In the downer toilet-flush of a Friday news dump, I’ve gone to do a bowl — pipe bowl, that is.
Here are some cannabis/marijuana news bits to refresh the mind to what ails it outside of just about every fucking thing.

Marijuana has been a part of my life for more than 48 years now (late May 1974) and growing. One of the major milestones is going from AM rock to FM rock in a short space of time. A lot has changed in the near-half century, one of those changes is the popularity of cannabis, no longer just for concerts/listening to albums/being awake, but has developed a way-valid reputation in the medical/health care field in the ensuing years, especially in the last decades, affecting/helping/aiding problems from Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, MS and PTSD — two-thirds of states and DC have actually legalized marijuana for medical treatments.
And I like the way it makes me feel.

In a big turn-around routine in my lifetime, nowadays more people smoke marijuana than cigarettes — via WebMD earlier this week:

For the first time ever, more Americans say they smoke marijuana than cigarettes, according to a new Gallup poll.
The poll taken July 5-26 revealed that 16 percent of Americans say they smoke marijuana, compared with just 11 percent saying they smoke cigarettes.

…

And almost half of the respondents — 48 percent — say they have tried pot at least once. That’s up from just 4 percent in 1969.

Polling in 2019 found 83 percent of Americans believe cigarettes to be “very harmful” to smokers, with 14 percent calling them “somewhat harmful.”

“Smoking cigarettes is clearly on the decline and is most likely to become even more of a rarity in the years ahead,” Gallup Senior Scientist Frank Newport, said.
“This reflects both public awareness of its negative effects and continuing government efforts at all levels to curtail its use.”

…

More than half those polled this summer, 53 percent, said pot has positive effects on users.

Drinking alcohol still tops them both for popularity of use, with 67 percent of Americans identifying themselves as drinkers (compared to 63 percent in 1939). A third of those polled said they don’t drink at all.

Still worth noting: More than 70 percent say alcohol has negative effects on users and society in general.

I been saying that shit for near-about 50 years.
And the country is slowly responding:

Legalization in motion#reform #legalization #cannabis #marijuana #bong #stoner #heady #marijuanalife #bongs #cannabisindustry #cannabiscommunity #stonersociety #stonerlifestyle #stonergirl #headshop pic.twitter.com/IpyENS3whc

— Cannabis Hub (@CannabisHubHQ) August 24, 2022

A long way to go, though, but like a shit load of other things — pro-choice abortions for instance — that are really popular with the mass of Americans, and a curve of the reptilian Republican blastworthy stands.

Maybe pot smokers have a bad rep — there is really no reality behind the “stoner” being lazy and hungry all the time. A study published last week revealed there’s not much difference between a stoner and a straight when it comes to motivation — so don’t blame your asshole-shit on pot (University of Cambridge’s Research News last Wednesday):

Cannabis is the third most commonly used controlled substance worldwide, after alcohol and nicotine. A 2018 report from the NHS Digital Lifestyles Team stated that almost one in five (19%) of 15-year-olds in England had used cannabis in the previous 12 months, while in 2020 the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported the proportion in the United States to be 28% of 15-16-year-olds.

A common stereotype of cannabis users is the ‘stoner’ — think Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, The Dude in The Big Lebowski, or, more recently, Argyle in Stranger Things. These are individuals who are generally depicted as lazy and apathetic.

At the same time, there has been considerable concern of the potential impact of cannabis use on the developing brain and that using cannabis during adolescence might have a damaging effect at an important time in an individual’s life.

…

Cannabis users scored slightly lower than non-users on anhedonia — in other words, they appeared better able to enjoy themselves — but there was no significant difference when it came to apathy. The researchers also found no link between frequency of cannabis use and either apathy or anhedonia in the people who used cannabis.

Martine Skumlien, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, said: “We were surprised to see that there was really very little difference between cannabis users and non-users when it came to lack of motivation or lack of enjoyment, even among those who used cannabis every day. This is contrary to the stereotypical portrayal we see on TV and in movies.”

…

The researchers found no difference between users and non-users or between age groups on either the physical effort task or the real reward pleasure task, confirming evidence from other studies that found no, or very little, difference.

Skumlien added: “We’re so used to seeing ‘lazy stoners’ on our screens that we don’t stop to ask whether they’re an accurate representation of cannabis users. Our work implies that this is in itself a lazy stereotype, and that people who use cannabis are no more likely to lack motivation or be lazier than people who don’t.

“Unfair assumptions can be stigmatising and could get in the way of messages around harm reduction. We need to be honest and frank about what are and are not the harmful consequences of drug use.”

Dude, no driving while drinking:

Small-bowl afternoon, once again here we are…

(Illustration out front: ‘Cannabis,’ by Michael Creese, and found here).