- 7 weeks ago
Know the risks of modern marijuana! Stefan Molyneux lays down the Truth About Marijuana, discussing the recent rise in use, and modern marijuana's risks of mental and physical damage, not just to yourself, but to everyone around you.
Sources: https://fdrurl.com/marijuana
0:00:00 The Truth About Marijuana
0:00:57 Definitions and Cannabis Basics
0:01:51 Rising Use in America
0:03:54 Heavy Use Surges
0:05:03 Age Trends and Youth Use
0:06:56 Young Adults and Seniors
0:08:27 Past-Month Use by Age
0:10:14 High School Use Declines
0:11:05 Adolescent Trends and COVID
0:12:42 Vaping and Cannabis Delivery
0:13:46 Gender Differences in Use
0:15:05 Racial Disparities in Usage
0:16:48 Heavy Use and ACEs
0:19:19 Childhood Trauma and Drug Use
0:22:38 Rising THC Potency
0:24:28 Concentrates and Ratios
0:26:06 Mental Illness History
0:27:46 Addiction and Psychosis
0:30:07 Psychosis Harms Families
0:33:01 THC and Brain Chemistry
0:34:41 Schizophrenia Consequences
0:37:14 Mental Health Risks
0:38:52 Medical Uses and Limits
0:41:13 Early Use Damages
0:42:56 ABCD Study Findings
0:44:31 IQ Decline and Income
0:48:36 Brain Function Changes
0:52:20 Heavy Use and Brain Activation
0:54:30 Cannabis and Cortisol
0:57:26 Hormones and Lung Damage
0:59:40 Smoking Damage on CT Scans
1:01:44 Vaping Risks and Injury
1:03:43 Marijuana Versus Alcohol
1:04:45 Driving and Workplace Dangers
1:07:53 Sexual and Fertility Risks
1:09:44 Pregnancy and Parenting
1:11:21 Legalization Effects
1:13:16 Legalization History
1:16:39 Funding and Politics
1:18:43 International Drug Treaties
1:21:06 Could We Have Known?
1:23:16 Final Takeaways
1:23:52 Childhood Trauma Revisited
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Sources: https://fdrurl.com/marijuana
0:00:00 The Truth About Marijuana
0:00:57 Definitions and Cannabis Basics
0:01:51 Rising Use in America
0:03:54 Heavy Use Surges
0:05:03 Age Trends and Youth Use
0:06:56 Young Adults and Seniors
0:08:27 Past-Month Use by Age
0:10:14 High School Use Declines
0:11:05 Adolescent Trends and COVID
0:12:42 Vaping and Cannabis Delivery
0:13:46 Gender Differences in Use
0:15:05 Racial Disparities in Usage
0:16:48 Heavy Use and ACEs
0:19:19 Childhood Trauma and Drug Use
0:22:38 Rising THC Potency
0:24:28 Concentrates and Ratios
0:26:06 Mental Illness History
0:27:46 Addiction and Psychosis
0:30:07 Psychosis Harms Families
0:33:01 THC and Brain Chemistry
0:34:41 Schizophrenia Consequences
0:37:14 Mental Health Risks
0:38:52 Medical Uses and Limits
0:41:13 Early Use Damages
0:42:56 ABCD Study Findings
0:44:31 IQ Decline and Income
0:48:36 Brain Function Changes
0:52:20 Heavy Use and Brain Activation
0:54:30 Cannabis and Cortisol
0:57:26 Hormones and Lung Damage
0:59:40 Smoking Damage on CT Scans
1:01:44 Vaping Risks and Injury
1:03:43 Marijuana Versus Alcohol
1:04:45 Driving and Workplace Dangers
1:07:53 Sexual and Fertility Risks
1:09:44 Pregnancy and Parenting
1:11:21 Legalization Effects
1:13:16 Legalization History
1:16:39 Funding and Politics
1:18:43 International Drug Treaties
1:21:06 Could We Have Known?
1:23:16 Final Takeaways
1:23:52 Childhood Trauma Revisited
GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneux
Follow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1
GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!
https://peacefulparenting.com/
Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!
Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!
You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!
See you soon!
https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/FREEDOMAIN2026
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00:00Hi everybody, this is Devan Molen, you've been Freedom Man.
00:00:02Yes, that's right, the famous truth about presentations are back, baby, and we are going
00:00:06to talk about the truth about marijuana, the good, bad, the indifferent, and everything
00:00:11that you need to know to make the best decision for you and your future.
00:00:15Of course, we all grew up with the stuff about marijuana, and heaven forbid you ever talk
00:00:20about it online, this is the kind of stuff you will get.
00:00:24Hey man, it's 100% natural, an ancient remedy.
00:00:27It has powerful therapeutic benefits, it expands your mind, makes you feel good, it's harmless,
00:00:35or at least safer than alcohol.
00:00:37Hey man, do you drink coffee?
00:00:39It's the same thing.
00:00:40Well, not really.
00:00:41Well, you can't OD on weed.
00:00:44Well, let's look into this.
00:00:48Truth, media, and culture, of course, reinforce these messages, along with the culture-shredding
00:00:54stuff that comes out of Hollywood, of course.
00:00:56So, let's start with, get the philosophy show here, what do we start with?
00:01:00That's right, we start with definitions.
00:01:02So, regular use is at least once per week.
00:01:06Heavy use is 20 out of the past 30 days.
00:01:11Cannabis use disorder, or CUD, addiction classification, that's a DSM-5 classification, defined as the
00:01:17problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress.
00:01:23So, are you ready for some mouthfuls of syllables?
00:01:26I bet you are.
00:01:28Composition of marijuana.
00:01:29Marijuana has over 120 cannabinoids.
00:01:37THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, is psychoactive and the most prevalent CBD.
00:01:44CBD, cannabinoidol, is the most prevalent non-psychoactive component.
00:01:52Now, what is happening?
00:01:54This is focused on America, although the patterns, I'm sure, are similar elsewhere.
00:02:00Past year use for Americans aged 12 and up, 17.5, 48.2 million people in 2019, increasing
00:02:09to 22.3% in 2024, or 64.2 million.
00:02:16So, past year or past month, we'll do past month as well, having had at least one cannabis
00:02:23product in the last year or month, respectively.
00:02:25Past month use, from 11.5% in 2019 to 15.4%, or 36.4 million in 2024.
00:02:38Those are big increases.
00:02:40Those are very, very big increases.
00:02:43A third, a quarter, it's big.
00:02:46Cannabis use disorder, from 4.8% in 2019 to 7.1%, or 20.6 million.
00:02:55In 2024.
00:02:58I mean, just look at these numbers.
00:03:00Look at these numbers.
00:03:01In just half a decade.
00:03:04Now, of course, there was COVID and all of that, but still, it's a big increase.
00:03:09There's been an explosion in heavy and daily use.
00:03:12In 1992, there were fewer than 1 million heavy users.
00:03:150.39% of 256 million.
00:03:19By 2012, this number grew to 6 million, 1.91% of 314 million.
00:03:28In 2024, there are an estimated 18 million heavy users, or 5.29% of 340 million.
00:03:397.9% of adults are now heavy users, which is wild stuff.
00:03:47Now, the x-axis here has a break from 1992, 2012 to 2024.
00:03:51So, this is huge increases.
00:03:55We have increased intensity of use.
00:03:57This has changes in self-reported cannabis use in the U.S. from 1979 to 2022.
00:04:02In 2022, heavy marijuana users first exceeded daily alcohol users.
00:04:08Among past month users, the median is 15 to 16 days, which is just shy of heavy use.
00:04:1420 days plus.
00:04:15The median for alcohol past month users is 4 to 5 days.
00:04:21On a per capita basis, marijuana use across the entire population was 0.64 days per person per month in
00:04:292008,
00:04:29or 2.3 billion days of use annually.
00:04:34By 2022, this increased to 2.03 days per person per month, a 218% increase.
00:04:46And that is in a very short amount of time, 14 years.
00:04:52So, 8.1 billion days of use annually.
00:04:56And then, this is just self-reported.
00:04:58We assume that this is under-reported.
00:05:03Past year trends by age group.
00:05:06From 2019 to 2021, past year use among kids at age 12 to 17 declined.
00:05:12From 13.2% or 3.3 million to 11%, 2.7 million, largely due to limited access from the
00:05:20pandemic,
00:05:21holding stable for 2024.
00:05:24Young adults, 18 to 25 held steady at 35% past year, 12.2 million in 2024.
00:05:32Adults, 26 plus, have increased from 15.8 or 33 million in 2019 to 17.3%, 28.3 million in
00:05:422021,
00:05:43jumping to 21.7% of 49.3 million in 2024.
00:05:54Now, these studies were conducted as in-home interviews.
00:05:57The 12 to 17 cohort is almost certainly underrepresented in their use here.
00:06:03So, we're going to examine a different study showing higher rates of adolescent use.
00:06:08In both studies, adolescent use is on a slow but steady decline.
00:06:11The fact that they're replacing it with vaping and other things we'll get to later.
00:06:15The graph here shows past year usage trends from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
00:06:22These are surveys conducted by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
00:06:26The data on seniors comes from a 2025 JAMA network open article cannabis use among older adults.
00:06:352007 use is somewhere between 150,000 to 380,000, as other studies reported, 0.4%.
00:06:452022 users is more than 4.6 million seniors, right?
00:06:50From like a quarter mil to 4.6 million is mad, absolutely mad.
00:06:56The past year use in the 18 to 25 group is particularly concerning
00:07:02as the brain is continuing its development up until about age 25, especially among men.
00:07:08The pattern here of high use in the 18 to 25 age group and lower use 26 plus age group
00:07:13is consistent across decades of substance use disorder.
00:07:17So, young adults 18 to 25 clearly, I mean, you can see the lines here, are the peak group.
00:07:23This lines up with the classic college and early post-college window, independence,
00:07:28then social environments, peer pressure, lower day-to-day responsibilities,
00:07:31and still developing brains.
00:07:34There's a noticeable drop, of course, once people move into the 26 plus group.
00:07:40The 26 plus category is broad, includes everyone from people in the late 20s and 30s
00:07:44all the way through to the elderly.
00:07:46The decline largely affects life stage changes, careers, serious relationships,
00:07:51family responsibilities, of course, and motivations for frequent recreational use is declined.
00:07:57Financial pressures reduce the time, opportunity, of course, and most people just age out of
00:08:02heavier patterns as priorities shift.
00:08:04Use in general is higher among adults in the 26 to 49 range, with use generally falling off
00:08:10among the elderly.
