After a lot of requests, I decided to chime in on marijuana legalization. But after sharing it early with Patreon supporters, I got a lot of feedback about issues I may have skimmed over or misstated, including from law enforcement officials and ER doctors in legal states.
I would just re-edit the video, but it would have to be re-uploaded at a later date. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to go ahead and release the video as is, but highlight these points that would have been included in this video if I had time:
In the video I say that marijuana can’t kill you. While there are literally hundreds of articles making the claim, technically it is incorrect. Prolonged and very heavy use over days with a high enough level of CBD can actually affect O2 concentrations that cause cells to enter an anaerobic state, which creates a flood of waste products that can damage the kidneys and lead to renal failure. According to the ER doc, "we see several cases a day of people coming in because of unexplained blood in their urine, to the point that the first question we ask in such cases is "how much marijuana have you consumed in the last 72 hours?"
In the video I suggest that cannabis is not physically addictive but it can be psychologically addictive. This is true, but I think I may have downplayed that more than I should. Many people do struggle with dependency on marijuana, and eventually get to where they can’t function without it. And while yes, this does pertain to alcohol as well, I didn’t want to discount the real dependence that some can have on marijuana.
I also brushed off the fact that people can go to the ER because they “got injured while high or took too much and got scared.” People who are naive to cannabis can get too intoxicated and hurt themselves severely, even fatally. This is especially true with edibles, which take way longer to kick in than new users expect, which leads to ingesting more of it before the effect hits, and get way too intoxicated.
A very valid point was made to my comment about pharmaceutical drugs being made from THC and CBD, the active components of cannabis. And that point was that the conditions those are used to treat are very specific, and the standardized dosage you receive from the pill makes it a lot more safe and predictable than the plant.
I also likely glossed over the connection with schizophrenia, especially with younger users. At a time when our mental health system is strained as it is, this is more problematic than I probably let on.
And last but not least, one counter-argument for the “yes, it’s bad but so is alcohol” argument is that adding marijuana problems on top of the alcohol problems we already have does not make things better in the world. I’m not completely on the same side of this fence, but I felt it was a point worth adding to the discussion.
Anyway, if you read this, thanks for taking the time. All things considered, my general stance hasn’t changed - especially that it should be reclassified so we can do more research on it - but I really want to make sure my presentation is fair; I found all of these to be valid points that I would have included in the video if I had the time.
Links to the information I use in the video down below of course.
Curious to hear your opinions in the comments.