On this anniversary of Hitler’s birthday, I talk about how the campaign to legalize marijuana for medical uses created a widespread …
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Just to make clear, since people often forget what I say at the beginning of a video and assume I have a position I don't have by the end of the video: 1) I am pro-legalization of all drugs for moral and financial reasons. 2) All drugs have benefits and harms, and though I don't promote the use of any narcotic as a means to some particular end (productivity, creativity), I don't think all harms are severe enough that nobody should ever consider using a drug. People drink, people use prescription drugs. The cost/benefit of illicit drugs is the same. The choice should be in your hands.
Perhaps for another video – the problem with legalization is that we already have an entrenched prescription drug industry and it is difficult to put a proper light on things like cannabis (or its derivatives) or opioids for recreational or personal use while consumers access to other drugs with similar properties is restricted.
Back when I used to toke I never experienced addiction from weed. I thought I did a few months after I started but then I realised I was addicted the the tobacco rolled in with it and stated smoking. I went from being a heavy user to stopping just like that a fair few times with no issues other than peer pressure and maybe taking 10 minutes longer to get to sleep. Yeah purely anecdotal but thought it was worth mentioning.
[edit for further thoughts] It not being addictive certainly doesn't mean it's in any way good for you (outside of specific contexts) and I certainly took a few months to regain full mental clarity. That being said I really don't think it's as bad as nearly any other recreational drugs for regular use. A single heavy session can't, kill you or turn you insane for example an usually reduces violent tendancies.
As for it being a gateway drug I do consider it a gateway drug but only because it's illegal (where I live). It normalises the behaviour of hanging around criminals and buying from dealers.
I really want the ADHD video to come out👀 I personally partake in marijuana use and still respect this viewpoint. Thank you for opening my eyes for sure, will always keep this to mind.
Totally agree David. I am for pot legalization but I don't buy the whole "Marijuana is mother nature's medicine and it can cure all kinds of things" Yes as you pointed out Marijuana does have some legitimate medical use as a pain killer and appetite simulator for chemo therapy patients. Oh and that argument that marijuana is "natural so it must be good!" is laughable. You know what else is all natural? Hemlock, wolfsbane, cyanide, and arsenic.
In my navy days back in the '90s I did counter narcotics joint operations. You would not believe how many ships in the Gulf of Mexico were tagged in the system as being part of an ongoing investigation so we couldn't search them. When we did find drugs (Aubrey Fitch FFG 34 record MJ bust) the boats were small and crewed by people who said their families were being held to force them to be crew. The coasties (our law enforcement contingent) said it was a sacrifice to the war on drugs so it can keep going and narcotic profit margins can stay high. Later I had a chance to talk with some DEA guys who said that the transaction fees associated with laundering drug money are a significant portion of big banking revenues and the banking system would collapse without it so basically they're not allowed to make a serious effort to stop the smuggling. We spent billions to get rid of the Cartels and then the Shining Path terrorist group takes over much more brutally than the Cartels and counter narcotic operations stop. Last I heard there's even talk about letting Shining Path leadership "retire" legitimately with all their money. I only know for sure the bits I saw so it's a lot of second hand hearsay. On the other hand it's historical fact that our government was pervasively involved with bootlegging crime back during prohibition so it wouldn't surprise me if they're still buddy buddy with organized crime today. In government nothing is inconsistent that is also expedient.
"A systematic review evaluating 19 studies from 1966 to 2006 found no significant tobacco-adjusted association between cannabis smoking and lung cancer development despite evidence of precancerous histopathologic changes of the respiratory mucosa"
Used heavily, weed does cause chronic bronchitis, but at lest it doesn't kill you.
I am not saying the smoke is good for you but it's not nearly as bad as cigarette smoke.
Also the "brain damage" argument is kinda BS. Heavy users score lower on attention and memory, but this returns completely to normal a while after quitting heavy use. Yes, there may be some long lasting differences in the brain, but it hasn't been shown that there are any real downsides to this. It's kind of a stretch to call this "brain damage"
You know what else causes structural changes to the brain? Caffeine. But there is no reason to believe that these structural changes are very negative. Would you say caffeine causes brain damage? I doubt you would, and there is no reason to believe so. So why would say that to be the case for weed?
