Going to Pot

Marijuana opponents used to refer to it as a gateway drug. To the extent that was true, it was mostly a gateway to Doritos. But as pot has gone mainstream and the number of users has gotten, like, totally high, researchers are finding that marijuana can be a gateway to more and more marijuana — and for a subsection of partakers, that heavy usage is leading to significant issues, including addiction, severe vomiting, delusions, paranoia and other symptoms of psychosis. These maladies are likely related to the increasing potency of the strains and the overly chronic use of the chronic. NYT (Gift Article): As America’s Marijuana Use Grows, So Do the Harms. Is this really a widespread problem that means we should spend a lot of time worrying about weed? I’m a little doobie-ous … both about the risk of marijuana and its ever-growing list of supposed benefits.

+ Pot has become more popular, more corporate, and more accepted. Does that also make it less fun? “Widespread legalization has created a polished new market for cannabis products — one that’s trendy, spalike and weirdly unfun.” NYT (Gift Article): Cannabis Has Become Upscale Chic. I Miss the Old Red-Eyed Stoners. (They’re not gone, they’re just micro-dosing psychedelics.)