I have always favored legalizing pot but I've had misgivings about the industry. While there are legit medical uses for weed, especially in fighting inflammation, the pot biz wildly exaggerates the benefits. Second, all the research indicates it's better to not use it till you're like 25. It really can interfere with brain development in young people. Not radically, but it ain't good. And, many pot growers use pesticides and herbicides -- bad for Earth and your health. You're smoking pesticides.
@JohnShirley2023 one of the positive benefits of legalization is the testing regimes for pesticides etc, but you have to have a system that's hard to game or corrupt, which isn't the case in many states. You're right to be skeptical of the industry, which has been slanted by regulation heavily towards investment capital and away from the quality people in the traditional market. As for the health benefits, yep, they are both real in some cases and heavily over hyped in others.
@mrcompletely @JohnShirley2023 Good point about legalization being better from a regulatory and product safety standpoint. I'm not likely to ever use heroin, but if I did I'd want some legally produced pharmaceutical grade and not something made in a washtub in abandoned building.
@mrcompletely @pieist another thing is...I take a chance saying this...it has been my observation that people who get stoned and then go on youtube and watch stuff about flying saucers, or Qanon type stuff, or even flat Earth stuff, are more likely to believe it than if they hadn't watched in that state. Like, for some reason it seems to encourage conspiracy theories in people who smoke regularly. I have friends who smoke everyday and they have ROCK HARD critical thinking, always. But others...
@JohnShirley2023 @pieist same is true for psychedelics as well! Some folks learn the lesson "what I was taught about reality is wrong" (true) but then fall into a second order illusion instead of learning critical thought.
I don't know whether these things really make some people more gullible or if there's a certain kind of gullible mentality that is drawn to the chemicals... Causality is complex as usual
@mrcompletely @pieist yeah some people are just to prone to gullibility and shouldn't watch youtube videos when they've smoked pot...or shouldn't smoke pot...
@pieist @JohnShirley2023 yes, for highly addictive drugs I'd argue that legalization or decrim are actually more important, particularly in the era of deadly fentanyl cuts. It's a form of harm reduction. I consider opiates and amphetamines toxic and will have nothing to do with them myself, but I have deep empathy for the addicted, and my perception is that prohibition isn't helping them.
Hell, fentanyl is turning up in ecstasy now! Illegal markets are savage.