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Several of my neighbors work for dispensaries, and those who don't, enjoy smoking the sensemilla, as it were. The legalization of cannabis has taken an amazing

Several of my neighbors work for dispensaries, and those who don't, enjoy smoking the sensemilla, as it were. The legalization of cannabis has taken an amazing path. The establishment still doesn't accept it. My bishops are railing against every measure on the ballot. My landlady prohibits it. Every physician I've encountered, especially in psychiatry, hate it with a white-hot passion. I think it's quite unusual and notable that despite legalization, cannabis has remained resolutely separate from pharmacies, regular physicians, and health care as it is. Around here, you go to a special doc, get your prescription/card/permission, go to a dispensary and get the goods. So, it's out in the open now that the Establishment doesn't like cannabis because cannabis is competition. It has very little to do with its effects or judicious usage by sane people. Cannabis is unpatentable, and therefore it's unlikely to be regulated or integrated with the pharma system of synthetic drugs. It's so weird to have a single-drug healthcare system parallel to the mainstream one. Will dispensary systems diversify as other illicit drugs are legalized? Will they grow to become their own branch alongside naturopathy, homeopathy, etc? What will become of psychedelic treatments for mental patients? The future is weird, and I'm staying sober!

gosub100 2y ago
I'm glad it's legal, but where I'm from it's illegal to grow it unless you live a certain distance from a dispensary. So they're still doing "drug raids" on unlicensed producers, but since it's legal to possess, that clearly means the "crime" is competing with the very wealthy who secured permits to run their own dispensary! I know regulatory capture is nothing new, but that situation really drills the point home for me: "interfere with our profits? Go to prison for drug trafficking".
lokar 2y ago
Data point: in California my partner was getting treatment for cancer. They asked the dr and nurse about it for symptoms, they were sort of noncommittal until they said they were going to try it. Then all of the sudden there were very supportive, explaining that many other patients had seen great results.
ashleyn 2y ago
I can see why psychiatrists may oppose it, anyway. There's some scant evidence that cannabis wakes up latent schizophrenia in susceptible users. You never really know if you're susceptible to it or not. Even family history can betray you - if your family was historically poor and had little access to doctors, can you accurately say you know your family history? I can relate a personal anecdote. This concern is one reason I personally haven't tried weed again after an initial bad experience with it. I bought about $60 of edibles expecting to have a good time, and most of them went right into the trash after my first time on them (at a very low dose even) resulted in derealisation, brain fog, and panic attacks lasting days. Granted, I'm likely neurodivergent, and have a history of both anxiety and hypochondriasis especially with unfamiliar experiences. But unfortunately I couldn't determine if it was hypochondriasis or psychosis. The fact that one psychotic break could be life ruining effectively vetoed challenging the anxiety, and thus I couldn't really determine if it was safe to try again. I don't oppose weed legalisation to be clear - but it can ruin your life if you have an unfortunate brain chemistry.

gosub100 2y ago

I'm glad it's legal, but where I'm from it's illegal to grow it unless you live a certain distance from a dispensary. So they're still doing "drug raids" on unlicensed producers, but since it's legal to possess, that clearly means the "crime" is competing with the very wealthy who secured permits to run their own dispensary! I know regulatory capture is nothing new, but that situation really drills the point home for me: "interfere with our profits? Go to prison for drug trafficking".

lokar 2y ago

Data point: in California my partner was getting treatment for cancer. They asked the dr and nurse about it for symptoms, they were sort of noncommittal until they said they were going to try it. Then all of the sudden there were very supportive, explaining that many other patients had seen great results.

ashleyn 2y ago

I can see why psychiatrists may oppose it, anyway. There's some scant evidence that cannabis wakes up latent schizophrenia in susceptible users. You never really know if you're susceptible to it or not. Even family history can betray you - if your family was historically poor and had little access to doctors, can you accurately say you know your family history? I can relate a personal anecdote. This concern is one reason I personally haven't tried weed again after an initial bad experience with it. I bought about $60 of edibles expecting to have a good time, and most of them went right into the trash after my first time on them (at a very low dose even) resulted in derealisation, brain fog, and panic attacks lasting days. Granted, I'm likely neurodivergent, and have a history of both anxiety and hypochondriasis especially with unfamiliar experiences. But unfortunately I couldn't determine if it was hypochondriasis or psychosis. The fact that one psychotic break could be life ruining effectively vetoed challenging the anxiety, and thus I couldn't really determine if it was safe to try again. I don't oppose weed legalisation to be clear - but it can ruin your life if you have an unfortunate brain chemistry.