1120 Comments

Alex, don’t confuse correlation with cause-and-effect.

Expand full comment

Yeah, I don't. And neither do the psychiatrists and researchers who have been studying this relationship for 40 years.

Expand full comment

You should be rallying against alcohol if your going to go down this route.

Expand full comment

Drugs (alcohol is a drug) mess with you. Lots of drugs mess with you lots.

Drug use is a sign of an empty, hollow life and is suicide on the installment plan, whether users want to admit it or not.

Expand full comment

Alcohol. Aka "ethanol" is naturally occurring in food. In fact, it is part of our culinary practices and has been since human history. A fruit or grain falls to the ground, enzymes turn the starches into sugars and yeast eat the sugars and produce ethanol and other alcohols. Most people can metabolize it fine. Like anything it can be abused.

However, cannabis has a psychotic effect for heavy and long-term users. It is not a food... it is only a recreational drug. It has some beneficial properties... mostly the CBD... but it is also a dangerous drug at the high concentration levels of THC produced today. I know several young men that have been hospitalized with psychotic issues after heavy and consistent use.

Expand full comment

> cannabis has a psychotic effect for heavy and long-term users.

false. the vast majority of long-term heavy users do not experience psychotic effects.

> It is not a food

false, it is a food, and a very healthy one at that.

> it is only a recreational drug.

false. it is a useful therapeutic for many purposes.

> a dangerous drug at the high concentration levels of THC produced today.

false

> I know several young men that have been hospitalized with psychotic issues after heavy and consistent use.

And I know several more who have not.

Expand full comment

What the hell have you been smoking to write all that!?

Expand full comment

Speaking from observation, smoking too much weed does have a deleterious long term effect on the brain.. the odd spliff is fine, but regular heavy use is best avoided.

Expand full comment

To quote you..."false, the majority of long-term heavy users do not experience psychotic effects"..

Duh - we are not talking about the majority here - we are talking about the cases where it DOES induce psychotic issues and those issues turn into violent actions.

You are playing Russian roulette with weed - you don't know if/when your system will react to the cannabis with psychotic behavior. If you are one of those folks - your life is ruined. Now your life can be ruined with Alcohol too, I'm not making a distinction - except that the "rare" psychotic behavior often does express itself in violent and deadly behavior.

Expand full comment

Would it be fair to characterize you as a regular user or some would say an abuser?

Expand full comment

remembering that native americans, some eastern euros like serbs and indigenous japanese lack the enzyme to metabolize alcohol, making it addictive, mind-bending and poisonous to the brain.

Expand full comment

True that some lack the enzymes. I lack them to digest wheat. But the Japanese and Chinese drink a lot.

Expand full comment

Went to college with a full blooded Sioux from South Dakota.

I can attest to the above.

It was eye opening how little it took for him to get plastered and at the same time could drink all night unable to stop until the body basically blacked out.

There is no next day with the guys laughing about the events the night before because he do not remember anything that happen the night before...

...and the behavior while drunk goes way beyond what ordinarily occurs when people are intoxicated...

Expand full comment

The issue with cannabis gets into so many swampy weeds with agriculture, transport, contamination with other substances, etc, etc it’s simply not a great stabile platform to argue much from. Especially on mental illness. We are suffering a huge on swell of anger and failure to cope. This feeds instability. We have many unstable who are more likely to turn to drugs of all sorts to dull the pain. We have an epidemic of narcissistic personality disorder due to social media selecting for it. We have predatory governments, corporations, institutions feeding off our families and communities. We have an epidemic of mass hysteria and frank stupidity as the information blackout and intense propaganda continue. Wow!

Expand full comment

when overwhelmed there's always the bible KW. 2 Colossians 7:14

Expand full comment

Many first psychotic breaks are triggered by pot.

Expand full comment

Is that just your expert opinion or do you actually have proof of that claim. I assumed you are an expert but perhaps with your proof of that claim you can verify your expert status as well.

Expand full comment

Any good drug will supply the perfect psychic storm to make it more convenient to come face to face with truth. Some will break in the face of this. Erich Fromm had much to say on this. Even laughing gas the dentist provides may trigger this. State Fascism will also trigger this among the severely damaged.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erich-Fromm

Expand full comment

It's a LOT more of a food than alcohol, which is a toxin, and is also not particularly older in human culture.

