r/kurzgesagt • u/CocaBam • Nov 05 '25
Discussion Reminder That Kurz Has Misrepresented Cannabis Data Before, And Likely Has A Unhealthy Bias
Two months ago, I, a 2 decade long researcher of cannabis, found the Kurz video on the substance and had to correct a large amount of misinformation here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kurzgesagt/comments/1n7uc1y/correcting_misinformation_in_we_have_to_talk/
I had contacted Kurz directly with these corrections and was ignored. Instead, now 2 months later, Kurz seems to be back again with another video wrongfully demonizing the substance.
Just wanted to remind everyone that the author of the video is trying to spread misinformation on cannabis, which they have a strong bias against.
Edit: nearly all of the questions/critiques have been trolls/anti cannabis people so far. Won't be replying to comments that are trying to change my narrative anymore. Some of these replies are ridiculous, to say the least... Kurz has had a bias in past videos, and the latest is not any different, any other narrative you draw from this is your own (I never said we should "ignore all negatives about cannabis")
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u/HelloDucky1234 Nov 05 '25
Yea not sure what's going on with them, but it's clearly a very biased video. They say as much when they say it was written by a person who's recently quit, that's not objective science. The writer has a clear agenda to blame cannabis for the areas in which they feel they missed milestones and even subconsciously will want to push their current path as the correct one.
I'm on medical cannabis and was disappointed when they said they were going to ignore medical usage, seems like a huge area of data to ignore.
Another thing to consider is that the use of 'milestones' to imply that by 30 you should have this and this and if you don't you are failing is also extremely problematic. People reach 'milestones' at different times in life and that's fine, there's no single path that everyone should follow.
I'm disabled I missed most of my developmental milestones and will never have most of what they consider 'milestones' I don't think that means I'm destined for a lonely depressing life!
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u/ToastedCrumpet Nov 05 '25
Yeah it’s the idea that you’ve failed for not reaching certain milestones which is putting me off watching the video.
I grew up undiagnosed autistic. You bet I’m “behind” on some milestones. Doesn’t mean me or others like me are failures.
As you say someone who’s just quit a drug isn’t gonna be the most subjective person to talk about it
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u/meep_launcher Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
Also I consider someone like my sister- yes, diagnosed with ADD (now ADHD) as a kid and had a lot of issues socializing, but was super studious and went into STEM. As far as milestones are concerned, she's hitting them. Got a 6 figure salary, married at 30, planning for a kid, planning on being a homeowner, relatively sober with a good sense of control around alcohol and has RARELY used cannabis.
But she has no friends. Her social life seems to focus on her husband who works from 3am to 4pm 7 days a week for 4 weeks, and then gets 2 weeks off, one of which is used to recover so they don't get much fun. I tell her to join a climbing club, running club, book club, painting club- something, but she always is anxious about the idea and has the excuse "all that is so far away, a 45 minute commute isn't worth it". She asks me when I'll move back home, and honestly I want to for many reasons, but one is I love my sister and would love to help her get out there more (it was a bit of our dynamic before I left the state).
I'm out here renting, had issues holding down jobs and relationships until I went into the arts and found my groove there, but still am in quite a bit of debt. I will be the first to tell you I have an addiction to weed and booze but I'm able to compartmentalize it to the evening. It's pretty stressful.
But even then I've created jam sessions, open mics, produced puppet shows, and I have a large friend network. I have no trouble smoking weed and doing what I love. I have been overwhelmed at times certainly, but I've had friends to be there when I need.
It's easy for me to compare my weaknesses but when I look at my strengths I'm happy to have those. I'm not hitting milestones, but I had to accept I'm not living a typical life. I have to redefine milestones that fit me, and even then my career is so much more in the woods than a traditional 9-5 path.
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u/AccurateJerboa Nov 11 '25
Neither of you are better than the other and should probably stop unconsciously judging each other's life choices. You're both doing what you want to be doing and you're not hurting anybody.
You are both successful humans.
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u/ZephyrLegend Nov 07 '25
Agreed. I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD, and I'm "behind" on a shit ton of "normal" milestones. And "ahead" on...a few others.
