I see via NoScript that GraniteGrok is still on Disqus; otherwise, I would have entered your competition for the weekly prize. Refer to my Grok column of last 21-Apr, in support of legalization and against a new industry created by a government that intends to administer legalization and fight all mishaps.
Dr. Ebner writes “As a parent” and “As a physician”–credentials that imply that merely replying as a functioning mind and a lover of liberty will open criticism on one’s fitness to debate.
As always, the “public” is not a body and does not have a “health.” The collective does have statistics–and people can and do try to manage us by the numbers, with uniformly disastrous effects.
Ebner’s second paragraph, on trends over a generation, implies that the desire for recreational mood alteration has not changed but only the choice of tools.
Of course, marijuana has been bred to increase the THC; that is called “satisfying the customer,” and is irrelevant because you can get nearly pure THC if you want it, as Ebner notes.
Very much of “addiction” is a pleasurable habit that the doctor would like you to abandon, as the doctor’s fees, ratings, and self-worth come from minimizing morbidity and maximizing longevity, not the overall pleasure of the customer’s life.
We have known for decades that nicotine withdrawal causes irritating effects caused by the drug itself. This was not true for THC; perhaps it is in higher doses. But irritability, for example, might be caused by not being allowed to experience the pleasurable high at will.
What is “distressing to [Ebner] as a physician” is irrelevant. That the customer live his life as he sees fit should be paramount. Primum non nocere.
Association (with mental illness) is not causation. It would of course be healthier not to take frequent recourse to mind alteration. But it’s what the customer wants.
Finally, we get to the hoary monster, “opioid epidemic.” There is no epidemic since there is no contagion. Your reefer does not infect me unless I will it. Is this guy really a doctor?
Yes, “there is no safe way to introduce something that is unsafe.” But more basic, there is no safety on planet Earth. We cannot achieve prevention, and we cannot even know how close we have gotten without comparison to an alternate reality. Letting government tout safety is not only letting it dictate our values but writing it a blank check.
What a surprise to find out at the end that Dr. Ebner is on some Committee with a cute acronym and has a Study for us to read.