00:08:11And, of course, the boomers age into being elderly.
00:08:13They bring higher baseline use patterns with them.
00:08:18Seniors, 65 plus past year use, rose from less than 1% in 2007 to 8.4% in 2022.
00:08:27Past month's trends by age group.
00:08:30Past month use, any time would last 30 days.
00:08:33From 2019 to 2021, past month use among 12 to 17 declined.
00:08:38From 7.4% of 2 million to 5.8%, 1.6 million, again remaining stable for 2024.
00:08:45Young adults, 18 to 25, held steady at 24.1% past month, 8.4 million in 2024.
00:08:51Now, I don't know if this is different now, just sort of by the by, it's a little side
00:08:55quest here.
00:08:56I don't know if this is different.
00:08:58I didn't know when I was in, I went to three different universities, and I did graduate
00:09:04work at the University of Toronto.
00:09:06I didn't know any weedheads.
00:09:08I didn't know anybody who smoked drugs.
00:09:10I knew a few people as teenagers, and there was the burnout group, the outback group, and
00:09:14so on, that you could just see were going off a cliff in a World War I shot down airplane
00:09:19puff of endless smoke, but I didn't, it's how segregated weed culture, weed people, even
00:09:25occasional users, do not mix with others.
00:09:28You know, my friends and I were playing squash and going on hikes and so on.
00:09:33The idea of smoking weed was just as far from our mindset as we could conceive of, in
00:09:38the same way that not smoking weed is as far from the weedheads' mindset as they could
00:09:43conceive of, and ne'er the twain shall meet, in a way.
00:09:48Adults 26 plus was stable between 2019 and 2022, but jumped from 12.3%, 27.1 million in
00:09:572022, to 15.1%, or 34.3 million in 2024.
00:10:04That's wild.
00:10:06That's like 7 million extra pot smokers in two years.
00:10:12Wild.
00:10:14So, the graph shows past month's youth trends from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health,
00:10:18and these are conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
00:10:24The Monitoring the Future survey showed high schoolers' past month use falling significantly
00:10:28from 2015 to 2023.
00:10:31It's all about the impressions.
00:10:32It's all about what's considered cool and so on.
00:10:35And when these things change, as surely as a kite tail follows a kite, it will change as
00:10:40well.
00:10:41Another study showed high schoolers' past month use fell from 22% in 2015 to 17% in 2023.
00:10:49Of course, if you're home and you're kind of locked up under COVID and you can't get access
00:10:53to weed, then when you get to university, the big, of course, the big problem is promiscuity
00:10:58for women and drugs for men.
00:11:00I mean, obviously, big overlapping diagrams, but those are the general challenges.
00:11:05Usage trends among adolescents.
00:11:08The Monitoring the Future survey has been tracking drug use among 8th grade, 10th grade, and 12th
00:11:13grade students since 1975.
00:11:16The survey is taken in school, self-administered, and submissions are anonymous.
00:11:20There is a noticeable drop in 2020 among all frequencies of use attributable to COVID lockdowns.
00:11:27While there was a rebound in most categories, marijuana use has not returned to pre-COVID
00:11:30levels.
00:11:31Teens report that it's harder to get marijuana now.
00:11:35Pandemic lockdowns' habits persist, such as structured time, less socializing.
00:11:39There's a slight increase in disapproval of occasional marijuana use.
00:11:44Graphs showing lifetime use, past year use, past month use, and daily use are next.
00:11:54So, I vanished from the screen.
00:11:57I vanished from the screen.
00:11:58Lifetime marijuana use among U.S. students, 8th grade, 10th grade, 12th grade.
00:12:03As you can see, there's a decline.
00:12:05Past year marijuana use among U.S. students, 8th grade, 10th grade, 12th grade.
00:12:11Again, a slight decline, and this is past month marijuana use, and daily marijuana use is steady
00:12:23or declining.
00:12:25And of course, when marijuana becomes legalized, then the pathway to students diminishes because
00:12:32people can get marijuana from dispensaries, and so there's less of a delivery pipeline towards
00:12:40children.
00:12:42What about vaping?
00:12:44Vaping has increased as a method of cannabis delivery among adolescents.
00:12:48Other uses of vaping are nicotine and flavors only.
00:12:528th grade cannabis users are most likely to vape.
00:12:55Why?
00:12:55Flavors are especially appealing to younger kids who may find plain cannabis unappealing.
00:13:00It's easier to conceal.
00:13:01The devices look like pens or USB sticks.
00:13:04Vaping is also less harsh on the lungs than smoking.
00:13:07Next, we're going to have a look at the proportions of high school cannabis users who vape.
00:13:13Data for daily vape users is only available starting in 2020.
00:13:18Marijuana vaping among lifetime use.
00:13:21U.S. students, 2017 to 2024.
00:13:23As you can see, it is going up quite a bit.
00:13:28Marijuana vaping among past year use of marijuana for U.S. students.
00:13:32Same time frame.
00:13:33These are all the same time frame, except bottom right is 2020 to 2024.
00:13:38So it is going up, of course, quite a bit.
00:13:46Gender shifts.
00:13:48In 2023, women aged 19 to 30 reported higher past year use than men for the first time on record.
00:13:55And, you know, just by the by, this is one of the challenges of the patriarchy is where all the
00:14:00power and the coolness and the authority and the strength and the dominance is, which has women, of course, want
00:14:06to imitate men.
00:14:07And this can lead them to smoking.
00:14:11And this can lead them to swearing and to tattoos and to dominance and so on.
00:14:17Most women really can't, young women, can't really perceive benevolent masculinity.
00:14:23So they go with this kind of caricature of masculinity, of sort of chest-thumping dominance and bad habits.
00:14:28It's really not how it is, but that's how they perceive it.
00:14:31And if that's how you perceive it, that's what it is for you, right?
00:14:35Primary reasons cited by women include coping with anxiety and stress, greater comfort with legal products, preference for non-smoking
00:14:41formats, and reduced social stigma.
00:14:45In a separate 2023 study, 19.4% of female high school students reported past month use compared with 16
00:14:51.4% of males.
00:14:53Researchers note that high school girls share many of the same motivations as young adult women with the added pressure
00:14:58of peer conformity during adolescence.
00:15:00Hey, man!
00:15:01It's like philosophy.
00:15:03All the cool kids are doing it.
00:15:06Racial, ethnic disparities, overall use.
00:15:09And, you know, much though I hate to break things out in this way, if the numbers differentiate,
00:15:13you wouldn't want to put things in a big blob, right?
00:15:17Because there are racial and ethnic disparities, which is worth teasing out.
00:15:20Because we want to point out where the greater risks can be.
00:15:24Past year use is highest among multiracials at 32.9% and American Indians or Alaskan Natives at 30.2%.
00:15:33Past month use is highest among American Indians, Alaskan Natives at 25.2% and multiracials at 24.2%.
00:15:40Lowest use is Asian adults, 10% past year and 5.8% past month.
00:15:46So, as you see here, it's broken out with Asian.
00:15:48And for my British listeners, Asian means East Asian or Korean, Japanese and so on.
00:15:56Chinese, Hispanic we know, white, black and this American Indians, Alaskan Natives and multiracial.
00:16:05So, that's, it's important.
00:16:07Whether the multiracial young people or people as a whole are dealing with identity issues or not feeling like they
00:16:17fit in somewhere in particular,
00:16:19these are well-known psychological risk factors for multiracial kids.
00:16:22Could be something like that.
00:16:24Again, I'm not sure if the reason is really known, but it is important if you have a multiracial kid,
00:16:28be sure to have good conversations with them about drug use.
00:16:33When 2002 to 2021 increased most among Hispanics 4.3 times and black females 3.6 times.
00:16:42Overall, women increased more than men.
00:16:48Racial ethnic disparities, heavy use of marijuana.
00:16:53Heavy use highest among American Indian, Alaska Native and multiracials at 14%.
00:16:58Black adults at 10.4%.
00:17:00Whites at 7.6%.
00:17:03And Hispanics at 7.1%.
00:17:07Cannabis use disorder rates.
00:17:11Multiracial, 3%.
00:17:13American Indian, Alaska Native, 2.3%.
00:17:15Black, 2.2%.
00:17:20Youth heavy use and CUD.
00:17:23Cannabis use disorder also elevated in black, multiracial, and American Indian groups.
00:17:29I mean, I worked up north after high school and spent some time working with the indigenous population
00:17:36and seeing the reserves and addiction is absolutely catastrophic in those communities.
00:17:42It's really under-discussed and really needs to be talked about in society.
00:17:46Just wanted to mention that.
00:17:48The Adverse Childhood Experiences study was first conducted by Kaiser Permanente in 1998.
00:17:53I actually interviewed the guy who ran it.
00:17:56So, Adverse Childhood Experiences, these are 10 traumatic childhood events.
00:18:011.
00:18:02Did you feel that you didn't have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, or had no one
00:18:06to protect or take care of you?
00:18:082.
00:18:09Did you lose a parent through divorce, abandonment, death, or other reason?
00:18:133.
00:18:14Did you live with anyone who was depressed, mentally ill, or attempted suicide?
00:18:184.
00:18:19Did you live with anyone who had a problem with drinking or using drugs, including prescription drugs?
00:18:255.
00:18:26Did your parents or adults in your home ever hit, punch, beat, or threaten to harm each other?
00:18:326.
00:18:33Did you live with anyone who went to jail or prison?
00:18:377.
00:18:38Did a parent or adult in your home ever swear at you, insult you, or put you down?
00:18:428.
00:18:43Did a parent or adult in your home ever hit, beat, kick, or physically hurt you in any way?
00:18:499.
00:18:50Did you feel that no one in your family loved you or thought you were special?
00:18:5410.
00:18:55Did you experience unwanted sexual contact, such as fondling or oral, anal, vaginal intercourse
00:19:00or penetration?
00:19:02So, these are the questions, and they are highly correlated with negative life outcomes.
00:19:08It's not determinism, right?
00:19:10You get self-knowledge, you can actually become a better person through adverse childhood experiences,
00:19:14but in the main, in general, without that kind of intervention, it's negative.
00:19:19So, drug use as a whole is correlated with ACE experiences,
00:19:23in a dose-dependent manner.
00:19:25The more ACEs, the more drug use, and cannabis is no exception.
00:19:28When middle school students were asked if they had used cannabis in the past 30 days,
00:19:33this is what research has found.
00:19:35Now, just a reminder, it is unlikely that people will say they had childhood trauma when they
00:19:43didn't, but it is likely that people who had childhood trauma will minimize it.
