There are many reasons why pregnant women can benefit from smoking pot. Aside from reasons that affect everyone: anxiety, stress, pain relief, and insomnia, to name a few, pregnant women also experience conditions that cannabis has proven to help treat. These include pregnancy-induced vomiting and nausea (morning sickness).
This inconsistency reveals something crucial about drug policy: the psychosis argument was never about protecting vulnerable people. It was about justifying prohibition of a substance that threatened certain interests. Because if we genuinely cared about preventing psychosis, we'd be banning social media, AI chatbots, and countless other triggers before we'd prohibit a plant humans have used for thousands of years.
New research from Oregon State University, published in PLOS One, confirms what many experienced cannabis users have suspected—the cannabis industry's obsession with terpene profiles as predictors of aroma and effects is built on shaky foundations. After recruiting a 21-judge panel to systematically assess 91 samples of unburnt marijuana flower using 25 standardized descriptors, researchers discovered that terpene content is a poor predictor of cannabis's actual scent profile.
This article explores what happens when America's most destructive legal drug faces competition from a demonstrably safer alternative. What are alcohol's true costs? How does cannabis compare? And what would 10%, 25%, or even 50% reduction in alcohol consumption mean for public health, crime, and economics? The Oregon study provides the foundation for understanding what might be the most significant public health development of the 21st century: the voluntary substitution of cannabis for alcohol at a population scale
Colombian President Gustavo Petro did something remarkable last week: he publicly told Donald Trump to legalize marijuana and end the War on Drugs. Not as an academic exercise or a progressive policy proposal, but as an urgent plea from a leader whose country has borne the brunt of American drug policy for over half a century.
According to researchers from Colorado State University, the study participants reported less alcohol cravings and drank less booze following pot consumption. The study, whose results were published in the medical journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, involved offering alcoholic drinks every 15 minutes within a 1-hour session to participants. In sessions when they were allowed to partake weed before the session, they noticed that the subjects experienced a reduced intake of alcoholic beverages by 25%.
Cannabis allergies are real, increasingly recognized by allergists, and more common than most people realize. A recent Canadian study found that 40% of adult cannabis users in a clinical setting reported symptoms compatible with cannabis allergy upon exposure. Let that sink in—nearly half of people exposed to cannabis may experience some form of allergic reaction.
Something remarkable happened in America between 2021 and 2023, and most people didn't even notice. Cannabis surpassed cigarettes as the substance of choice for adult Americans. According to comprehensive research from SUNY and the University of Kentucky analyzing National Survey on Drug Use and Health data, cannabis-only use jumped from 7.2% to 10.6% of adults during that period, while cigarette-only use declined from 10.8% to 8.8%.
Renew your medical marijuana card quickly and safely. Learn step-by-step tips, legal guidelines, and online options for a hassle-free process in Virginia.
Let’s stop worrying about cannabis dependence and instead worry about stigma, misinformation, and the lingering of prohibition-era myths. The truth is that weed is not the problem, it can be the solution.