Any abused substance is a problem.

Speaking of food, overindulge there and death awaits.

You really should not offer opinions so detached from reality. It weakens Alex's already tissue thin argument.

Expand full comment

if I overindulge in food - the death awaiting is only my own... can't say that for weed and alcohol.

Expand full comment

I have seen this first hand.

Expand full comment

Calling it a food is a stretch. It is effective at lysing cell walls as we learned in honors biology. It does occur naturally, but is a toxin.

Expand full comment

Calling it a toxin is part of the woke indoctrination project. You should seek some help.

Expand full comment

Alcohol does not natural exist in food. It is created by yeast or certain bacteria through a process called fermentation.

Expand full comment

Alcohol is generated by a natural process that is common. Enzymes that convert starches to sugars are generally in and on the fruit, vegetable, grain, etc. This is how a starchy green banana turns yellow and sweet. Yeast are also in abundance everywhere. Cultured yeast is a relatively recent process. Before that the fermentation process was simply to allow the organic substrate to ferment itself with access to the open air. Yes, bacteria and molds can also do that job... in some cases both the enzymatic breakdown of starches and the conversion of the sugars into alcohol. Koji mold for example is uses in many Asian rice alcohol beverages. Lactobacillus is a common bacteria used in cheese making. These are all naturally occurring and part of the natural lifecycle of almost all non-meat food products.

Yes, alcohol exists naturally in food. If you have a fruit tree, pick up a very ripe fruit from the ground after it falls from the tree and eat it. You will generally be consuming alcohol.

Expand full comment

Alcohol is produced when produce ferments on the ground, like blueberries. I witnessed drunk Cedar Waxwings on Gregory Bald in the Smokys in the 90's. We process it further to boast concentrations past the point that it would kill the yeasts.

Expand full comment

I agree with most of your comment, except "its only a recreational drug". I believe there's no such thing as a recreational drug! All drugs are for sick people!

Expand full comment

caffeine is a drug. technically so are chocolate and sugar. Are they only for sick people? Didn't know that.

Expand full comment

Interesting perspective. Not sure I wrap my head around that given the history of drugs being consumed for recreational purposes. Steven Tyler just admitted to having spent $6 million on cocaine.

Expand full comment

There's no such thing as a recreational drug!

Expand full comment

you are a liar.

Expand full comment

You can't generalise everyone is different and react to things differently. If everything was so cut and dried wouldn't health be so much easier to work out and I imagine doctors would have all the answers which they don't by a long way.

Expand full comment

That is certainly true.

Expand full comment

it is suicide to intimacy with yourself and being in touch with your heart. Total segway away from connection with others on any level of intimacy or truth. I can see it clearly and I still use alcohol knowing full well that it has 0% help or usefullness to my spirit life. Never used pot more than 10x and it was always b/c I was inebriated on alcohol or I never would have done it. Same thing with unprotected sex! Always drunk. There's no fixing it looking at all of the negative, we can only get into the Word and seek God daily. It is the empty void and lack of relationship knowledge of God that drives ppl to act like satan.

Expand full comment

Boy howdy, & Praise Jesus. All things exist to glorify the Son of God! Return to The Word would alleviate all worries & anxieties at fraction of the cost of some meds. Can’t make cabbage when copy right laws aren’t in our favor. But the Word will not return void! Isa 55:11

Expand full comment

Segue, not segway.

Expand full comment

That's the alcohol speaking 😉

Expand full comment

Being a prude is a sign of an empty hollow life.

Expand full comment

No prude, me. Live and let live I say. But I see what drugs do to people and find it sad that they have so little of interest to do that they derive entertainment from poisoning themselves.

I see lots of people who vigorously defend their drug habits as “harmless fun”. They’re usually the ones who know the harm they are doing to themselves but childishly think that by pretending they’re not will make it so.

Expand full comment

This is the definition of prude: Knowing everything, reading minds, a feeling of superiority for no reason. People smoke pot to keep people like you away.