00:19:52If you've ever talked to people, and I've talked to thousands of people about childhood
00:19:54trauma, but they say, oh, it wasn't that bad, or I deserved it, or it wasn't abusive,
00:19:58or they only had their best interests at heart, they were doing the best.
00:20:01They were doing the best they could with the knowledge they had, all of that kind of stuff.
00:20:07So, it's important that ACEs are underrepresented.
00:20:10If somebody said, I had a great childhood, and I've had this a million times on my show,
00:20:14people call in, so I had a great childhood, and we start to dig in, and it really wasn't
00:20:18the case.
00:20:18So, they're likely underreported.
00:20:21But, so, zero adverse childhood experiences, and that, again, that doesn't mean you didn't
00:20:26have bullying at school, it doesn't mean that you didn't get a lot of propaganda to hate
00:20:31yourself, particularly if you're sort of the white male category and so on.
00:20:34So, we're just talking about stuff that was considered bad in 1988, so that was a long,
00:20:39long time ago.
00:20:40So, zero ACEs is the baseline.
00:20:43Three to five percent of kids who report zero adverse childhood experiences are using drugs,
00:20:50cannabis in the past 30 days.
00:20:52One ACE is 2.4 times, or 9 to 10 percent.
00:20:57Two ACEs is 2.9 times, or 11 to 12 percent.
00:21:01Three ACEs is 5.3 times, or 21 to 22 percent.
00:21:05Four or more ACEs is 7.9 percent, or 31 to 32 percent.
00:21:11So, drug use in general, as is a lot of addictive or most addictive behavior, drug use is self-medicating
00:21:18internal horror at childhood trauma.
00:21:22It's a very broad statement.
00:21:24Science backs this up very clearly.
00:21:27Just remember, when you're dealing with an addict, you're often dealing with somebody
00:21:31who is self-medicating childhood trauma.
00:21:35Four or more ACEs are linked to a 4 to 12 times higher odds of illicit drug use.
00:21:43Many people use substances to cope with trauma-related distress, a pattern supported by the self-medication
00:21:47hypothesis, and multiple studies.
00:21:49They're not taking drugs to feel fantastic.
00:21:53They're taking drugs to stop feeling terrible.
00:21:56They're taking drugs to feel normal.
00:22:01In the same way that you take an aspirin or an Advil or whatever you take, if you have
00:22:06a headache, if you take them, you don't take it to get a high.
00:22:09Now, you take it so you don't have a headache.
00:22:11So, ACE scores and drug use.
00:22:14Middle school students who used marijuana in the past 30 days by ACEs.
00:22:18So, again, you can see the ACEs along the x-axis percentage of students along the y-axis.
00:22:24And, again, it's not deterministic.
00:22:26It's not like every kid with a terrible childhood is using drugs, but it is dependent.
00:22:33This is a terrible line.
00:22:35Just stay away to hell.
00:22:39Now, let's talk potency.
00:22:41It's not just in your spam folder.
00:22:44So, marijuana today is not the same substance from the 1960s to 1970s.
00:22:49It's the same argument you have as a whole.
00:22:50You don't want to think your children are going through the same kind of schooling or education
00:22:54that you went through because the leftists have taken over and it's, you know, everything
00:22:59for the revolution.
00:23:00Everything is toxic to health and so on.
00:23:04So, this is a deliberate result.
00:23:06The marijuana increase in potency, a deliberate result of selective breeding and market demand.
00:23:11So, let's look at the steep climb that has transformed marijuana's effects.
00:23:17Dispensary weed is more concentrated.
00:23:19It may also be mixed with concentrates, further increasing potency.
00:23:23So, during the 1960s and 70s, weed had about 1% to 3% THC.
00:23:30By 1995, it increased to about 4%.
00:23:33Early 2000s, 9.75%.
00:23:37Data on dispensary weed started in 2014 showing significantly higher concentration.
00:23:41Street marijuana today is commonly 15% to 18% THC, while dispensary marijuana ranges from 22%
00:23:48to 25% THC.
00:23:52So, look at this chart.
00:23:55Average THC, 1970 to 2024 or so.
00:24:04It is not your grandfather's weed.
00:24:09I mean, it's turned into crack.
00:24:11It's turned into stuff that seriously scrambles your brain.
00:24:14Oh, a little weed, blah, blah, blah.
00:24:16If you're older, it's not the same thing at all.
00:24:19At all.
00:24:21It's like saying, well, I had a light beer so you can drink gasoline.
00:24:29Concentrates are waxes, oils, and dabs.
00:24:32Dabbing is inhalation of a heated concentrate using a water pipe or other tool, similar to vaping,
00:24:36but less discreet.
00:24:39So, the concentrates are inhaled through vaping and dabbing.
00:24:42Moderately common is mixing with flour, with edibles, next most common, followed up by topicals,
00:24:49suppositories, mmm, and beverages.
00:24:56Concentrates measured 6.7 THC in 2007, bumping to 55.7% in 2017,
00:25:03and is now routinely 60 to 95% up to 99%.
00:25:10The illegality of marijuana was what largely drove the increasing potency of the drug.
00:25:14Legalization has introduced regulations on legal weed,
00:25:17as well as increasing demand for CBD products.
00:25:22So, this is the non-toxic CBDs, the non-intoxicating compound thought to temper some of THC's harsher effects.
00:25:30THC to CBD ratio in weed, 14 to 1, 1995, peak 103 to 1, 2017, still highly THC dominant at
00:25:41about 24 to 1 recently.
00:25:46So, please, please, please, if you're older, do not judge what your children are exposed to by what you're exposed
00:25:54to.
00:25:54It's like saying, well, I saw a Playboy when I was a kid, so hardcore corn on the internet is
00:26:01similar.
00:26:03Apparently, really not.
00:26:07Now, mental illness.
00:26:08Oh, I know, I know, and it's a tough one to talk about, but it's one of the reasons.
00:26:14Mental illness runs in my family, so it's one of the reasons I never touch that stuff with a 10
00:26:18-foot pole.
00:26:18Well, I can't be doing acrobatics with people throwing broken plates at me and asking me to catch them.
00:26:25I will simply fall.
00:26:27Now, we're going to transition a little bit to the effects of THC.
00:26:30So, we're going to cover historical reports to demonstrate that the health issues we will talk about were observed from
00:26:35at least the 19th century.
00:26:38Hashish, mentioned here, is a resin derived from cannabis which concentrated THC.
00:26:42It was consumed by mixing with tobacco and smoking, eaten as a paste in sweets, cakes, or candies, mixed into
00:26:47drinks, or eaten directly, or taken in a pill, form.
00:26:51In 1845, French psychiatrist Moreau de Tour documented hashish-induced hallucinations, paranoia, and psychosis-like states.
00:27:01In 1894, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission found 30 to 40 percent of Bengal asylum inmates were habitual ganja and
00:27:07chata users.
00:27:087.3 percent of all Indian asylum admissions were hemp-related.
00:27:13During the 1800s, in Egypt, up to 60 percent of asylum patients were linked to hashish.
00:27:19Hashish insanity syndrome was described.
00:27:24In the 1800s, U.S. asylum reports echoed these patterns, attributing 5 to 10 percent of insanity cases to cannabis.
00:27:33Now, by the by, THC concentration of 19th century hashish was 2 to 8 percent, much higher than what you
00:27:39get from smoking native cannabis buds, which range from 1 to 3 percent THC.
00:27:47So, is it addictive? Could it be addictive?
00:27:49Well, cannabis addiction risk, or cannabis use disorder as a DSM-5, that's the Manual of Mental Disorders, is a
00:27:57categorization that basically means addicted to marijuana.
00:28:00Among people who use marijuana regularly, at least once per week, roughly 15 to 25 percent develop cannabis use disorder.
00:28:09Among heavy users, 20 or more days per month, the risk rises to 25 to 40 percent.
00:28:15Past month users aged 12 to 17, the cannabis use disorder rate is very high, around 78 percent.
00:28:23Past month users aged 18 to 25, the rate is around 65 percent.
00:28:29Now, you could say, well, but it's not physically addictive.
00:28:32Doesn't matter.
00:28:33What matters is, does it substantially interfere with or undermine productivity, happiness, efficiency, effectiveness, and can you quit, right?
00:28:46So, we need to talk about psychosis, the mental state in which a person loses touch with reality.
00:28:51It typically involves one or more of the following.
00:28:54Hallucinations.
00:28:55Seeing, hearing, or feeling things that aren't there, most common, are auditory hallucinations.
00:28:59By the by, absolutely terrifying.
00:29:01I cannot imagine what it's like to see things that aren't there and how that would mess with your head
00:29:07completely.
00:29:07Like our senses and our objectivity are the only way our trapped in a skull cage prison brain gets to
00:29:14interact with reality.
00:29:15If you can't trust your senses, it really messes with your capacity for reason and your capacity to connect with
00:29:21other people.
00:29:22So, we've got hallucinations, we have delusions.
00:29:25Strongly held false beliefs that don't change even when presented with evidence such as paranoia, grandiosity, or beliefs that others
00:29:31are trying to harm them.
00:29:33That's right.
00:29:34My mother slept with a giant bread knife under her pillow.
00:29:38Disorganized thinking and speech.
00:29:39Thoughts and speech become confused, tangential, or hard to follow.
00:29:42I remember someone who came to a philosophy meetup many years ago.
00:29:46Just could not follow what he was saying.
00:29:48Could not interrupt him.
00:29:49It was a real challenge.
00:29:51Disorganized or abnormal behavior.
00:29:53Acting in ways that seem bizarre or unpredictable to others.
00:29:58I've been once at a party and a woman who was high didn't like the conversation and tried crawling out
00:30:04the window on the second floor.
00:30:06Not super wise.
00:30:08So, what happens to a psychotic individual?
00:30:11During a psychotic episode, people experience significant functional impairment.
00:30:14Missing work is very common during acute episodes.
00:30:17Its performance drops sharply.
00:30:18Repeated episodes or prolonged psychosis may result in job loss.
00:30:22Psychosis, of course, puts a lot of strain on your relationships.
00:30:25Paranoia can lead to accusations, withdrawal, and conflicts.
00:30:28Trust is damaged.
00:30:29Children around a psychotic individual experience fear, confusion, and emotional distress.
00:30:34Parenting capacity is impaired, be it from withdrawal, unpredictability, or neglect.
00:30:39In severe cases, there can be risks to the child's safety.
00:30:43This is the, you're possessed by a demon.
00:30:46The only way to cure you is to do something dangerous.
00:30:48Delusion.
