pushing back against the "cannabis is harmless!" bandwagon

My mother has smoked tobacco every day of her adult life - and probably before she was 18. She's over 80 now. She has never had cancer. 

My siblings all smoked tobacco, well into their 30s, and one into his 40s or 50s. They are now in their 40s, 50s and 60s. They have never developed cancer or emphysema or COPD. 

I have known a few people personally who died from lung cancer. None smoked anything at all ever. 

I have never known anyone personally who died from cancer-related to smoking anything: no family member, no co-worker, no friend. 

My husband smokes, and he has met a lot of interesting people when he steps out of a restaurant or concert venue or hotel to smoke. On trips, he's ended up with some valuable information for our travel because he's met someone on a smoke break. 

Based on all of that personal experience, I should think smoking tobacco is just fine, right? My own, personal experience shows, explicitly, smoking tobacco is JUST FINE and, in fact, quite enjoyable. Plus, look at Now Voyager - if Paul Henreid lit me a cigarette, HOW could I not take it?!?

None of my personal experience has shown me that smoking is a horrible addiction that may lead to permanent disability and death, but I know it's a horrible addiction that may lead to permanent disability and death because of extensive scientific studies and lots of publicity surrounding the disabilities and death of famous people who have died from smoking-related illnesses.

Yet, by that exact same criteria, by their own personal observations from family or friends and experiences of their own, I have heard so many people tell me cannabis smoking or eating is:

• harmless
• can cure a host of ailments
• fights cancer
• improves breathing
• reduces anxiety
• prevents diabetes
• slows development of Alzheimer’s disease

In addition to their own, personal experience - through their own use or what they've "seen" - they also find something on a web site with a URL like "greathealthnews dot com" or "natural good health dot com" or whatever that touts all the health benefits they believe. Or they find one study on a university site - never mind how old it is, never how small it is, and never mind that aren't lots of other studies affirming the results - and use it over and over to support their belief that cannabis is magical, that "big Pharma" is working to keep this miracle drug away from everyone, and on and on.

I was one of those people that wanted cannabis to be at least harmless, if not actually beneficial. For years, I had no fear of it whatsoever. 

But then I got asthma, and I can tell you, first hand, cannabis did NOT help. And then I got more and more frustrated with the lack of concentration and short-term memory and motivation of people I was working with, all daily pot users. And then I started reading more and more - not just studies that said what I wanted them to say, but studies that said what I really didn't want to hear. And my conclusion: there is not enough known about long-term cannabis use to say that it has health benefits, conclusively, but there is a plethora of studies showing some very dire results from long-term use, like its adverse effects on brain development among young people. The connections between cannabis use and schizophrenia are also quite disturbing. 

Am I telling you not to use cannabis? No. Am I denying that you believe you feel dramatically better after smoking it or eating it? Nope. Do I think alcohol use is oh so much safer than cannabis use? Nope. Do I doubt that cannabis use has any actual medicinal benefits? Nope. 

I'm saying you need to stop saying or implying that cannabis is harmless or even beneficial because we just do NOT know. There is NOT enough evidence, period. I hope there will be more studies, I really do, but there needs to be so, so, so much more. And we need to be ready for where the evidence leads us, even if we don't like it.  

A person I loved dearly died from cancer a few years ago, and her last six months were increasingly painful. She was dating someone who had a legal business associated with cannabis, and he touted one small study out of Italy that seemed to say it reduced the size or spread of cancer. One study. One. Study. Based on that, he kept her so stoned that she had no idea what was happening for the last four months of her life. I'm not sure she was able to make proper end-of-life decisions. I'm not sure if she was making fully-conscious decisions to stay stoned. If all that pot smoking made her substantially more comfortable and less-in-pain in those last months, then great, even if it did remove all of her capabilities for any clear thought or conversation, but I will always wonder if she would have completely "checked out" mentally and emotionally so soon if she hadn't been so heavily stoned all of the time. 

During my university days, I watched a friend have an anxiety-ridden freakout after sharing a joint with several people, something so outrageous it could have been out of the ridiculously over-the-top and medically inaccurate movie Refer Madness. No one else had that reaction, so it wasn't laced with anything, she wasn't taking any medications, but her reaction was so dire, so disturbing, we came very close to taking her to a hospital. She gradually calmed down. A few months later, she tried pot again, and she had the same reaction. I really, really hope she no longer gets anywhere near cannabis.

I bring up these two personal experiences because, if other people are allowed to bring up some personal observation they had about someone's pot use that they deemed as positive, they should also know there are a lot of stories out there that are NOT positive. The reality is that anecdotes are not reliable for conclusive decisions. Neither of my two stories prove ANYTHING except ONE person's observations. It would be ridiculous for me to make decisions based on those two first-hand observations about cannabis use - yet I hear people do so all the time regarding the positives of cannabis. 

And one or two studies are also not reliable for conclusive decisions. A study in April 2020 regarding COVID-19 noted that "Available data from China suggest a lower than expected number of hospital admissions among the smoking population." The media jumped on that news and reported that smoking might reduce a person's chance of getting the novel coronavirus. The "finding" eventually got debunked as more data came in, but I heard about it for at least a week on various news outlets before that. I wonder how many people never heard the debunking part?

Look, as long as you do not use any cannabis products before or while driving any vehicle or ever around your children, or do not use it if you or your partner are pregnant, and don't use it before you are 25, I don't care if you use cannabis. If you aren't putting anyone else in danger through your use, if you are able to care for your family and manage your life while still using cannabis, I don't care. I feel the same way about alcohol, in fact. If you are stoned or drunk when I'm talking to you, and I can't tell, and we still have nice conversations and you are pleasant despite your lack of sobriety, I also don't care.   

I also don't think people should go to jail or prison for using cannabis. 

But I am going to push back against the "cannabis is harmless!" bandwagon. 

Update: "Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) affects the GI tract and can trigger severe uncontrolled vomiting. Once thought to be rare, doctors in the United States are increasingly reporting CHS cases in states that have legalized cannabis. If you are a frequent user of cannabis, please be aware of this, as many doctors, unless they are gastronomist, have not heard of it." More from this article in the Washington Post.