Expand full comment

Cringe

Expand full comment

I say calling people prudes is. Is it are or are it is? I am now a prude, but once had a partying, fun filled alcohol and drug fueled life of debauchery. That was hollow. I am now filled by the Grace of GOD. Free yourself. JESUS is knocking. Will you answer and let Him in?

Expand full comment

Tea and coffee are drugs. I know fora fact that ten cups of strong coffee turn anyone into a crazy wide-eyed loon: lets stay calm and keep a sense of perspective.

Expand full comment

That's why I add Irish cream (Bailey's, Molly's, Ryan's etc...)

Expand full comment

a good recipe for hypertension, but to each their own ;-)

Expand full comment

yep and fair haired son Hunter B was spending 200k per month

Expand full comment

He had two choices:

1. End up like Beau

2. Travel the world hustling millions while doing drugs and banging hookers

Smart man.

Expand full comment

Working on a new book.

"Hunter Biden: The Man, The Myth, The Legend"

Here's a sneak peak: https://tenor.com/view/the-man-the-myth-the-legend-famous-nice-to-meet-you-gif-16682483

Expand full comment

He had two choices:

1. End up like Beau

2. Travel the world hustling millions while doing drugs and banging hookers

Smart man.

Expand full comment

And there he is, the picture of health.

Expand full comment

74 years old, quadruple vaxxed and still sniffing coke and banging hookers...

If only we all could be so lucky

Expand full comment

Which he had every right to do.

Expand full comment

Yeah, that worked well. He's so toasted, he heard a song and wanted to do a cover of it. The other guys had to tell him that it was them playing the song.

Expand full comment

I'm sorry this is happening to you.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
May 26, 2022
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

It's my right to do whatever the hell I want as long as I'm not bothering others...

Expand full comment

Alcohol is a downer. However, there is evidence that cannabis use can exacerbate underlying mental issues, in particular bipolar issues. Legalizing marijuana may create a major problem for the US.

Expand full comment

No doubt that why it was legalized. More taxes. And the government probably spikes the pot sold in the shops

Expand full comment

Alex is wrong and has been readng propaganda. Pot is good for everyone. The US Dept of Health even has a patent for pot, Pat No. 6630507, saying its a neuroprotectant and antioxidant. Everyone needs neuroprotection and more antioxidants even just for all the poisons government puts in the air, food, water and injections. Th most successful people use pot daily, as do the most unsuccessful.

Expand full comment

People smoke pot, legal or not and it's decriminalized almost everywhere. So legalization is meaningless. This whole post hoc logic argument is stupid because pot use has been rampant for many years while it's been illegal.

Expand full comment

pot is up 90%...but so is everything else....no, it's the pot

Expand full comment

And we've had an increase in mental health issues... I know there's lots of factors involved but cannabis use could be one, particularly in people with a genetic propensity for mental health issues. .

Expand full comment

I have three kids with bipolar disorder and one had been diagnosed schizophrenic. He was the one most negatively affected by pot but the real issue for them isn't pot, it's stimulants. They all want the stimulants because of the dopamine. It's what bipolar people seem to gravitate toward, that which will produce dopamine. Cigarettes are a problem with all three. The youngest recently quit smoking and has gone off all stimulants and no longer smokes pot. He went through a full treatment plan that lasted almost a year to get him off meth. That's where the stimulants got him. So my feeling is that pot is the least of the worries but that it certainly may have been a contributor to the overall toxic mix.

My youngest son no longer has the delusional thought process and psychotic behavior because most of that was produced by the stimulants and then the meth. I am way more concerned about that drug than pot or alcohol.

Another bad one that is legal and which my middle daughter has gone completely crazy on is kratom. That stuff has a terrible effect on her, she goes completely batshit crazy on it.

Expand full comment

I agree. However, tobacco has also been used for hundreds of years. We strongly discourage it in this country and highlight all the negative health effects. We could do the same with marijuana, but people enjoy marijuana so they resist any criticism and defend its use.

Expand full comment

You know they could open up cultivation and the strength would go down along with the price. The stuff does mess up your head. I know frompersonal experience.

Expand full comment

Alcohol is a desensitizer, while pot is a sensitizer. Sensitizers enhance your current mood, so not everyone is "happy," when using pot.

