We Don’t Know Nearly Enough About Cannabis and Its Effects

Large Study Links Cannabis Use to Sleep Disruption, Especially Among Heavy Users (sciencealert.com)

We spent all these years saying, “Legalize Pot! It’s safe! Legalize Pot!” without having done any widespread tests to see if it really was safe.

Now we’re paying the price.

Getting roughly eight hours of sleep is crucial for most of us to avoid feeling like a zombie at work the next day. While some people use caffeine to keep alert during the day, others have turned to cannabis as a sleep aid.

Now, a large-scale study on the effects of cannabis on sleep duration and quality has called into question the drug's reputation as a beneficial pre-slumber choice.

Data on cannabis use and sleep duration for 21,729 adults were obtained from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional survey designed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More at the link.

So Much Wrong in One Short Title

Nation of Islam Professor: Jewish Weed Is Making Black Men Gay – PJ Media

Anit-Semitism. Homophobia. And what the heck is “Jewish weed” anyway?

“It is Jewish genius that has helped to weaponize the weed so that it may effeminize the black male of America. And be clear, it is Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam that is standing in between the total demasculinization of the black man in America,” Muhammad boldly and unscientifically declared.

Wow.

Ok, I thought we’d established that you cant “turn people gay”, just as you can’t “turn people straight”.

Second, we can weaponize marijuana now? I wasn’t even aware that Jews had much to do with pot. Huh.

Really, the whole thing is patently ridiculous.

We Made It Legal Without Really Understanding It

Going Green: The Physical, Mental, And Emotional Problems Associated With Marijuana | The Daily Wire

Several studies have found that smoking marijuana may trigger mental illnesses, including psychoses like schizophrenia, especially in people already predisposed to develop them. “[C]annibis use, primarily THC in cannabis, in genetically predisposed or at-risk populations, leads to earlier diagnosis of psychosis/schizophrenia,” found a systematic review of existing research conducted by Shweta Patel and colleagues, and published at the peer-reviewed Cureus Journal of Medical Science. “THC in cannabis also makes schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms worse and causes more relapses and hospitalizations.”

The article shows many other known side effects of the drug, including other psychological issues many negative effects on the brain, and even premature death.

I think in about 15 years, we’re going to seriously regret ever legalizing this drug.

We So Wanted to Do the ”Cool” Thing That We Legalized This Druge Before We Really Knew Anything About It

Cannabis users at 'much higher' risk of developing mental health issues (medicalxpress.com)

In fairness, we don’t know which is cause and which is effect here.

In a new study, published in Psychological Medicine, researchers in the University of Birmingham's Institute for Mental Health and the Institute of Applied Health Research found a strong link between general practice recorded cannabis use and mental ill health in one of the largest cohorts ever explored.

Senior author Dr. Clara Humpston said: "Cannabis is often considered to be one of the 'safer' drugs and has also shown promise in medical therapies, leading to calls for it be legalized globally. Although we are unable to establish a direct causal relationship, our findings suggest we should continue to exercise caution since the notion of cannabis being a safe drug may well be mistaken."

Dr. Joht Singh Chandan said: "The research reaffirms the need to ensure a public health approach to recreational drug use continues to be adopted across the UK. We must continue to progress measures to improve the prevention and detection of drug use as well as implement the appropriate supportive measures in an equitable manner to prevent the secondary negative health consequences."

More study is needed. And perhaps more control over the drug.