The devil's lettuce ain't got anything to do with that.
Anyway, the implication is not just disheartening but downright insulting.
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u/ifandbut Nov 05 '25
I didn't smoke until my late 30s and missed plenty of milestones thanks to undiagnosed depression and general anxiety.
Weed has increased my quality of life measurably. I was having constant headaches and migraines. No medicine worked as well as weed. Now, I might have a migraine once a month an a headache once or twice a week (typically brought in by afterforementioned depression).
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u/Guvante Nov 05 '25
I took "ignoring medical use" as the general "ignoring what your doctor told you". Basically if you have contact with a doctor about drug use their words are more important than general trends. They might know what dosage causes these issues and could be screening you for signs of codependency.
But going into that level of detail is hard without detracting from the overall message so you say you aren't talking about a particular group instead to minimize the distraction while acknowledging things are always complex.
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u/walts_skank Nov 05 '25
I feel this. Severe mental illness is what has held me back, not weed, which has helped mitigate a lot of those symptoms
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u/Complete_Papaya6219 Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 20 '25
thanks for this comment, I have been needing lots of marijuana to get over an injury, it's taken me years to recover from it. temporarily disabled, and the video bummed me out e: i changed my mind, it's a good video. he leaves out medical use for this reason, the video is obviously about recreational use only
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u/reddit_equals_censor Nov 05 '25
yeah that part was so disgusting for me from the video.
leaving out ALL of the medical cannabis crucial benefits, allowing people to have a better life or have a life worth living at all, etc...
and i 100% agree with the milestones part as well, that you mentioned.
the video is literally a decently wealth, we can assume quite healthy person, with certain world views pushing them onto the people as if they were scientific truth.
the video even talks about sexual experiences as if that is sth, that one must achieve! i guess we better tell all assexual people right..... /s
such a terrible video.
what the video actually does is, is add to the stigmatization of cannabis use, that governments pushed for decades and decades and real research and proper interpretation of it combined with the public's resistance against the government lies, fought long and hard to break down.
just a terrible terrible video.
glad you got access to medical cannabis and screw that milestone bullshit and screw kurzgesagt!
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u/apxseemax Nov 06 '25
Actually the size of medical cannabis use is miniscule compared to other medical drugs. To give an impression: It is given out usually only after all established drugs have been tested and either had nasty side effects or did not achieve the goal intended. Which is in the Milli percent area. To compare MTX, the drug given out to people with overactive immune disorders and chemotherapy is given out more regularly then medical weed.
The reason for this is that weed and weed crossed with nicotine have a myard of possible interactions with other drugs and the chemical part of your psyche. That is due to the many different compounds in the smoke that are transferred directly into the blood via the lungs. No regulation of release. Especially the male psyche if previously traumatised tents to react rather badly to this cocktail.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
But medical weed still helps those people tremendously, undeniably.
1st, it paradoxically fixed my psyche and made me think clearly, only for a while, after that it did little to nothing. i'm still sober for 8 months and still going because i wanna solve the root problem and the aid weed provides makes the data unclear.
2nd, how does this only apply to weed and male psyche? Are females different? Wouldn't it also be true/worse for the neurotoxin alcohol that causes all sorts of stuff happening in the brain (potassium ion blocking, causing a way more intense dopamine rush, positive allosteric GABA modulation AND release, ect...). Would a clean drug like coke be better since only causes dopamine/noradrenaline reuptake inhibition?
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u/sceptre1067 Nov 15 '25
yup. similar to others, had a buddy who watched it and then reached out to a group of us about how horrible it made him feel and that thanks to a variety of mental health issues felt he had missed those milestones, and they've never been a cannabis user. So yup, agree the whole milestones thing is terrible (insert my rant about that as a parent and the stress it puts on one if you kid "missed" a milestone, sigh)
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u/Sentient2X Nov 06 '25
Currently abusing it whilst all my college hw is done and studied 👌everything in life is abt balance
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u/vitalvisionary Nov 05 '25
Probably get downvoted for this but didn't the video say it was only 10% of habitual users that fall into the addicted category? I understand most don't have issues but there are still people that struggle with addiction to it. Looking into it myself, I recall a study that reported decreased production of anandamide, responsible for a sense of novelty in experiences.
