into one.
What could possibly go wrong?
Sounds like the problem is capitalism then. Not weed.
Much less of an issue, so long as they also legalize home growers.
Any legalization will lead to the profitization of marijuana. Even if home growing is legal, that will first be marketed as a problem in comparison to good old fashioned, chemical laced, corporate weed. Then either lobbied away. The cynic has himself wrong, he is just observant.
What could possibly go wrong?
Sick people getting what they need?
Sick people being bled dry by the new big pharma... big weed.
I cannot agree there. I have yet to find a pharmaceutical that works as a better pain modifier. Believe me, I have tried. If I was not using it, I would be far less able to get through a day. And I pay less for it than I do my other pills on a per-day basis. My neurologist is fully aware of this too.
l get it, I really do, but you have to understand the cannabis industry at this point is in it's infancy.
I'm thinking 50-60 years down the line where home grown is pushed out by the weed equivalent of Marlboro and big companies are using crossbreeding to make their weed more addictive, just like big tobacco did.
What I'm saying is, I don't trust this new industry to not go down the road that big pharma and big tobacco did.
I agree that it could be considered addictive. But same could be said about booze. Prohibition is horseshit.
Yeah, having nuance on the Internet is hard.
Stupid old bonger meddling in North American affairs.
Says the American
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