Expand full comment

Not everyone who drinks gets drunk. I never smoked any pot I would buy that didn't have me in lala land in a few minutes. I think it doesn't allow many people to solve their problems and problems make people angry.

Expand full comment

Stop with the straw man argument. That’s like saying beating your spouse is bad, and responding “let’s talk about how beating your kids is bad.” Two destructive habits don’t negate each other as worthy of discussion, and addiction, like violence, takes more than one form.

The problem with this argument is also that we DO warn kids from a young age about alcoholism. Alcoholism is destructive and lends itself towards domestic abuse, child abuse, and even correlated to porn addictions.

We DO NOT warn our kids about pot addictions - which often leads to laziness, celibacy, and detachment issues at best, and poor mental health desensitized to humanity in the extremes.

My father’s parents were poor, abusive alcoholics. The cops were at their house numerous times a week. He graduated at 17 and immediately left for Marine corp boot camp and Vietnam. He carries more survivors guilt from leaving his little siblings in that home (and he has it from both). Growing up my parents seldom drank in front of my brother and I, or much at all (they’ve caught up as empty nesters 😂), and taught us the warning signs for alcoholism from the time we were toddlers.

Conversely, my mom’s siblings are 80-year old pot heads. 25% of their children became heroine addicts and another 25% haven’t had real jobs 4-5 decades into life. They all had weird sex issues and 1 divorce from porn addiction. Despite great careers (including as a physician) they are around 80 and completely broke because of poor decision making and inability to plan long term.

While I’ve usually steered clear of pot, even in my wild party days, because I noticed the correlation even as a kid between their terrible mental health/ immature decision making, never once did my parents harp on the issues associated with pot. They didn’t bat an eye when they did catch me smoking pot at 14. I definitely didn’t steer clear of drugs and alcohol in my party days, but it was shortly after I tried pot a few times at 14 that I connected the dots between my very misguided extended family and their pot habits.

It’s not about “which is worse.” That is very dependent on the individual. It IS sn issue that people act like pot is “no big deal” and any pushback is met with straw man arguments about alcohol. Legal or not, the excessive consumption of either destroys lives, families, futures, mental health and relationships. Stop pretending like the harms of alcohol that we often discuss are justification to deflect from conversations about the harms from pot. Denial doesn’t change reality.

Expand full comment

Very well said

Expand full comment

This is very good and your words are strong medicine. Strawman arguments about comparing alcohol use really resonated with me. The pro-pot crowd is a club, and they are always trying to recruit new members, including myself. I think the THC deceives its users into thinking they are someone they are not and their arguments are mostly weak intellectually. Take the ultimate pothead poster boy, Joe Rogan. He and all his MMA buddies all use THC before fights and they say it improves their abilities. I like Joe but his skills of debate, especially about pot use are weak minded. And by the way I'm intimately acquainted with 2 young men who have spent time in a psych ward due to already existing mental issues and mega pot consumption on top of that. But the pro pot crowd doesn't see any problems here with adolescents consuming today's high THC weed. To quote Levon Helm playing the old sniper back in the woods (Shooter) , "Things aren't always what they seem are they gunnie?"

Expand full comment

Love comedy......

Does anyone forget these young kids are doped, drugged and vaxxed up, eating genetically modified fake foods and literally learning everything wrong to do in life???

Expand full comment

Then just teach kids about pot like alcohol. Problem solved. Regulation doesn't work.

Expand full comment

It's not a strawman. It's a tu quoque.

Expand full comment

You are a strawman.

Or woman.

Not sure of the gender.

Expand full comment

Don't think so.

Expand full comment

A strawman argument misrepresents the other side's argument to make arguing against it easier. A tu quoque is "whataboutism". People saying "what about alcohol?" are making a tu quoque argument.

Expand full comment

That’s like saying “ Reefer Madness!” as a response to this higher THC plant that’s selling now. Absolute ignorance at its best. Alcohol is to today’s pot, like Tylenol is to Fentanyl. Yah, there’s higher doses of Tylenol, even prescription, but it doesn’t touch the effects of Fentanyl. Plus, it hasn’t been studied long term because people are dying! Or we can just ignore this connection & keep pushing high THC pot to our youth. Let’s just wait & see what happens. Great idea.