I agree with you on this issue. So does Ryan Ramsey. Do you think, perhaps, that one of the factors here might be that even after turning their back on statism, a lot of people still have trouble differentiating what concerns law and what concerns morals?
if youre an alcoholic, it will fuck you up more sooner than later, a few years addiction are already potentially deadly, or have at least nasty consequences. coke even more, its nastier than heroine but more accepted for some reason, the most dangerous drug imo (except having a really bad trip with serious psychedelics maybe) weed on the other hand compared to those drugs is just way more tolerant. its even healthier to smoke weed than tabac with chemical parfumes. and its not just thc that causes effect, weed has an abdundance of stuff in it which alter its effect.
there will indeed never be any official evidence for weed curing cancer, the pharmaindustry is way too powerful. but there are several famous guys who sold weed to cancer patients who claim it helped. good for them. i think it does help, for several reasons, one scientific is savestrol. plants protect themselves with savestrol, and our body uses it to kill cancercells (very controversial btw) but we spray on plants against parasites, so plants dont produce savestrol anymore, instead they just look perfect, but arent. weed is a very special plant, some even say its alien. it has the highest protein concentration, strongest fibers, barely needs anything.. and its psychedelic too. thats why recommending weed isnt always a good thing. some people actually freak out and get issues with breathing or st if they consume psychoactive weed. but it can also help, and either you have an issue with it or you dont. if not, there are no side effects like fe with ritalin (typical pharma bs).
I don't think I've ever heard a good argument for not legalizing marijuana. The war on drugs is a 'disaster', to use a Trumpism.
Well it sure is "normalized" now. Seems like everyone is using it these days. I'm actually worried my little brother is gonna get into it. This is coming from a guy who uses it with some regularity honestly. I don't really care what he does when he's my age, but he's still an early teen. One of the few side effects that actually concerns me a fair bit is the damage it can cause to a developing brain. I don't live with him and I won't smoke around him. I've also talked to him and told him about why I think he should avoid it for now; he's a pretty smart kid. Seems like the only advice people hear from authority is that it's terrible in every way and illegal. I think people just decide that, because it's obviously not as bad as they've been told, somehow it's actually good in most every way. But yeah, doesn't help that you only hear lies from school and the govn't.
Yeah, I like to get baked (though no where near as frequently as I used to), but frankly I can't stand "cannabis culture". Some of these stoners look at medicinal cannabis as a panacea which is a ridiculous claim to make about any substance lol but I wouldn't say it's particularly harmful either – certainly less so than alcohol. There's also no evidence of it causing brain damage.
Personally I've never had any trouble with withdrawal, and I used to smoke daily until I moved and never bothered to find a dealer again for over a year, then when I did he moved away and I've quit smoking again, and now I'll probably just wait until it's legal next year. I can't speak about other people's experiences but for me I just got easily bored for a few days then after like a week I was perfectly fine, never felt any of the things you claimed. As far as I know heavy users generally don't get the shakes or break out into cold sweats when cut off.
It's also helped in a creative sense, but only in general terms like story conceptualization – and no I didn't go back later and think it was stupid. Although I have recorded myself playing guitar high and later thought it sucked lol but it's never a good idea to use an altered state of mind as a crutch. While I have known some productive stoners I find myself to not be one of them, and I'd rather not be like Kevin Smith getting high all day instead of doing the necessary work required to complete a creative project.
Anyway, pretty good video even if I don't entirely agree with everything you've stated, but cannabis culture has definitely overblown the benefits and down played the potential harms of cannabis (personally I've found it more harmful to my wallet than over all health). Regardless though, laws restricting certain substances does nothing but increase crime and wastes billions in tax money as the failure of Prohibition has proven.
TL;DR – Cannabis is neither as good as the stoners claim nor quite as harmful or useless as you've claimed and prohibition is pointless.
My reaction going into this video: "Crap… I'm about to disagree with David?!?"
My reaction almost instantly into the video: "Oh… Yeah… I literally know people who run around loudly proclaiming marijuana as a CURE for cancer (instead of products which mitigate side effects)."
