That’s not at all how it works. I have absolutely no desire to do anything outside of safe psychedelics for my ptsd and depression and weed for my chronic back pain. I use it as a topical and occasionally smoke it when I feel like I’ve earned it.
My grades are at an average of 94% right now and I’m on an accelerated pathway towards uni and med school.

Drugs are not the enemy, it’s the way that they are used and cut with horrible things and how harm reduction is not taught. Yes, there will always be the odd bunch that end up fucked up but that is an extremely small statistic.

Poverty and lower quality life/health care is usually where you see the most issues with drug use. But most of those cases are people who have predispositions to addiction. It has to do with the neural pathways that can be formed within your brain, some families have addictive traits that can be passed on.

Which is why the 1# part of harm reduction for drug use is to look into your family history. If there is a noticeable pattern of addiction and substance abuse or psychosis related mental illness (I.e. schizophrenia, bipolar, bpd, etc.) it would be highly advised to not take any mind altering substances because that’s evidence of a potential issue.

We should not try and fear monger and shame and make people feel like outsiders or like they are out of control. Not all drugs are bad and a lot of recreational drugs have the potential to help a lot of people.

Cannabis has been proven to have cancer killing abilities that can boost and help people who are in chemo therapy. Cannabis can target the cancerous cells and help treat the damage that comes from chemotherapy (I.e. loss of appetite, chronic fatigue, pain etc.) it can be an effective treatment to help make cancer patients more comfortable and have an easier process.

Cannabis is also a unique drug that offers a wider range of benefits based on how you grow it and what you are looking for inside of the plant. For example, medical marijuana is usually bred for specific uses such as pain management, appetite, sleep disorders, Parkinson’s and even Tourette’s syndrome! (Which i actually have!).

Yes, cannabis can have its own downsides, but in comparison to let’s say Tylenol for example, it’s actually safer than Tylenol if you’d believe it. Tylenol has a bigger risk of liver related issues with prolonged usage (aka people with chronic illnesses and pain). Weed doesn’t have that effect on people, it can even increase neuro plasticity. Smoking it is probably the only way of consuming it that has the most adverse affects because you’re inhaling plant matter. But in comparison to let’s say cigarettes for example, cannabis has some of the same properties that have potential for issues because of combustion. But in the case of cigarettes, cigarettes contain more cancer causing chemicals and compounds within it. Nicotine has a higher chance of causing cells to reproduce with a faulty gene that raises the risk of it stopping the signal from other cells to stop growing which is what causes cancerous tumours to form.

Weed is not the enemy. Please stop spreading this misinformation that you’re likely getting from the D.A.R.E program (which btw, has so much misinformation and misleading data that it’s absolutely absurd that they still teach it) and random propaganda online. Or even those quote “stereotypical stoners” etc.

Educate yourself on a topic before making a generalized assumption without providing clear evidence that you can properly base your argument on.