Expand full comment

You MUST be the last Republican in Seattle. Lonely much?

Expand full comment

I guess if I increased my subscriptions and podcasts like you, I’d never have time to ponder loneliness. There’s more red in this state than you think. BTW, are you paid for your responses? It seems the new trend for Dem.s to troll sites & get paid. Good for you. 👍

Expand full comment

He argues with everyone throughout this thread and is an admitted stoner. That's why he is defensive of anything negative said about marijuana. His argument? He smokes it and even though he gets "amnesia" once in a while, it hasn't made him psychotic. Case closed.

Expand full comment

Codeine to Fentanyl might be a better analogy.

Expand full comment

Thank you, agreed. I guess my case for prescription was the Tylenol w- codeine . Thanks again!

Expand full comment

If you reversed the places.

Anyone so thick as to think alcohol is the lesser evil shouldn't touch anything, their grip on reality is too tentative already.

Expand full comment

Only a few go through each day drunk. Many MJ users dose themselves every hour or less from Wake and bake, to Put me to sleep. That is addiction, and the THC stays in the body for a very long time even after you quit.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
May 26, 2022
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

Alcohol is water soluble. It’s absorbed in the blood.

Marijuana and other drugs are fat soluble; they are absorbed by the brain and sex organs.

They are not the same.

Expand full comment

now don't go gettin' scientific with these pot guys - their brains don't work that way ;-)

Expand full comment

Every pothead I know is hopeless. THC seems to create paranoia and irrational reactions.

Expand full comment

This is false...

Viewing Strangers that Tell A Vision creates stupidity lessening the ability to think..

Expand full comment

alcohol is a poison and CNS depressant. It's a dangerous substance to put in your body and damages your liver and kidnehys.

Expand full comment

The Queen Mother loved her gin : and lived to well over 100.

Expand full comment

True and so is weed.

Expand full comment

you are a retard.

Expand full comment

All the stupid crap most people do is alcohol related. Booze still warps the brain function days later when physically sober but not mentally sober.

Expand full comment

Come up Seattle pot head. 98% of the people that consume alcohol do it with their meals and it is just part of their food scene.

Expand full comment

98% seems exaggerated but drinking like you lay out is definitely the healthy way to do it. People drink all the time in France and starting young. But it is small amounts with meals and it seems to have no ill effects. Maybe even good ones.

Expand full comment

There are studies that moderate drinking improved health outcomes.

Expand full comment

must agree with you this time Elagabalus... if it were 98% then there wouldn't be so many bars and dives out there that don't server food but dish out the booze.

Expand full comment

Are you comparing Cocaine used by a millionaire to cannabis psychosis? Just checking..

Expand full comment

I'll do whatever the hell I want buddy.

Also, thanks for checking in on me.

#BlessYourHeart

Expand full comment

Yep. Alcohol is responsible for how many deaths, broken homes, medical costs, etc? Not to mention it affects EVERY cell in our bodies, so probably the worst drug put there overall. Bern arrested twice in my early life, both were in a drunken rage. Since my last arrest in 85 I haven't touched the shit. Made the front page of both the new haven times and Bridgeport Post due to the injuries I caused the guy that started it.

Oh, jury, NOT GUILTY on all charges thankfully. Again the booze or I woulda laughed at the jerk and walked away.

Expand full comment

Your escapade didn't make the New Haven Register? 😝 Just teasing. I used to live 20 minutes from New Haven. Born and raised in CT, couldn't afford to retire there. Congrats on your sobriety.

Expand full comment

So let's add loco weed to the mix, it's all over anyway.

Expand full comment

Like it or not, alcohol is part of our diet and our culture, and always has been. It's never going away and it never will. Moreover, unlike marijuana, alcohol is easily metabolized and doesn't stay in your system affecting your judgment and perceptions of the world for over 48 hours

Expand full comment

If the prohibition Karen's had existed during Medieval times, humans would likely be extinct as the discovery of alcohol sanitizing water would not been put to use.