00:30:49Long-term exposure to parental psychosis is associated with higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems in children.
00:30:56It's hard to grow up and be wise when you are frantically managing somebody else's Vesuvius erupting constant insanity.
00:31:05I can tell you that.
00:31:06So, what is the relationship between psychosis and cannabis?
00:31:12Well, high-THC cannabis, greater than 15% THC, is associated with a 3 to 5 times higher risk of
00:31:23psychosis.
00:31:25This increases up to 7 times if genetically vulnerable.
00:31:3041% of heavy users who experience psychosis progress to schizophrenia within 3 years, with ages 16 to 30 most
00:31:37at risk.
00:31:38Now, cannabis-induced psychosis is typically temporary and resolves with cessation of the drug, usually within 1 to 4 weeks.
00:31:46Early users, heavy users, and those with genetic predispositions are at risk for recurring or permanent psychosis.
00:31:54Generally, if a user experiences cannabis-induced psychosis and does not stop, this is a very strong predictor for more
00:31:59severe psychiatric problems.
00:32:05Now, given that high-THC, as we talked about here, greater than 15%, is associated with a 3 to 5
00:32:11times higher risk of psychosis,
00:32:14we should note that the average THC content in weed from your local dispensary is 22 to 28%.
00:32:19That's not even counting the concentrates, which range from 60 to 95%.
00:32:24You're going to have a hard time finding cannabis products that qualify as not high-THC even from the street.
00:32:31Once somebody experiences cannabis-induced psychosis, if they continue using it, it's a very strong predictor of progression to schizophrenia.
00:32:38Cannabis-induced psychosis comes on acutely.
00:32:41It frequently includes strong paranoia and suspiciousness.
00:32:44It can occur in people with no prior history.
00:32:46It usually resolves within days to weeks of stopping consumption.
00:32:49I knew a woman once who tried marijuana and was completely paranoid that everyone in the bar was trying to
00:32:56kill her.
00:33:02So, how does cannabis induce psychosis?
00:33:07THC acutely increases dopamine release in the main reward pathway of the brain, which is heavily implicated in symptoms of
00:33:14psychosis.
00:33:15So, dopamine is often called the brain's reward and motivation chemical.
00:33:17It plays a major role in pleasure, motivation, reward, and drive.
00:33:20It also helps with movement, attention, and focus.
00:33:23Excess dopamine is generally responsible for hallucinations and delusions.
00:33:27You want your dopamine in the Aristotelian mean.
00:33:30Too little, and you can't get out of bed.
00:33:32Too much, and you think you can fly.
00:33:37Repeated psychotic episodes lower the threshold of future psychosis.
00:33:41Psychosis, and chronic THC exposure down-regulates CB1 receptors.
00:33:51So, this disrupts normal endocannabinoids signaling, which then moderates dopamine, glutamate, and GABA.
00:34:03Glutamate is the brain's main excitory neurotransmitter.
00:34:07It's the gas pedal.
00:34:08It is responsible for learning, memory, and cognitive processing.
00:34:11It helps neurons communicate and fire signals to each other.
00:34:14Glutamate dysfunction is thought to contribute to cognitive problems.
00:34:18GABA is the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
00:34:22Think of it as the brakes.
00:34:23Glutamate is the gas pedal.
00:34:24GABA is the brakes.
00:34:25It calms brain activity, reduces anxiety, and prevents overstimulation.
00:34:30It helps maintain balance by slowing down or dampening excessive neural firing.
00:34:34GABA dysfunction can lead to too much excitation in the brain.
00:34:41So, the risk of schizophrenia is very, very important.
00:34:48Because cannabis use is linked to earlier onset of schizophrenia, late teens to early 30s,
00:34:52many individuals face decades of severe disability during prime adult years.
00:34:57Unemployment rates, 4-6%, generally 70-90%.
00:35:02Lifetime homelessness, 4-6% of people, 20-50% of schizophrenics.
00:35:08Lifetime incarceration, 5-10%, lifetime risk for men, often 20-50% or more for schizophrenics.
00:35:17High rates of repeated psychiatric hospitalization, with 30-50% re-hospitalized within one year of
00:35:23discharge.
00:35:24Life expectancy is reduced by 15-20 years compared to the general population.
00:35:30Appalling.
00:35:31I remember dating a girl in my early 20s, and we went to go and visit her grandmother, who
00:35:39was in a home in a small town in Ontario.
00:35:42And there was a guy there, just incredibly bitter.
00:35:45He was a young guy.
00:35:46He was stuck in an old-age home because I guess they didn't have any beds or there was no
00:35:49facilities or whatever.
00:35:50And he was a guy like in his early 30s with just like contempt and craziness in his eyes.
00:35:54And I don't know his history, of course, but I just remember like, that is the life you
00:35:57absolutely don't want.
00:36:00Yeah, the vast majority of schizophrenics become unemployable.
00:36:08And so, homelessness, homelessness at any point in your life, incarceration, spend any time
00:36:16in jail, being booked or arrested and held in custody, time served while awaiting trial.
00:36:20It doesn't include things like being held in the drunk tank or informal holds without
00:36:23being booked.
00:36:25Most of the time, schizophrenics will serve short terms in jail.
00:36:28Receiving a conviction of being sent to jail is common for serious cases while being sent to
00:36:32a psychiatric institution is not as common.
00:36:36The rate of incarceration for men here is less broad and involved being sentenced to
00:36:40serve jail time.
00:36:42Psychiatric hospitalization occurs for 0.4 to 0.6 percent of the general population, which
00:36:47includes schizophrenics.
00:36:49It is worth noting here that schizophrenics make up 0.3 to 0.7 percent of the general population.
00:36:55What happens with schizophrenics?
00:36:56Well, cardiovascular disease, suicide, overall poor health management.
00:37:02Many people with early onset schizophrenia do become parents, but parenting capacity is
00:37:06frequently impaired, increasing risks of family instability and child welfare involvement.
00:37:14Mental health risks.
00:37:16There are broader mental health risks that apply to regular users, not just heavy users of marijuana.
00:37:24These risks include increased depression risk, plus 51 percent, anxiety risk, plus 58 percent,
00:37:30and suicidal ideation risk of plus 50 to 65 percent.
00:37:37Contrary to no hangover and non-addictive claims, withdrawal symptoms affect 47 percent of heavy
00:37:42users.
00:37:42And again, this is just what people report.
00:37:43We can't read their minds.
00:37:45A lot of people are like, no, I'm fine, right?
00:37:46So it's probably higher.
00:37:48Heavy use also results in cumulative cognitive decline, including persistent brain fog and reduced
00:37:53executive function.
00:37:56You know, the burnout cases, the burn cases, the Christopher Lloyd character in the old
00:38:00show Taxi, the guy who, well, he was both a weed user and an alcoholic who interrupted my
00:38:08prom in high school.
00:38:09I went to three proms in high school and was dragged out by security screaming, I didn't do
00:38:15no disturbance.
00:38:18Stereotype accuracy is one of the most, IQ prediction and stereotype accuracy are just
00:38:23about the most reproducible things in all of psychology.
00:38:27So when you have the stereotype of the burnout guy with the thousand yard stare, the slow shuffle,
00:38:35the no ambition, and the lazy justifications for a slow decline, they come from real things.
00:38:42Stereotypes come from real things.
00:38:44You can't create a stereotype that doesn't have some truth in it and have it sustain or
00:38:49stick, right?
00:38:53All right.
00:38:54How to use and how not to use marijuana medicinally.
00:39:00There are documented medical uses for cannabis.
00:39:02Seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome, or tuberous sclerosis complex.
00:39:12Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, anorexia, weight loss associated with AIDS.
00:39:17Limited evidence exists for treating muscle spasticity and pain in multiple sclerosis.
00:39:22However, however, however, when it comes to using marijuana to treat medical health conditions,
00:39:27a Lancet study shows that there is little to no evidence that cannabis helps treat anxiety,
00:39:32depression, PTSD, or other conditions.
00:39:36Self-medication is dangerous.
00:39:41Using cannabis may even worsen outcomes or delay proven treatment.
00:39:46Medical marijuana use also carries the mental health risks we just talked about.
00:39:50This directly counters the common claim that people use cannabis for my anxiety slash depression.
00:39:55And listen, listen, please, please understand.
00:39:58I don't, I have massive bottomless sympathy for people who are stuck in addiction.
00:40:03A lot of times they got into addiction from bad childhoods.
00:40:06Nobody's responsible for having a bad childhood.
00:40:08You're just born into the family you're born into.
00:40:11You don't blame yourself.
00:40:11So, I have, I don't want this to be shaming people with addiction.
00:40:17I want this to be, please, please be aware of the risks.
00:40:20If you had a bad childhood, don't have that make you have a bad adulthood.
00:40:26We didn't have choices as a child.
00:40:28You just had to survive with whatever you had, whatever was around you, whatever chaos
00:40:31and violence was occurring.
00:40:33You just had to survive that.
00:40:35As an adult, you can make different choices.
00:40:36But it's hard to make good choices if you're surrounded by propaganda.
00:40:41I mean, if you've ever had the situation where I used a Windows Maps once, it took me
00:40:48to completely the wrong place, right?
00:40:49So, if you've ever had a GIS, sorry, GPS mess up, then you know that if you're just following
00:40:57the GPS, you end up in the wrong place.
00:40:59If you don't have the facts, you can't make better decisions.
00:41:01So, none of this is to shame you if you use marijuana, I guess you could have said this
00:41:07at the beginning.
00:41:08None of this is to shame you, is to give you better information so that you can avoid these
00:41:11risks.
00:41:13Risks of early use on the brain.
00:41:18Adolescents who begin using cannabis before the age of 18 have a 4 to 7 times, not percent,
00:41:25times higher odds of developing addiction compared to adult onset users.
00:41:31In the largest long-term study of over 11,000 American youth, the ABCD study, teens who used
00:41:38cannabis started out with stronger cognitive scores, but then developed more slowly than
00:41:42non-users.
00:41:43Over time, they fell behind in key brain skills, including memory, working memory, thinking
00:41:47speed, and self-control, even though they often begin with better baseline performance.
00:41:51And, you know, I don't want to get all political up in your grill, but I will point out that
00:41:59governments love censorship and have also legalized weed.
00:42:02So, they don't want you having access to things that might sharpen and improve your brain,
00:42:07counter-arguments, counter-factuals, things that go against general propaganda.
00:42:11They don't want you having access to stuff that's going to sharpen your brain and improve your
00:42:15thinking and challenge your preconceptions, but the stuff that turns you slower than a
00:42:19slug, hey, man, have at it, right?