So… Yeah… Logistically you're absolutely correct. I even agree that the medical avenue to legalization was NEVER an ETHICAL argument to make, since it was obviously a backdoor lie told to propagate a "greater good" (who decides the "greater good"? Who decides who "decides the greater good?" Who supervises this process? Who chooses the supervisors? Who watches the watchmen?).
The biggest problem here, in my view, in the inadequacies of the English word "addiction".
An opioid addiction is an entirely different degree of addiction. The physical PAIN of withdrawal makes the addiction more difficult.
But that doesn't mean I didn't waste a huge chunk of my 20's smoking pot, and that probably wasn't the most logical use of my time.
Creating an environment where marijuana is widely perceived as a medicine gives the impression that it won't be harmful.
Harry Anslinger went after Marijuana AFTER the repeal of Prohibition in order to save his job and department. Before that no one believed the arguments about the dangers of Marijuana. You totally dismiss hundreds of years of folk medicine experience on the benefits. Synthetic THC has side effects not present in natural THC, and is not as effective. You don't have to advocate the legalization, but repeating the tired old arguments against legalization rings hollow to my ear.
I tried making these arguments in a debate with a group of stoners once. That whole stoners being peaceful hippies stereotype isn't as true as I thought it was. in my experience a lot of libertarians seem to not only think that you should have the right to do whatever you want, but any criticism against things like marijuana, abortion, prostitute etc is as wrong as making it illegal.
I've been saying this forever and people look at me like I'm crazy. I 100% agree with you. That's why I keep voting no recreational use in my state of Arizona.
Just to make clear, since people often forget what I say at the beginning of a video and assume I have a position I don't have by the end of the video:
1) I am pro-legalization of all drugs for moral and financial reasons.
2) All drugs have benefits and harms, and though I don't promote the use of any narcotic as a means to some particular end (productivity, creativity), I don't think all harms are severe enough that nobody should ever consider using a drug. People drink, people use prescription drugs. The cost/benefit of illicit drugs is the same. The choice should be in your hands.
Perhaps for another video – the problem with legalization is that we already have an entrenched prescription drug industry and it is difficult to put a proper light on things like cannabis (or its derivatives) or opioids for recreational or personal use while consumers access to other drugs with similar properties is restricted.
Marijuana cures media induced schizophrenia.
Alcohol causes brain damage.
the problem is your are trying to reason with potheads whose minds are made up and weed is godlike status
Back when I used to toke I never experienced addiction from weed. I thought I did a few months after I started but then I realised I was addicted the the tobacco rolled in with it and stated smoking. I went from being a heavy user to stopping just like that a fair few times with no issues other than peer pressure and maybe taking 10 minutes longer to get to sleep. Yeah purely anecdotal but thought it was worth mentioning.
[edit for further thoughts]
It not being addictive certainly doesn't mean it's in any way good for you (outside of specific contexts) and I certainly took a few months to regain full mental clarity. That being said I really don't think it's as bad as nearly any other recreational drugs for regular use. A single heavy session can't, kill you or turn you insane for example an usually reduces violent tendancies.
As for it being a gateway drug I do consider it a gateway drug but only because it's illegal (where I live). It normalises the behaviour of hanging around criminals and buying from dealers.
people didnt just come up with the idea pot was good for you you see it used in human history in a medical capacity for thousands of years
I really want the ADHD video to come out👀 I personally partake in marijuana use and still respect this viewpoint. Thank you for opening my eyes for sure, will always keep this to mind.
Knew a guy who smoked so much weed he god copd
Marijuana is bad for you. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's good for you. God bless everyone. 🙏🙌😇
You're totally wrong and people are dying because of people like you.
Totally agree David. I am for pot legalization but I don't buy the whole "Marijuana is mother nature's medicine and it can cure all kinds of things" Yes as you pointed out Marijuana does have some legitimate medical use as a pain killer and appetite simulator for chemo therapy patients. Oh and that argument that marijuana is "natural so it must be good!" is laughable. You know what else is all natural? Hemlock, wolfsbane, cyanide, and arsenic.
Don't forget about medical cocaine, I think they use it for cancer treatment as well.
