Factors you might not have considered. Marijuana use puts a gun owner/buyer in the same category with Hunter Biden, you have committed a felony by admitting to it- so you're not going to admit to it. Not to anyone, under any circumstances- unless you're an "scofflaw". Another factor is marijuana use by children, especially the high-powered stuff common today. I'm 78, I smoked my first pot in college. I enjoyed the effect but I didn't like the interference with memory- so I never became a regular user. They used to say "If you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there." Once a year, maybe- and I remember the 1960s. If I was passed a joint in an appropriate social circumstance, I might toke on it- but it was never a regular part of my life. Soon after marijuana use became ubiquitous in high schools. Vaping made it undetectable. At the same time we had the "great dumbing down" of education, especially in math. I have to believe those two things are related. You can't smoke pot and do math at the same time. I also blame it on "The Great Feminization" (google it) because women love drugs. All drugs, especially opioids and marijuana. Give a woman power (as a teacher, especially) and you have a "self-driving school bus", the inmates running the asylum. If you have impaired memory, how can you learn? IQ of college grads have gone from 120 to 103 in the same time period. Few college grads (mostly women, today) know what the Pythagorean Theorem is, let alone how to use it. Keep up the good work!
Appreciate this piece, but I do have one nit to pick:
In response to this comment - "Some people are addicted to alcohol, yet the market is not saturated by Everclear. Instead, there are a wide variety of products of different potencies available."
While this is true to an extent, it's hard not to notice the slow upward creep of the ABV of nominally upscale canned alcoholic drinks, notably craft beer. Stronger IPAs often range from 6% to as high as 8.5% or so, well higher than the Coors Lights of the world.
You write that alcohol consumption, unlike marijuana and cigarette consumption, is not driven by heavy users. Why do you consider "person-days of use" a better measure of this than, I dunno, alcohol consumed? Have you looked into what percent of the population accounts for what percent of purchase?
I know you favor marijuana's criminal prohibition, which is why I am asking about tobacco. I did not see any mention in your prior post about supporting the enactment of federal and state laws to criminal prohibit all tobacco possession/production. That's why I asked if that is your policy position/preference in light of this post's claim that "Marijuana Is More Like Cigarettes Than Like Alcohol." (Of course, there are many more tobacco products that just cigarettes, but there are many more marijuana products than joints.)
But aren't roughly 90% of the non-THC vape products drawing nicotine from the (now-legal) tobacco plant? If that plant is criminally prohibited, most of current vaping practices also become criminal. (I assume you favor the prohibition of THC vapes as part of your marijuana prohibition stance.)
I look forward to seeing your book and hearing where some of my (unhealthy?) market-driven addictions — to my phone, donuts, fries, football, golf, formerly video games — fit into the picture.
Factors you might not have considered. Marijuana use puts a gun owner/buyer in the same category with Hunter Biden, you have committed a felony by admitting to it- so you're not going to admit to it. Not to anyone, under any circumstances- unless you're an "scofflaw". Another factor is marijuana use by children, especially the high-powered stuff common today. I'm 78, I smoked my first pot in college. I enjoyed the effect but I didn't like the interference with memory- so I never became a regular user. They used to say "If you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there." Once a year, maybe- and I remember the 1960s. If I was passed a joint in an appropriate social circumstance, I might toke on it- but it was never a regular part of my life. Soon after marijuana use became ubiquitous in high schools. Vaping made it undetectable. At the same time we had the "great dumbing down" of education, especially in math. I have to believe those two things are related. You can't smoke pot and do math at the same time. I also blame it on "The Great Feminization" (google it) because women love drugs. All drugs, especially opioids and marijuana. Give a woman power (as a teacher, especially) and you have a "self-driving school bus", the inmates running the asylum. If you have impaired memory, how can you learn? IQ of college grads have gone from 120 to 103 in the same time period. Few college grads (mostly women, today) know what the Pythagorean Theorem is, let alone how to use it. Keep up the good work!
duh of course you’re right, cigarettes = cool, weed = cool, alcohol = lame, did you even show them the math?
Appreciate this piece, but I do have one nit to pick:
In response to this comment - "Some people are addicted to alcohol, yet the market is not saturated by Everclear. Instead, there are a wide variety of products of different potencies available."
While this is true to an extent, it's hard not to notice the slow upward creep of the ABV of nominally upscale canned alcoholic drinks, notably craft beer. Stronger IPAs often range from 6% to as high as 8.5% or so, well higher than the Coors Lights of the world.
This is the guy who wrote an article in The Atlantic defending Flock cameras
Do we have any idea of how many of these people are rastafarians?
You write that alcohol consumption, unlike marijuana and cigarette consumption, is not driven by heavy users. Why do you consider "person-days of use" a better measure of this than, I dunno, alcohol consumed? Have you looked into what percent of the population accounts for what percent of purchase?
I wrote a response here:
https://thersitism.substack.com/p/bad-things-are-bad-marijuana-alcohol
So do you favor state and federal criminalization of all tobacco products?
you must be new here.
https://thecausalfallacy.com/p/how-i-changed-my-mind-about-marijuana
I know you favor marijuana's criminal prohibition, which is why I am asking about tobacco. I did not see any mention in your prior post about supporting the enactment of federal and state laws to criminal prohibit all tobacco possession/production. That's why I asked if that is your policy position/preference in light of this post's claim that "Marijuana Is More Like Cigarettes Than Like Alcohol." (Of course, there are many more tobacco products that just cigarettes, but there are many more marijuana products than joints.)
Oh, sorry! I misread your post. My fault.
Yeah, I would be fine banning tobacco, especially given that we have a safer alternative in the form of vaping.
But aren't roughly 90% of the non-THC vape products drawing nicotine from the (now-legal) tobacco plant? If that plant is criminally prohibited, most of current vaping practices also become criminal. (I assume you favor the prohibition of THC vapes as part of your marijuana prohibition stance.)
I look forward to seeing your book and hearing where some of my (unhealthy?) market-driven addictions — to my phone, donuts, fries, football, golf, formerly video games — fit into the picture.