00:42:21It's not an accident.
00:42:23It's not a coincidence, right?
00:42:26The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development, or ABCD study, hey, that's clever, right?
00:42:32It was published in April 2026.
00:42:34That's right.
00:42:34That's how up-to-date we are on this show.
00:42:36And strengthens its findings by combining self-reported data with objective testing of hair, urine, and
00:42:41oral fluid samples, right?
00:42:43So, they got some facts.
00:42:44This helped catch teens who were using cannabis but had not reported it.
00:42:47They tracked individuals over time, and if a child was found to have started smoking weed,
00:42:51they were moved from the control group into the cannabis users group.
00:42:56So, early use of marijuana is linked to – oh, I hate saying this.
00:43:01I really do.
00:43:02I really hate saying it – is linked to irreversible changes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
00:43:09Psychosis risk is dramatically elevated, 11 times higher odds of developing psychosis,
00:43:14and 27 times higher odds of emergency department visits or hospitalization.
00:43:20From JAMA, and that's the Journal of the American Medical Association, in 2026, any underage past
00:43:26year cannabis use doubles the risk of a psychotic disorder, and bipolar disorder within 1.7 to
00:43:322.3 years, 1.7 years, just over 1 year and 8 months.
00:43:362.3 years is 2 years and 3.5 months.
00:43:40Another 2026 study finds that youth with cannabis use disorder have a 52% increased risk of developing
00:43:46schizophrenia later.
00:43:47Now, just to be clear, I understand, of course, just for those who want to tell me that correlation
00:43:51is not causation.
00:43:53I understand that people would say, ah, yes, but, you know, they felt themselves going crazy,
00:43:57so they were using cannabis to deal with that stress and that anxiety and that worry.
00:44:01They've teased this stuff out pretty well, and they know with a fair degree, a reasonable
00:44:08degree – you can't ever get perfect with this kind of stuff – but a pretty strong degree
00:44:11of certainty that it is in fact the cannabis use that precedes the schizophrenia, and therefore
00:44:22it's much more likely that the cannabis use is the part of the domino set that has someone
00:44:27develop schizophrenia.
00:44:30The other stereotype, of course, about – I just noticed I remember when I used to do these
00:44:37without glasses, oh, many years ago – so the idea that people using a lot of cannabis are
00:44:47less intelligent, yeah, heavy adolescent use is linked to an average 8-point IQ decline
00:44:53by mid-life.
00:44:56So this is the Junaidon cohort, they tracked people from the ages of 3 to 45.
00:45:03That's huge.
00:45:04So this shifts someone from the 50th percentile to the 29th.
00:45:10The average for whites is 100, takes you down to 92.
00:45:14That is rough.
00:45:15That is rough.
00:45:17Persistent deficits accrue in memory, learning, attention, and executive function.
00:45:2463% of heavy lifetime users show reduced working memory activation, again 2025 JAMA study.
00:45:34This is awful.
00:45:35And of course, as you can see from the right hand of the bell curve here, heavy adolescent
00:45:39use is linked to the average 8-point IQ decline.
00:45:44What that means, of course, is that you are almost completely unlikely to be anywhere in the
00:45:50more intelligence.
00:45:52I mean, you could say, like, going from 130 to 122 is not the end of the world, except
00:45:57think of all the things you could have done with those extra IQ points.
00:46:03Lifetime consequences of the IQ drop.
00:46:05When looking at the majority of the population, IQ 85 to 115, each point in IQ drops lifetime
00:46:12income by 10,500 to 13,100.
00:46:18IQ is significantly genetic.
00:46:21It's 80% genetic by late teens, and it only goes up from there.
00:46:28So you are harming the physical infrastructure of intelligence.
00:46:33An 8-point IQ decline thus results in a lifetime earnings loss of $84,000 to $104,800.
00:46:40In other words, if someone gave you $100,000 to not smoke weed, would you take it?
00:46:47Because in some ways, that's what you're dealing with, right?
00:46:51But it's not just the money.
00:46:52The money is, in fact, the least of it.
00:46:53Lower IQ is associated with lower marriage stability, higher divorce, reduced parenting
00:46:57quality, and child outcomes.
00:46:59And, oh, sorry, this is a little bit of annoyance because I've been talking about this stuff
00:47:03for many, many years in public.
00:47:06When people lie to themselves, they can't be close to others.
00:47:10You can't be close to other people if you're lying to yourself.
00:47:13And so if you're like, hey, man, it's all natural.
00:47:15It doesn't do me any harm.
00:47:16It doesn't do anyone else any harm.
00:47:17Then people who know better can't talk to you, and they lose respect for you.
00:47:21At least smokers say, yeah, it's a terrible habit.
00:47:25I'm just addicted.
00:47:27But marijuana users, it comes not just with the physical addiction and the brain damage
00:47:33and the schizophrenia and psychosis risk and so on and IQ drops and all of that, but it
00:47:40comes with an entire infrastructure of belief systems that it is somehow superior or better
00:47:46or people who don't try squares or it's the same as coffee, you know, this crazy stuff.
00:47:51So it is the lying to yourself.
00:47:54Addiction is fundamentally about lying to yourself because if you don't lie to yourself, you
00:47:57can deal with the addiction.
00:47:58And if you lie to yourself, other people can't get close to you, especially if it's a dominant
00:48:02aspect of your life like weed.
00:48:05Lower IQ is also associated with increased criminality risk, 10 to 15% higher violent crime
00:48:11odds.
00:48:12Lower IQ is also associated with taking less good care of your health.
00:48:18And it's just terrible, terrible stuff all around.
00:48:21This decline would compound with existing racial IQ averages.
00:48:26So yeah, around IQ 85 is tragically the sweet spot for criminality.
00:48:31So you don't want to go from low 90s to mid 80s.
00:48:37Cannabis and executive function.
00:48:40So, a large study of over 1,000 young adults used fMRI to measure brain activation during
00:48:46several cognitive tasks.
00:48:49Heavy lifetime cannabis use was associated with altered activation patterns compared to
00:48:53non-users.
00:48:54The figure below shows the key brain regions involved in different mental functions.
00:48:59Attention, memory, decision-making, emotional processing, etc.
00:49:05So, this is working memory, relational logical reasoning, mode of function, reward, theory
00:49:10of mind, emotion, and language.
00:49:12So, let's break those down.
00:49:13I mean, I wouldn't expect you to know what they are.
00:49:15So, let's break them down a little.
00:49:16Working memory is holding and updating information in your mind while ignoring distractions.
00:49:21Remembering a phone number while someone is talking to you or keeping track of several
00:49:23things during a meeting.
00:49:27Rational, sorry, relational or logical reasoning.
00:49:29Understanding how things relate to each other, figuring out patterns or analogies like A
00:49:34is to B, SC is to D.
00:49:36Motor function, simple movement and coordination tasks, tapping fingers in time with a visual
00:49:40cue.
00:49:42Reward, how the brain responds to potential rewards or wins.
00:49:45Reacting to winning money in a game or anticipating a pleasurable outcome.
00:49:50Fundamentally tied into motivation, right?
00:49:52Theory of mind, understanding what other people might be thinking or feeling, interpreting social
00:49:57situations or someone's intentions.
00:50:00Emotion, processing emotional faces or scenes, recognizing whether someone looks angry, sad
00:50:05or happy.
00:50:06Language, understanding and processing language, reading sentences, or deciding if two words
00:50:11are related in meaning.
00:50:13And so, one of the things that happens with weed people is they will ascribe a theory of
00:50:18mind to other people that is utterly false.
00:50:20So, when I talk to people about the dangers of marijuana, I'm not a square who doesn't know
00:50:26how to relax and doesn't understand how to open my consciousness to other things and doesn't
00:50:31like, they don't understand my perspective.
00:50:35I view them as being in the grip of a self-medicating tragedy of early childhood trauma for the most,
00:50:42right?
00:50:42For the most.
00:50:42So, they don't understand my mindset.
00:50:46Now, understanding someone else's mindset doesn't mean that you have to agree with them.
00:50:51But if you have a false theory of somebody else's mind, you can't have a negotiation with
00:50:56them.
00:50:56If I think that somebody is talking to me just because they want to sell me something, as
00:51:02opposed to they have no financial interest in it, they're just trying to share information,
00:51:06I'm going to have a different response to them as a whole.
00:51:08If I view someone as being manipulative when they're just being honest and direct, I'm
00:51:14going to have a different response to them.
00:51:15So, if you can't have an accurate theory of somebody else's mind and their motivations,
00:51:21you can't have relationships.
00:51:22So, it's really, really, really tragic.
00:51:28So, yeah, these are just very different as a whole, right?
00:51:33So, this is the difference in, if you're just listening to this, you can see this on the
00:51:38screen, the difference in what lights up in marijuana uses versus non-marijuana uses.
00:51:47So, non-users, 0 to 10 uses, this is the triplicate thing.
00:51:53Non-users, 0 to 10 uses, moderate uses, 11 to 999 uses, heavy uses, 1,000 or more uses.
00:52:00So, for a 22-year-old who started at age 16, this would equate to a minimum of three to
00:52:04four times a week over that time, which is just under the threshold of a daily user.
00:52:09For a 36-year-old, that would mean just about once a week at minimum.
00:52:12So, heavy use casts a fairly wide net.
00:52:16So, it's not a lot.
00:52:18It's not a lot.
00:52:21Lifetime versus recent use.
00:52:23So, the first chart below shows brain activation differences based on lifetime history of cannabis
00:52:27use, comparing heavy users to non-users.
00:52:30Heavy lifetime use was linked to lower activation during the working memory task.
00:52:35Performance of heavy users was equivalent or worse than non-users.
00:52:39The second chart shows differences based on recent use.
00:52:42There's a scale difference.
00:52:44Recent use was also associated with lower activation on working memory and theory of mind, along with
00:52:48poorer actual task performance.
00:52:51So, here you can see on the right-hand side, the graphic shows differences between the...
00:53:02The first chart is the lifetime history.
00:53:05So, this is the Cohen D, measures how big the difference is between two groups.
00:53:100.2 is a small difference, 0.5 is a medium difference, 0.8 or more is a large difference.
00:53:15The first chart, lifetime history, this compares people with heavy lifetime cannabis use,
00:53:19over a thousand users, to those who have barely used.
00:53:23The clearest difference shows up in the working memory, which is the bottom.
00:53:28And remember, there's a scale difference here, right?
00:53:30On the x-axis.
00:53:32Heavy lifetime users had lower activation in key control regions of the brain.