I call bullshit! Weed grew back my amputated leg.
#freeLSD
In my navy days back in the '90s I did counter narcotics joint operations. You would not believe how many ships in the Gulf of Mexico were tagged in the system as being part of an ongoing investigation so we couldn't search them. When we did find drugs (Aubrey Fitch FFG 34 record MJ bust) the boats were small and crewed by people who said their families were being held to force them to be crew. The coasties (our law enforcement contingent) said it was a sacrifice to the war on drugs so it can keep going and narcotic profit margins can stay high. Later I had a chance to talk with some DEA guys who said that the transaction fees associated with laundering drug money are a significant portion of big banking revenues and the banking system would collapse without it so basically they're not allowed to make a serious effort to stop the smuggling. We spent billions to get rid of the Cartels and then the Shining Path terrorist group takes over much more brutally than the Cartels and counter narcotic operations stop. Last I heard there's even talk about letting Shining Path leadership "retire" legitimately with all their money.
I only know for sure the bits I saw so it's a lot of second hand hearsay. On the other hand it's historical fact that our government was pervasively involved with bootlegging crime back during prohibition so it wouldn't surprise me if they're still buddy buddy with organized crime today. In government nothing is inconsistent that is also expedient.
I don't think marijuana smoke is worse than cigarettes, as you claim.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1380837/
"Marijuana use in a prepaid health care-based study cohort had little effect on non-AIDS mortality in men and on total mortality in women."
It does not increase your chance of dying.
But I'm not saying it's good for you either.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_smoking :
"A systematic review evaluating 19 studies from 1966 to 2006 found no significant tobacco-adjusted association between cannabis smoking and lung cancer development despite evidence of precancerous histopathologic changes of the respiratory mucosa"
Used heavily, weed does cause chronic bronchitis, but at lest it doesn't kill you.
I am not saying the smoke is good for you but it's not nearly as bad as cigarette smoke.
Also the "brain damage" argument is kinda BS. Heavy users score lower on attention and memory, but this returns completely to normal a while after quitting heavy use. Yes, there may be some long lasting differences in the brain, but it hasn't been shown that there are any real downsides to this. It's kind of a stretch to call this "brain damage"
You know what else causes structural changes to the brain? Caffeine. But there is no reason to believe that these structural changes are very negative. Would you say caffeine causes brain damage? I doubt you would, and there is no reason to believe so. So why would say that to be the case for weed?
I agree with you on this issue. So does Ryan Ramsey. Do you think, perhaps, that one of the factors here might be that even after turning their back on statism, a lot of people still have trouble differentiating what concerns law and what concerns morals?
if youre an alcoholic, it will fuck you up more sooner than later, a few years addiction are already potentially deadly, or have at least nasty consequences. coke even more, its nastier than heroine but more accepted for some reason, the most dangerous drug imo (except having a really bad trip with serious psychedelics maybe) weed on the other hand compared to those drugs is just way more tolerant. its even healthier to smoke weed than tabac with chemical parfumes. and its not just thc that causes effect, weed has an abdundance of stuff in it which alter its effect.
there will indeed never be any official evidence for weed curing cancer, the pharmaindustry is way too powerful. but there are several famous guys who sold weed to cancer patients who claim it helped. good for them. i think it does help, for several reasons, one scientific is savestrol. plants protect themselves with savestrol, and our body uses it to kill cancercells (very controversial btw) but we spray on plants against parasites, so plants dont produce savestrol anymore, instead they just look perfect, but arent. weed is a very special plant, some even say its alien. it has the highest protein concentration, strongest fibers, barely needs anything.. and its psychedelic too. thats why recommending weed isnt always a good thing. some people actually freak out and get issues with breathing or st if they consume psychoactive weed. but it can also help, and either you have an issue with it or you dont. if not, there are no side effects like fe with ritalin (typical pharma bs).
I am 100% pro legalization. However, I do laugh when people proclaim it to be some cure all magic plant.
I don't think I've ever heard a good argument for not legalizing marijuana. The war on drugs is a 'disaster', to use a Trumpism.
