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Know the relevant laws in your area, and don’t get tangled up with law enforcement. You can’t (yet) legally fly with cannabis. Other states where the legality is different might not accept your medical cannabis card and could even arrest you if they don’t (yet) have legal medical cannabis. Ask your doctor, or a cannabis specialist, about any potential reactions there may be between THC, CBD, and any medications you are taking. This is particularly true if you are on blood thinners or other medications that need to be kept within a narrow range (e.g., antiepileptics, immunosuppressants, chemotherapeutic agents). Also, if you use cannabis frequently, make sure the anesthesiologist knows, before surgery, as you might have higher anesthesia requirements. As we reconsider what is and isn’t true about cannabis, hopefully we can bridge, or at least narrow, the divide between those who continue to remain skeptical about cannabis, the ‘Reefer Pessimists’ and the cannabis enthusiasts, or the ‘Cannatopians’. One of the most powerful actions of cannabis, both helpful and inconvenient, is that it helps us to forget. Forgetting is going to constitute a large piece of this reconciliation between the dueling parties about the nature of cannabis. Both sides have to do their share, with or without the use of the temporary, short-term fuzzifying effects of cannabis. Stop making cannabis into tasty edibles, chocolates, or candies that any small child (or pet) would happily overconsume.
What lessons have we learned from our eight-decade-battle over cannabis? How can we apply this to the future so that our society can derive maximum gain and minimum harm from cannabis, and so that this issue ceases to provide further fodder for the culture wars? Finding a Way Forward My one gripe is that at times it does feel somewhat like an extended advertorial for Drug Science, a UK based drugs advisory body and research organisation founded by Nutt in the aftermath of his infamous dismissal from the chairmanship of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2009.
A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana
Overall though, the book is a good read and will make a great resource for students, patients, doctors, activists – anyone interested in cannabis and drug policy. Definitely one to add to the library if you haven’t already – and the latest in a series of books from Professor Nutt, including ‘Drugs Without The Hot Air’ that have become compulsory reading for those involved in drug policy reform circles. Don’t use cannabis, even medicinally, if you might have to drive. Not only is this dangerous and irresponsible; it is also extremely stressful and unpleasant, as well as unethical, as it puts others at risk.
During the 20th century, few scholars published books about cannabis. The best known is the 1971 trailblazer by Lester Grinspoon, MD, “Marihuana Reconsidered.” Our 21st century has been treated to a relative bounty of cannabis scholarship. Among the cornucopia is “The Pot Book,” an anthology published in 2010 just before the wildfire of legalization had ignited in the U.S. and Canada. None other than Dr. Grinspoon wrote the foreword. Among its contributors is the renowned Andrew Weil, MD. In full circle, Dr. Weil wrote the foreword to a new book by Lester’s son, Peter. With the publication in 2023 of “Seeing through the Smoke” by Peter Grinspoon, MD, let’s welcome our century’s definitive scholarly book about cannabis. As for the cannabis activists, I’m reminded of an aphorism from Nietzsche, which I can only paraphrase: “If you automatically react against something, you are just as controlled by it as if you comply.” Confronted with relentless negative, and at times dubious, information about cannabis from the U.S. government and from anti-cannabis researchers, cannabis advocates have counterreacted and reflexively dismissed concerns about potential harms. Many of these studies are valid and important, or at least hypothesis generating, with major implications for health and harm reduction. Cannabis Unites Regulate CBD and other minor/new cannabinoids (e.g., CBN, THCV, delta 8 THC) in a coherent and helpful way, not like we are currently doing. We need to regulate the production of these products, not permit them as “supplements” without any control over their manufacturing or safety/benefit claims.In this lively, witty, and deeply personal book, Grinspoon takes readers on a fascinating tour of everything you ever wanted to know about the benefits of cannabis—especially what it can do to ameliorate suffering and enhance human potential—while always remaining grounded in the scientific evidence. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”– Jay Wexler, professor of law specializing in marijuana law, Boston University An intriguing mix of political analysis and commentary, scientific explanation and historical context, the book provides a holistic overview, similar to the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series from OUP, except this book whilst similarly academically rigorous, benefits from much greater readability.
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