00:53:36The more someone had used over their lifetime, the lower the activation tended to be.
00:53:41Second chart is recent use.
00:53:46This looks at people who had THC in their system at the time of scanning versus those who didn't.
00:53:50Recent users also showed lower activation on working memory, and to a lesser extent on
00:53:54theory of mind, and they performed worse on the actual task.
00:53:59What lower activation means here, those, these prefrontal and insular areas normally ramp up
00:54:04when the brain needs to hold information, stay focused, and manage mental effort.
00:54:07Lower activation suggests these control systems are not engaging as strongly during demanding
00:54:12cognitive work.
00:54:18So, as you can see, the activation is very different among those who've been long-term users
00:54:26and those who are currently high.
00:54:31Cannabis use and cortisol.
00:54:34THC acutely raises cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, within minutes and can keep
00:54:39it elevated for up to an hour.
00:54:40This is one of the reasons why it doesn't help you much with stress.
00:54:44With frequent or heavy use, the HPA axis becomes dysregulatable.
00:54:47What does that mean?
00:54:48The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.
00:54:51It works to regulate physiological responses to stress.
00:54:55Stress triggers the release of CRH from the hypothalamus.
00:55:01CRH then stimulates a secretion of ACTH from the anterior pituitary, which further prompts
00:55:08the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.
00:55:10The resulting accumulation of cortisol activates a negative feedback loop, which reduces these
00:55:16releases, ultimately terminating the stress response.
00:55:18Startle, you calm down, right?
00:55:20Long story short, chronic users of cannabis often show higher baseline cortisol, a blunted
00:55:28response to actual stressors, and a flattened daily cortisol rhythm.
00:55:32So this is the people, like there's a loud noise, they're like, huh?
00:55:36Right?
00:55:36It's a blunted response to actual stressors.
00:55:39It reminds me of a guy, oh, brutal story, in junior high school, there was a guy who did
00:55:46a lot of weed, and there was another guy who developed early, could pick up the murder
00:55:51ball with one hand, whipped it at the guy.
00:55:54He didn't even really see it coming, the stoner, and it hit him in the nether regions, and all
00:55:59he said was, oh, man, and then just kind of slid over sideways like a tipped stack of Jenga
00:56:09blocks, and it was rough.
00:56:10So he didn't really see it coming, didn't notice the stressor until a second or two after
00:56:14it had arrived.
00:56:15So again, we see these things, and we get these stereotypes, and there is some stereotype
00:56:19accuracy.
00:56:21So this pattern, higher baseline cortisol, blunted response to actual stressors, flattened
00:56:27daily cortisol rhythm, this pattern can impair the body's natural ability to manage stress
00:56:30over time, directly contradicting the common claim that cannabis helps with long-term stress
00:56:35release.
00:56:37So you can pause and zoom in on this, and you can ask AI about it more in general, but
00:56:43this becomes dysregulated.
00:56:46In other words, normally there's a stimulus, a stress response, and then the body immediately
00:56:50starts to tamp down, fight or flight, right?
00:56:52But if you remain permanently on higher baseline cortisol, blunted response to actual stress,
00:56:57stressors, then you end up with the kind of uneasiness that is the norm if you stop, and
00:57:04that's one of the reasons why people don't stop.
00:57:08Blunted cortisol awakening response, smaller morning spike, and flattened diurnal slope,
00:57:12less dynamic variation across the day.
00:57:14Early onset use has been linked to more pronounced flattening in some data.
00:57:18So this is non-users versus users.
00:57:22It's a higher cortisol as a whole.
00:57:26effects on male sex hormones.
00:57:30Heavy or chronic cannabis use is linked to 10-30% lower testosterone in men.
00:57:38Lower testosterone can cause reduced libido, erectile dysfunction, loss of muscle mass,
00:57:42increased body fat, fatigue, and mood issues.
00:57:46Some studies show that cannabis can also lower estrogen in men, which is associated with
00:57:51reduced libido, erectile dysfunction, increased body fat, and poorer bone health.
00:57:57Ah yes, menopausal ladies and bone health.
00:57:59Make sure you keep track of it.
00:58:02Cannabis use can also disrupt prolactin, impairing libido and erectile function while raising the
00:58:07risks of gynecomastia when levels are elevated and contributing to immune dysregulation when
00:58:14levels are reduced.
00:58:18That's actually, sorry to use a course term, you may remember this from Meatloaf in Fight Club.
00:58:26Gynecomastia is referred to as bitch tits, right?
00:58:29You get the press as a man.
00:58:33These hormonal disruptions are generally dose-dependent and often improve after stopping use.
00:58:37Often, not always.
00:58:40Risks of smoking marijuana.
00:58:43Well, paraceptal emphysema is large.
00:58:47A pickle boulet, documented even in younger heavy users.
00:58:52Boulet are large air pockets in the young.
00:58:56Elevated risk of spontaneous pneumothorax.
00:58:59Collapsed lung, I feel like I'm auditioning for a medical drama.
00:59:02Chronic bronchitis, airway inflammation, bronchial thickening, and mucoid plugging.
00:59:09One study found emphysema on CTs in 75% of marijuana smokers versus 5% of non-smokers.
00:59:19Paraceptal emphysema is emphysema along the edges of the lung lobules right next to the
00:59:22thin walls that separate them.
00:59:23It tends to form larger air spaces and boulet, the big air pockets, especially in the upper
00:59:28lobes.
00:59:29This pattern is more strongly associated with cannabis smoking and carries a higher risk
00:59:33of the lung collapsing, which can make your day...
00:59:37Not good as a whole.
00:59:41All right.
00:59:41CT of a 25-year-old male with healthy lungs.
00:59:44CT of a 66-year-old marijuana tobacco smoker.
00:59:48Now, again, this is mixing some categories, but if you look at the top scan of healthy lungs,
00:59:53the tissue appears mostly dark because it's filled with air, with white lines and dots
00:59:58representing blood vessels and airways.
01:00:01Those dark areas should look fairly uniform.
01:00:03In the diseased lungs we're looking at below, you can see larger abnormal dark pockets.
01:00:08These are big air spaces called boulet.
01:00:12They're not supposed to be there.
01:00:13They can rupture as well, which is why heavy cannabis smokers have an increased risk of a
01:00:18collapsed lung.
01:00:19The arrows on the bottom CTs show a bullous emphysema and bronchial thickening.
01:00:26Smoking marijuana causes real visible damage to the lungs.
01:00:31CT studies show bullous emphysema, large air pockets in the upper lobes, in heavy uses,
01:00:35sometimes at surprisingly young ages.
01:00:37This carries a higher risk of spontaneous pneumothorax.
01:00:41Chronic bronchitis, wind, and airway inflammation are also common.
01:00:46While not every user develops bully, the risk rises clearly with heavier, longer term smoking.
01:00:59So emphysema in a marijuana smoker and a tobacco smoker.
01:01:03So this is CT of a 44-year-old male marijuana smoker with paraceptal emphysema and a CT below
01:01:09of a 66-year-old female tobacco smoker with centrolobular emphysema.
01:01:18Paraceptal emphysema, this emphysema along the edges of the lung lobules, which we talked
01:01:22about before, this is putting you at risk of lung collapse.
01:01:30Centrolobular emphysema, emphysema that starts at the center of the lung, lobules around the
01:01:34small airways and blood vessels.
01:01:35It appears as patchy areas of destruction within the middle of each lobule.
01:01:38This is the classic type seen with long-term cigarette smoking.
01:01:44General vaping risks.
01:01:46While vaping does not, of course, carry the same risks of smoking, it has its own risks
01:01:50independent of drug use.
01:01:52Ultrafine particles, aldehydes, including formaldehyde, and flavor chemicals penetrate
01:01:58deep into the lungs.
01:01:59Inhalation of heavy metals and toxic chemicals from coils and flavor compounds.
01:02:04Respiratory symptoms include coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
01:02:10Cannabis vaping risks.
01:02:13Cannabis vaping is linked to a 1.8-fold higher respiratory symptoms compared with never vapors.
01:02:20Higher potency and faster delivery raises risk of acute anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations,
01:02:25psychosis, and vomiting.
01:02:29Unique contaminants such as a thickener used in illicit THC cartridges that caused the 2019-2020
01:02:36Ivali crisis, 2,807 hospitalizations, and 68 deaths.
01:02:44Vaping creates the conditions to convert CBD into a toxic compound, CBDQ.
01:02:51This is rarely present while smoking.
01:02:55Ground glass opacity.
01:02:57So, the top is healthy lungs.
01:03:01The lower pair of images comes from a 20-year-old with a history of vaping presenting with shortness
01:03:07of breath.
01:03:07In these CT images, you can see areas where the lung tissue looks hazy or cloudy instead
01:03:11of the normal dark.
01:03:13These hazy regions are called ground glass opacities.
01:03:16These indicate inflammation or fluid in the tiny air sacs of the lungs.
01:03:22In more advanced cases, you may also see a crisscross pattern on the top of the haze, which is
01:03:27referred to as crazy paving.
01:03:29The findings here were bilateral ground glass opacities with subplural spearing affecting
01:03:34all lobes.
01:03:35This means the hazy areas don't quite reach the very outer edges of the lungs in some places.
01:03:43All right.
01:03:44Comparisons to alcohol and tobacco.
01:03:47This comes up in discussions about marijuana.
01:03:49So, tobacco results in 480,000 U.S. deaths a year, primarily from lung disease, cancer,
01:03:55and cardiovascular damage.
01:03:57Alcohol causes 178,000 deaths per year.
01:04:00About two-thirds of the deaths, 117,000, are from accumulated body damage, liver damage,
01:04:06cancerous heart disease, and stroke.
01:04:08The remaining third of the deaths, about 61,000, are acute.
01:04:12Driving while under the influence, falls, alcohol poisoning, suicide, homicide, and other
01:04:17injuries.
01:04:18DUI accounts for 12,000 to 13,000 of these deaths.
01:04:22Heavy use of cannabis in any form results in 25% higher heart attack risk and 42% higher
01:04:29stroke risk.
01:04:30The high risk also means heart attacks and strokes can happen younger.
01:04:33Instead of a heart attack in your 50s, it can happen in your 40s.
01:04:36Onset of stroke typically happens at 65 to 70.
01:04:39With cannabis, it can happen in your 30s or your 40s.
01:04:45DUI and road safety impacts.
01:04:49Driving while high doubles overall crash risk, impairs reaction time, perception, and attention.
01:04:55In 2018, 12 million Americans drove under marijuana's influence.