Well it sure is "normalized" now. Seems like everyone is using it these days. I'm actually worried my little brother is gonna get into it. This is coming from a guy who uses it with some regularity honestly. I don't really care what he does when he's my age, but he's still an early teen. One of the few side effects that actually concerns me a fair bit is the damage it can cause to a developing brain. I don't live with him and I won't smoke around him. I've also talked to him and told him about why I think he should avoid it for now; he's a pretty smart kid.
Seems like the only advice people hear from authority is that it's terrible in every way and illegal. I think people just decide that, because it's obviously not as bad as they've been told, somehow it's actually good in most every way. But yeah, doesn't help that you only hear lies from school and the govn't.
Yeah, I like to get baked (though no where near as frequently as I used to), but frankly I can't stand "cannabis culture". Some of these stoners look at medicinal cannabis as a panacea which is a ridiculous claim to make about any substance lol but I wouldn't say it's particularly harmful either – certainly less so than alcohol. There's also no evidence of it causing brain damage.
Personally I've never had any trouble with withdrawal, and I used to smoke daily until I moved and never bothered to find a dealer again for over a year, then when I did he moved away and I've quit smoking again, and now I'll probably just wait until it's legal next year. I can't speak about other people's experiences but for me I just got easily bored for a few days then after like a week I was perfectly fine, never felt any of the things you claimed. As far as I know heavy users generally don't get the shakes or break out into cold sweats when cut off.
It's also helped in a creative sense, but only in general terms like story conceptualization – and no I didn't go back later and think it was stupid. Although I have recorded myself playing guitar high and later thought it sucked lol but it's never a good idea to use an altered state of mind as a crutch. While I have known some productive stoners I find myself to not be one of them, and I'd rather not be like Kevin Smith getting high all day instead of doing the necessary work required to complete a creative project.
Anyway, pretty good video even if I don't entirely agree with everything you've stated, but cannabis culture has definitely overblown the benefits and down played the potential harms of cannabis (personally I've found it more harmful to my wallet than over all health). Regardless though, laws restricting certain substances does nothing but increase crime and wastes billions in tax money as the failure of Prohibition has proven.
TL;DR – Cannabis is neither as good as the stoners claim nor quite as harmful or useless as you've claimed and prohibition is pointless.
Who the HECK is Charlie Parker??
I got a song in my library named after him.
My reaction going into this video: "Crap… I'm about to disagree with David?!?"
My reaction almost instantly into the video: "Oh… Yeah… I literally know people who run around loudly proclaiming marijuana as a CURE for cancer (instead of products which mitigate side effects)."
So… Yeah… Logistically you're absolutely correct. I even agree that the medical avenue to legalization was NEVER an ETHICAL argument to make, since it was obviously a backdoor lie told to propagate a "greater good" (who decides the "greater good"? Who decides who "decides the greater good?" Who supervises this process? Who chooses the supervisors? Who watches the watchmen?).
The biggest problem here, in my view, in the inadequacies of the English word "addiction".
An opioid addiction is an entirely different degree of addiction. The physical PAIN of withdrawal makes the addiction more difficult.
But that doesn't mean I didn't waste a huge chunk of my 20's smoking pot, and that probably wasn't the most logical use of my time.
Creating an environment where marijuana is widely perceived as a medicine gives the impression that it won't be harmful.
Harry Anslinger went after Marijuana AFTER the repeal of Prohibition in order to save his job and department. Before that no one believed the arguments about the dangers of Marijuana. You totally dismiss hundreds of years of folk medicine experience on the benefits.
Synthetic THC has side effects not present in natural THC, and is not as effective.
You don't have to advocate the legalization, but repeating the tired old arguments against legalization rings hollow to my ear.
Also Marge Simpsons birthday.
I tried making these arguments in a debate with a group of stoners once. That whole stoners being peaceful hippies stereotype isn't as true as I thought it was. in my experience a lot of libertarians seem to not only think that you should have the right to do whatever you want, but any criticism against things like marijuana, abortion, prostitute etc is as wrong as making it illegal.
I've been saying this forever and people look at me like I'm crazy. I 100% agree with you. That's why I keep voting no recreational use in my state of Arizona.
I thought i was the only person who knew hitlers birthday was today lol.