[BossingAround]

> Similar to the author of this, I read for years of how "the only way it could ever harm you is if you were crushed by 100 lbs of it" on sites like Reddit

I think this is the direct result of just nonsensical criminalization that equated cannabis with drugs like heroin, while the toxicity of cannabis is much lower than alcohol, for example.

Legalization leads to better education, which typically provides both sides of the argument, so that a potential user can make educated decisions as to whether to try the drug or not. I have seen debates on "when not to use cannabis" on some canna podcasts (like Leafly, though I don't remember the episode).

I think that avoiding LSD for people prone to panic attacks is a pretty sound decision.

[TedDoesntTalk]

> Legalization leads to better education

It also leads to more cases of abuse. Like many things, legalization is both good and bad at the same time.

[miles]

>> Legalization leads to better education

> It also leads to more cases of abuse.

Citation needed. Here are a few counter reports:

Pointers From Portugal on Addiction and the Drug War[1]: "Opioid overdose deaths fell after Portugal’s policy change. So did new cases of diseases associated with injection drug use, such as hepatitis C and H.I.V."

Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working. Why hasn’t the world copied it?[2]: "Since it decriminalised all drugs in 2001, Portugal has seen dramatic drops in overdoses, HIV infection and drug-related crime"

How Europe’s heroin capital solved its overdose crisis[3]: "[T]he number of addicts was halved and overdose deaths had dropped to just 30 a year for the entire country. The number has remained steady ever since."

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/upshot/portugal-drug-lega...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radic...

[3] https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/portugal-heroin-decrim...

[yummypaint]

Raw data on health and habits of middle and highschool students in colorado can be accessed here https://cdphe.colorado.gov/hkcs

Cannabis was legalized there over a decade ago, and with that hindsight it's clear that legalization decreased consumption among minors.

[TedDoesntTalk]

Minimal google searching yields plenty of results. Here’s one for you:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abst...

“As Magdalena Cerdá, the study’s lead author, and her coauthors wrote in JAMA Psychiatry, “Although occasional marijuana use is not associated with substantial problems, long-term, heavy use is linked to psychological and physical health concerns, lower educational attainment, decline in social class, unemployment, and motor vehicle crashes.”

If you dont like that study, there are plenty of others. I’m not here to LMGTFY.

[javaunsafe2019]

I think it was asked for a study to back up the claim that legalization increases consumption