Expand full comment

but nobody is telling youth and people alcohol is safe and no big deal. the awareness is out

but to be honest alcohol and guns have been around forever you know what’s new is the anti-depressant the anti-anxiety combined with increased marijuana use I guarantee you this is the biggest problem combined with broken families isolation depression in general kids should be out playing they should be playing sports exercising not being put on prescribed drugs that aren’t even tested on people under 18 to begin with. and it’s the increase in the THC with the new wave pot shops and available marijuana that’s the problem people figure it out it’s causing psychosis and violence like no other you’re the one saying weed mellows people out that’s why we’ve got to get the word out that’s not true anymore that it’s no longer 8% THC it’s up to 80% in some cases with oils and vapes

Expand full comment

Agree, it’s all bad. Definitely a combination of abuse in different areas. Mental health is a huge challenge, especially for parents, and prescribing physicians. It’s easy to say “ get your kids into sports, let them play outside,” when reality is that parents work a lot and kids unattended for too long create a problem. It’s just reality. And gov. is moving to approve pot nationally. That only increases black market because of lower prices. Mix in the fentanyl issue & our kids are looking at some serious hardship. Maybe not all that try it, but 1/6 will develop psychosis from heavy pot use. Our country is already struggling to keep our kids in school & succeed.

The only way to win this is to get the kids to understand they’re being “played”. Their addiction for profit pawns & their money is lining pockets of uncaring souls by using pot, vapes, & edibles w/ high THC. Plus, the regulations with cannabis growers & pesticides is a joke. They are basically self- governing. We are understaffed in Wa. & probably everywhere else in this industry. Decriminalizing is also opening door for more black market. Look at Cali. They can’t close fake stores fast enough to keep up w/ new ones popping up. They don’t even have to sell on the streets anymore. It’s a mess. Colorado is best state for documenting their downfall. More crime, more homeless, more traffic fatalities, more kids addicted, more negative everything since pot was approved. Coincidence? ALL of it? That’s not what residents there say. Not even close.

Expand full comment

I find it incomprehensible that whilst millions of people use alcohol responsibly, in the US you can drive a car, get married, become a parent and everything else grown ups do BUT you can't drink alcohol until twenty-one!

We humans ENJOY being stimulated with stuff so what else are the kids going to do but - drugs?

Prohibition was GREAT for organised crime - seems the current policy is still working, especially for the young.

Many things in life are bad for us in excess (tobacco, food, sex, gambling, power...) whilst often a little of what you fancy does you good, physically and mentally.

Whatever subject you can think of there will always be a minority who respond badly, so should we all do absolutely nothing at all, just in case?

Expand full comment

I do think prohibitions tend to make problems worse. The part I’m concerned about is the lack of education, or outright encouraging destructive behaviors. This applies to all the things you mention - drugs, alcohol, sex, food, gambling, tobacco, power. In the US we do a pretty good job of acknowledging tobacco and, for adults alcohol, and even gambling. In Europe kids are taught responsible alcohol habits from a young age, and because access is always there, being the driver or only drinking a reasonable amount is easier - there will still be alcohol tomorrow if your 16 or 18.

We do a horrendous job of the others here. Obese women are on the pages of every fitness magazine and pointing out being obese is not healthy results in hostile accusations of “fat shaming.” We are sexualizing little kids, detaching them from reality, pushing “affirmative care” which is a gentler way of saying child sterilization and genital mutilation, discouraging healthy committed sexual relationships while encouraging teenagers to watch a bunch of porn with all its violence and unrealistic approach to sex.

With pot we don’t educate, we present it as a “better” alternative to alcohol (which it’s not). Many literally believe there is no downside to daily consumption of weed or edibles.

We shouldn’t do nothing, but we should stop approaching every destructive behavior or habit as falling into some good v evil category. It detached people from reality and sends them into spirals of denial about cause and effect. This applies to dangerous big pharma subscription plans as well.

Expand full comment

By science we know that the frontal lobe of young people does not fully develop until after the teenage years. The frontal lobes is responsible for reason and decision-making. The lack of a fully developed frontal lobe is why 20-something people make great soldiers but it takes 30 and 40-something people to make effective senior officers.

For this reason I am not in favor of the drinking age being lowered. And I would prefer that the voting age also be raised to 21.

Expand full comment