01:04:59Again, probably more, but that's just the data we have.
01:05:02The numbers on THC-related deaths are not available at this time.
01:05:05Victims of THC-intoxicated drivers are not yet.
01:05:09Count it.
01:05:11Fatal crashes where THC is detectable ranges from 25% to 42% of drivers.
01:05:17I mean, that's catastrophic.
01:05:20In fatal crashes, THC-positive drivers doubled.
01:05:23In Washington, post-legalization, from 9% to 18%.
01:05:30Fatal crashes in Colorado more than doubled, up 138% from 2013 to 2020.
01:05:41A 2025 study found that 41.9% of deceased drivers were THC-positive, average 30.7 NG per milliliter.
01:05:51The legal limit of THC is typically 2 to 5 NG per milliliter.
01:05:56And I think everyone who cares about anyone, especially parents,
01:06:01we hate people who drive under the influence because it puts our children, ourselves, our lives, our family, in mortal
01:06:07danger.
01:06:09Don't.
01:06:09Frickin.
01:06:11Do it.
01:06:14Workplace and job impacts.
01:06:15Employees testing positive cause 55% more industrial accidents and 85% more injuries.
01:06:21See?
01:06:21Not just affecting yourself.
01:06:23The only way that you can think that marijuana only affects yourself is if you're on a desert island,
01:06:29where you're probably unlikely to get marijuana, but everybody exists as part of a social whole.
01:06:37And if you show up stoned or with the aftereffects of marijuana still in your blood,
01:06:42you're going to hurt people.
01:06:45Marijuana was detected in 7.3% of post-accident drug tests in 2022,
01:06:49a 204% increase since 2012.
01:06:53Occasional users, one to two times a month, are 57% more likely to miss work.
01:06:59Heavy users miss work 75% to 83% more and risk being fired 2.18 times more.
01:07:05I mean, I got pretty good at this, although I didn't see it too much in the tech field.
01:07:10Like, I was a tech CEO, for those of you who don't know, I interviewed like 1,000 people,
01:07:15I hired like 100 people, and if I even got the vaguest sense that the person was a drug user,
01:07:25I just wouldn't hire them, because it's just taking on a massive liability.
01:07:31Legalization of marijuana has been linked to an increase of 10% of injuries among workers aged 20 to 34
01:07:37and rising workers' compensation claims.
01:07:39It affects everybody, the taxpayer, the other people you injure, everybody.
01:07:43Again, I don't mean this to be shaming language,
01:07:46but it is selfish in that you're putting your own relief of trauma above the safety of others.
01:07:53But wait, there's more.
01:07:55Sexually transmitted diseases, or what used to be called VDs or venereal diseases when I was younger,
01:08:00cannabis use is associated with higher rates of risky sexual behavior,
01:08:03including more sexual partners and inconsistent condom use.
01:08:08Past year, marijuana users had significantly higher rates of chlamydia and trichomoniasis.
01:08:15Studies show that people who use marijuana, of course,
01:08:18multiple new partners using condoms less consistently, and this is horrendous.
01:08:23So, it means if you're sleeping with somebody who does weed,
01:08:26you're much more likely to get diseased.
01:08:29So, women.
01:08:31Baseline, 2.9% for non-users.
01:08:34Women have 7.4% rates of chlamydia and trichomoniasis.
01:08:40Men, 4% versus 1.1%.
01:08:43So, again, almost 400% increase.
01:08:46Much of the elevated STD risk appears,
01:08:48driven by behavioral changes rather than direct biological effects on immunity.
01:08:51The strength of the association may vary by gender and population studied.
01:08:58Fertility.
01:09:00Men who use marijuana more than once per week show approximately a 30% reduction in sperm count
01:09:05and sperm concentration, along with reduced motility and abnormal morphology.
01:09:11Yes, that's right.
01:09:13Even the sperm are stoned and don't show up for work.
01:09:17Women who use cannabis had about a 40% lower fecundability,
01:09:21chances of conceiving per menstrual cycle, in one study.
01:09:25Only 42% of cannabis users became pregnant during the study period compared to 66% of non-users.
01:09:33Findings on fertility are mixed overall,
01:09:34with some large studies showing little effect on time to pregnancy.
01:09:38So, but why take the risk?
01:09:40For what?
01:09:41Go to therapy.
01:09:45Pregnancy.
01:09:45Babies born to mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy weigh about 140 to 150 grams less on average.
01:09:51This is roughly a 4% reduction compared to the typical 3,400 grams or 7.5 pound birth weight.
01:09:58Yeah, I was 8.1 pounds of brain.
01:10:03The rest was not that important.
01:10:06Cannabis use is associated with a 50 to 75% higher odds of low birth weight.
01:10:11Increased odds of preterm birth before 37 weeks by about 40 to 50%.
01:10:16High likelihood of babies being small for gestational age,
01:10:20smaller than expected for the number of weeks pregnant.
01:10:22Major medical organizations recommend avoiding cannabis during pregnancy due to these risks.
01:10:28Family and child welfare concerns, perhaps the meat of the matter.
01:10:33Parental heavy use and cannabis use disorder are linked to lower positive parenting
01:10:38and more hostility and lax control.
01:10:41Children of heavy users were 2.5 to 4.4 times more likely to start marijuana early.
01:10:47This goes up to 7.1 times, not percent, times if both parents are heavy users.
01:10:53You're crippling your children and harming their brains.
01:10:56Sometimes permanently.
01:10:58The median age of children of heavy users starting marijuana decreases to 16 from 18.
01:11:03Children of heavy users have higher odds of other substance use.
01:11:07A California study found past-year users had nearly a three-fold increased risk of physically abusing their children,
01:11:13hitting, slapping, and burning.
01:11:16All that executive function, impulse control, and so on.
01:11:21Regional and legalizational effects.
01:11:23Emergency visits and poison control calls surged post-legalization.
01:11:29Youth visits doubled in some states.
01:11:31National poison control calls for cannabis increased 272% accidental ingestion.
01:11:38Symptoms like vomiting, lethargy, hallucinations, or seizures.
01:11:41Marijuana was legal in 24 states by 2025.
01:11:46Hotspots in New York and Colorado show amplified youth and heavy use impacts.
01:11:55The path to legalization.
01:12:01This is from James, who works with the show.
01:12:05He says, personal anecdote.
01:12:06I lived in Colorado, starting in 2009, a beautiful state.
01:12:10Over 300 sunny days a year, the air is thin, clear, and dry.
01:12:13It's great hiking, a pretty decent public transport system for America, and lots of bicycle paths.
01:12:18Going to downtown Denver and walking the 16th Street Mall was great.
01:12:22There were always people around, but it was quiet, clean, and you could always find something to do or just
01:12:25relax.
01:12:26In 2012, almost immediately after legalization, I was walking down near the bus station, and there was this unmistakable skunk
01:12:33lingering in the air.
01:12:35In fairly short order, the 16th Street Mall changed.
01:12:38It became crowded, dirty, smelling of weed, with more and more homeless and beggars lining the streets.
01:12:43It was no longer a nice place to go, no longer a place to relax.
01:12:46Pot went from being an occasional whiff you'd catch when walking by apartments or college dormitories to practically inescapable.
01:12:53I smelled it while hiking in the foothills.
01:12:55I smelled it walking around downtown areas.
01:12:57I smelled it around the apartment I lived in.
01:12:59I used to enjoy having my windows open, not after legalization, just about the only place I could escape outside
01:13:05of my home when the office was on the bicycle paths.
01:13:08And that's probably only because they let you get away from people, for the most part.
01:13:171970s. How did this become legal?
01:13:19Well, it's not organic, and it's not accidental.
01:13:22Grassroots activism begins in the 1970s.
01:13:24Eleven states decriminalize personal possession.
01:13:26The stated focus is on personal liberty.
01:13:291990s. Medical marijuana breakthrough.
01:13:31California Prop 215 in 1996 passes as the first statewide law for serious illness, AIDS, cancer, and pain.
01:13:38This is framed as compassionate access.
01:13:422000s. Medical laws expand to 13 states and more.
01:13:45Early ballot campaigns receive significant funding.
01:13:48Not organic.
01:13:49And look, it's one thing to legalize marijuana.
01:13:52It's another thing to legalize marijuana when society is forced to pay the bills.
01:13:57Right?
01:13:58When you get welfare, when you get disability, when you have to hit the taxpayer for your medical issues and
01:14:05medical bills.
01:14:07I'm a big fan of freedom, liberty, personal choices.
01:14:10If you legalize drugs while still having semi or socialized medicine and a welfare state and disability and so on,
01:14:18then you are really doing damage to society as a whole.
01:14:24So, 2012 to 2016, first recreational legalization in Colorado and Washington in 2012.
01:14:29Commercial sales begin.
01:14:30Shift from medicine only to adult use markets.
01:14:33Present day, 24 states plus D.C. have legalized recreational use and the commercial industry has exploded.
01:14:39Though, of course, slowly and lazily.
01:14:44So, advocacy groups all have left-leaning or progressive alignment.
01:14:48Alignment.
01:14:49Destabilize society.
01:14:52NORML founded in 1970.
01:14:54Marijuana Policy Project founded in 1995.
01:14:57Split from NORML to choose big donor money for lobbying and ballot measures.
01:15:02Drug Policy Alliance founded in 2000.
01:15:05Stated themes.
01:15:05Criminal justice reform.
01:15:06Racial equity.
01:15:07Anti-incarceration.
01:15:08Harm reduction.
01:15:09Social justice.
01:15:12And the Open Society's foundation's stated motivations for legalizing drugs.
01:15:17Prohibition and punitive criminalization fuel violence, corruption, black markets, mass incarcerations,
01:15:22disproportionately affecting minorities, and public health crises while violating human rights and civil liberties.
01:15:28A just support to drugs, they say, must focus on support, not punishment,
01:15:32treating drug use as a public health and social issue rather than a criminal one.
01:15:35They advocate evidence-based, humane policies centered on harm reduction, access to healthcare treatment,
01:15:41harm reduction services, and reducing overall societal harm instead of pursuing an unrealistic,
01:15:45drug-free policy.
01:15:52So, I mean, if you want to reduce drug use, you have to improve childhood for people.
01:15:58How do you improve childhood for people?
01:16:00Well, in education, you would talk a lot about parenting.
01:16:05You would not let people graduate without understanding the links between adverse childhood experiences and adult dysfunction.
01:16:11You would do more support with parenting.
01:16:13You would promote more voluntary family.
01:16:16In other words, you don't have to spend time with relentlessly abusive parents and grandparents,
01:16:20which reduces the harm to your children and their grandchildren.
