[DanBC]

> Weed (because it has no real downsides)

Cannabis can for some users have severe downsides. We don't necessarily know in advance which those users are. People who have a diagnosed severe mental illness are probably in that group. Thus, is someone with strong anxiety a person who should avoid cannabis because it would exacerbate their anxiety; or trigger an underlying psychosis? Or are they a person who would benefit from canabis?

I am strongly in favour of legalising cannabis but I find it frustrating when people claim it has no downsides.

[someone903209]

I'm speaking from personal anecdotes only. The only downside to me is that it suppresses REM sleep, leading to dreamless sleep. This is kind of boring. It's also more difficult to learn something for the first time while high. Don't go to a poker game high and try to learn the game, for example. Psychosis? Not a factor for me, so I'm not attempting to say one thing about it. Extrinsically, there's all of the legal/job related annoyances in additional to dealing with losers who won't do anything without it.

[throwaway1]

Don't worry, after a while (assuming you smoke heavily) you'll have crazy-ass dreams all the time, whether you want them or not. Smoke will buy you 90 minutes of peaceful sleep tops. It's not a long-term insomnia medication.

[killface]

And once it stops working for insomnia, get ready for some restless limbs. That was my experience, at least. I've found melatonin and a tea with valerian root, chamomile, and a few other extracts (called sleepytime tea) works much better.

[proksoup]

It doesn't cause schizophrenia, it causes willingness to be vocal about schizophrenia.

It's actually a useful tool for that, assuming the person isn't an insanely negative environment where they lock them up after they become vocal.