01:16:24And so, there's a lot that you can do, which, of course, I've been doing.
01:16:27Peacefulparenting.com for the free book on how to be a great parent.
01:16:31Peacefulparenting.com.
01:16:32You would work on reducing childhood trauma rather than all of this stuff.
01:16:39So, funding behind legalization.
01:16:43George Soros funded about $80 million for legalization.
01:16:46Total funding is over $300 million, primarily to DPA.
01:16:50Peter Lewis, progressive insurance CEO, $40 to $60 million.
01:16:55His interest in marijuana was initially medical.
01:16:57He used it to treat pain from an amputated leg in 1998.
01:17:00John Sperling, University of Phoenix, founder of at least $3.5 million.
01:17:04His interest was also initially medical.
01:17:06He used it to cope with cancer treatments during the 60s and 70s.
01:17:09Now, both of these men shifted from medical marijuana advocacy to the broader recreational
01:17:13legalization efforts we saw in 2000s and 2010s.
01:17:17Soros, Lewis, and Sperling together covered about two-thirds of the funding behind the
01:17:21ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana.
01:17:26Political breakdown of legalization.
01:17:31Overwhelming support from Democrats, progressives in blue and purple states.
01:17:36Recreational legalization passed first and fastest in left-leaning jurisdictions.
01:17:40The left tends to be more hedonistic and want to escape negative consequences, which are two
01:17:45sides of the same coin a little bit more than the right.
01:17:48Medical laws later reached some red states.
01:17:51No major conservative or right-leaning groups provided comparable funding or leadership.
01:17:55There is a precedent from the left for the use of drugs to destabilize enemies, such as
01:17:59declassified documents from Soviet Russia showing that they supported flooding the West
01:18:03with illicit substances to cause social decay.
01:18:08In the modern context, however, Russia and China have consistently opposed Western cannabis
01:18:12legislation with diplomats criticizing Canada and the U.S. states as violating international
01:18:19treaties.
01:18:21Marx, of course, was critical of drug use.
01:18:23He used a form of opium called laudanum purportedly to manage pain, and drugs were strictly prohibited
01:18:29in Soviet Russia, Communist China, and other Communist regimes.
01:18:35Communist plans to flood their enemies with drugs could arguably be seen as yet another
01:18:39victory against the West since the West is increasingly addicted to drugs and demoralized.
01:18:43Russia and China are referring to the following treaties when they say,
01:18:47The U.S. are violating, and Canada,
01:18:49Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.
01:18:52Cannabis and its resin plants, etc. is explicitly scheduled and must be restricted exclusively to
01:18:57medical and scientific purposes.
01:18:58Non-medical recreation or use production and sale are prohibited.
01:19:02This is the main treaty Russia calls out as being breached by Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act.
01:19:07And if there's more, we'll put them in the notes.
01:19:11Russia is the most explicit and vocal criticize in the West on this,
01:19:14framing it as undermining the rules-based international order and a drug-free society goal.
01:19:21Of course, there's also an opioid epidemic in the U.S. where China played a part in allowing
01:19:25fentanyl precursors to be exported.
01:19:27They have joined the U.S. in limiting the exports of these precursors,
01:19:30most recently via the 2025 tariff negotiations.
01:19:34But China also points out that the opioid crisis in the U.S. is much more of a demand problem
01:19:39than a supply problem.
01:19:42So, anyway, geopolitical drugs is a little bit outside the context of this presentation,
01:19:48but it is a very, very big issue.
01:19:53And the breakdown of manufacturing and welfare and family breakup are all driven by government
01:20:05legislation.
01:20:05The breakdown of manufacturing was drawn by buying votes from unions, by giving them excessive
01:20:10powers, which made American and other manufacturing non-competitive.
01:20:16And the welfare state, of course, is social engineering of the first kind.
01:20:20And the welfare state also allows for dead towns to continue.
01:20:26I remember when I worked up north, you'd drive through these towns.
01:20:29I mean, it was always the same thing, right?
01:20:31You'd have the post office, you'd have the liquor store, beer store, and then you'd have
01:20:36the convenience store.
01:20:37And you'd pick up your welfare check back in the day, go and buy beer or alcohol, and then
01:20:43pick up your smokes and your snacks.
01:20:45And this stuff all survived from unemployment, insurance, welfare.
01:20:52And so these towns where the industry died and moved away, normally people would move and
01:20:56change and so on, but they just got to stay there.
01:20:59And this produced really existential crises of despair and so on.
01:21:03It was a mess.
01:21:04It was a mess.
01:21:07Could we have known the risks?
01:21:13Mainstream institutions, media, academia, public health, largely echoed advocacy narrative.
01:21:18And again, I'm a, the less politics, the better, the less political programs, the better, the
01:21:25fewer, the better.
01:21:26So I am not for throwing people in jail for drugs.
01:21:31I am for throwing them in jail if they cause crashes and if they injure people, sure.
01:21:37But I am for prevention, not cure, right?
01:21:42I mean, you don't call your nutritionist when you're having a heart attack.
01:21:47You go to the ER, right?
01:21:48The nutritionist is about prevention.
01:21:50Hopefully, if you eat well, you won't have a heart attack young.
01:21:53But if you don't eat well, you don't call your nutritionist because your nutritionist is
01:21:56going to say, well, it's too late to fix.
01:21:58You've got to go to ER.
01:21:59So our philosophy is all about prevention, not cure.
01:22:04I mean, if you don't exercise, your bones become brittle and you break your arm.
01:22:08You don't call a personal trainer saying, fix it.
01:22:09He says, go to the ER.
01:22:11Maybe we can fix it later or at least help.
01:22:15So it is about improving childhood, not throwing people in prison.
01:22:20So the risks of legalization remain secondary or underreported despite historical reports
01:22:25and growing scientific literature.
01:22:27Similarities to other contentious topics can be seen with pornography or IQ data.
01:22:31Ideological framing prevents the public from having all the facts.
01:22:35Are cannabis companies immune?
01:22:38Well, they're not vaccine manufacturers.
01:22:40No special immunity for cannabis companies, unlike vaccine protections.
01:22:44Product liability lawsuits are now accelerating, as seen with multiple 2024 to 2026.
01:22:50STEEZY civil suits alleging failure to warn on cannabis-induced psychosis in teens, young
01:22:55adults, and class actions on potency and labeling.
01:22:59STEEZY is one of the biggest names in legal cannabis based in California.
01:23:03Bottom line for parents and teens, commercial incentives plus incomplete risk messaging created
01:23:07today's high-potency landscape.
01:23:10Personal responsibility exists, but informed consent was undermined.
01:23:16So, the takeaways.
01:23:18Ah, this is what you all come for, is my ramble tangents at the end.
01:23:23Look, usage has surged dramatically, especially heavy use among vulnerable groups.
01:23:27This is going to have ripple effects for people's entire lives.
01:23:29Potency has skyrocketed, amplifying addiction, psychosis, and physical risks.
01:23:34Early use locks in irreversible brain and IQ damages.
01:23:39Heavy use piles on health, accident, and family harms.
01:23:41Legalization increased access and brought increased social dysfunction, without a doubt.
01:23:46And the references to all of this, fdrurl.com slash marijuana, we can get to all of that.
01:23:53Is there more to add here at the end?
01:23:55And not in particular, other than to reiterate that drug use is almost always self-medication
01:24:03for a heavily traumatized childhood.
01:24:05We can't fix this down the road very easily.
01:24:09It's like trying to move a shadow.
01:24:11You can't move a shadow.
01:24:12You can only move the thing blocking the light.
01:24:16And what blocks people from having calm, happy, positive lives without the needs for drugs
01:24:23is bad childhoods, traumatized childhoods, unhappy childhoods.
01:24:27I mean, look at the messaging of the planet is going to die every 10 years.
01:24:33When I was a kid, we were going to run out of oil.
01:24:35We were going to mass starvation.
01:24:36The cities were going to turn feral.
01:24:37There was going to be an ice age.
01:24:39Now there's global warming.
01:24:40Now it's any kind of change.
01:24:40Which telling children that the world is going to end fuels and feeds their nihilism.
01:24:47And drugs are a way of saying, I feel bad now.
01:24:50I want to feel better.
01:24:50And I'm not going to do necessarily the work to feel better in the long run, which often
01:24:54involves feeling worse.
01:24:55If you've come from a bad childhood and you dig in and deal with that bad childhood, well,
01:25:00you're used to staving off the negative feelings in order to survive.
01:25:03And then you go to therapy, which I'm a big fan of.
01:25:06I mean, I don't know about new therapists seem a little, little sketchy, a little ideological,
01:25:10but the data in the past is pretty solid.
01:25:14But when you come from a bad childhood, you're used to keeping all those bad feelings at bay.
01:25:18And then you go to a therapist or you do some sort of work to deal with this sort of
01:25:22stuff.
01:25:23And you have to absorb and accept all those bad feelings and work through them.
01:25:27And then you can be happy, but it feels like voluntarily stapling your fingertips to a table.
01:25:33It just feels terrible.
01:25:34And so people want to avoid those negative feelings for reasons, of course, I can completely
01:25:38and totally understand.
01:25:39I did for years as well, too, until I finally bit the bullet and went into some very intensive
01:25:44therapy for a couple of years.
01:25:46Really, really well worth it, by the way.
01:25:47Best investment I ever made in my life.
01:25:49Hugely, hugely recommend it.
01:25:52So we have to improve childhoods.
01:25:54We have to move the statue and not try and move the shadow.
01:25:59We have to deal with the cause and not the effect.
01:26:01This playing whack-a-mole is only going to give government more and more increased power
01:26:05because you legalize weed and then there's all the social dysfunction to say, well, we
01:26:10need all these social programs to help people with all the social dysfunction.
01:26:14Whatever, whatever the problem is in life, in society, in government, in policy, in habits,
01:26:19in culture, whatever the problem is, the solution is always one and the same.
01:26:27Respect property, do not initiate the use of force, more freedom is always the answer.
01:26:33I'd love to know what you think.
01:26:35Let me know your stories, your anecdotes, whether you got better, how you got better,
01:26:38how you cured yourself.
01:26:39I'd love to read all of these in the comments below, and I'm sure I'll do a show reading
01:26:43all of those.
01:26:43I really do appreciate your time.
01:26:45If you find these presentations helpful, useful, valuable, freedomain.com slash donate.
01:26:49We'd hugely love your support in spreading philosophy, freedomain.com slash donate.
01:26:54I'll talk to you soon.
01:26:55Bye.
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