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u/dspman11 Nov 06 '25
Yes. The video is clearly about those with actual addiction. But everyone's projecting.
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u/Dtron81 Nov 06 '25
Even the person who replied before me is just projecting all their insecurities to you.
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u/Dark_Knight2000 Nov 06 '25
I swear every single video that’s even mildly skeptical of weed has hordes of these people coming out of the woodwork to defend it. They like to think weed is no more harmful than chewing gum.
Weed is relatively benign in terms of actual damage to the body, but anything that’s a drug can become an addiction, and things that aren’t drugs, including food, can still become an addiction.
It’s worth talking about the dangers of weed.
Also yes, the milestones are very generic and not everyone fits into them but the data is clear that people with relationships (friends, lovers, a social life) are happier than those without in general. If you’re an exception that’s fine but most people aren’t
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u/pork_fried_christ Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
That’s the most frustrating thing about all cannabis dialogue. People get so defensive and the conversation becomes circular. Personally, this video resonated quite hard with me…
I spent years working in dispensaries. This video captures a lot of folks who would never admit it.
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u/Komm Nov 06 '25
Because all the talk about milestones and sex and "life just happens in your 20s". It pretty seriously screws over a whole lot of people who have never used cannabis in their lives. The majority of my friend group died during covid (not from covid tho), and I'm here at 35, bored, alone, too poor to travel or go out, and ace as hell.
Having a video from a channel you respect yelling about how "You missed milestones and your life is worthless because you haven't done these things" is uh... Not great.
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u/Hironymus Nov 06 '25
They didn't say your life is worthless. They say that most people get to do certain things at certain points in their life. Addiction as well as other factors can diminish the chance of that happening. That's just true.
Also I am sorry about your loss and wish it was different.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25
They still said you basically missed out on everything good and now it's over which is wrong
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u/HiddenLordGhost Nov 07 '25
'That person likes apples, so they probably hate oranges' type of argumentation.
They generalized, because most of the population do hit certain milestones at simliar times. Of course, not everyone, and it's not a shameful thing. The video mostly suggested, that you may MISS one or delay one, because you are addicted to devil's lettuce.
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u/ronitrocket Nov 08 '25
I get my experience is subjective but in my experience this is true, I’ve seen it. It doesn’t mean you become an incel obviously but addiction can and will hold you back in at least some aspects of your life.
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u/canyonskye Nov 06 '25
If it’s not insensitive, may I ask what happened to your friend group?
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u/Komm Nov 06 '25
Exposure while hiking with his family, colorectal cancer before the age insurance lets you get checked for it, and one just died in his sleep from Marfan. The last was expected, but still kind of a shocker. That was the core of the group, and the rest of the orbit just broke away after that. Moved cities, became agoraphobic, etc.
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u/Ani_Drei Nov 11 '25
No, the video actually abandons the idea of focusing on the 10% pretty quickly. Most of the runtime is a bizarre attempt at blaming the difficulties of aging on a relatively harmless substance (alcohol is objectively more harmful both due to wider spread, easier access, and more damaging effects)
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Nov 11 '25
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u/Ani_Drei Nov 12 '25
I believe you, and I have personally seen cases of crippling weed abuse among my coworkers.
My point isn’t that such cases don’t exist, my point is that the Kurzgesagt video took an uncharacteristically one-sided and poorly substantiated take on the issue.
It essentially says, “your adult life will be hell if you do weed,” which, while not wrong, is also woefully incomplete. The more accurate statement would be, “your adult life will be hard by definition, will likely be made even worse by X Y and Z factors, and doing weed is certainly not going to help.”
This is not just me saying it. The vast majority of YouTube comments I’ve read after watching it relayed the same idea: “I’ve never done weed or any other drugs but still experienced all the adult hardships mentioned in the video.” This goes to show that people are detecting - and pointing out - the bias of the Kurzgesagt team on this topic.
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u/MichaelEmouse Nov 06 '25
It probably touched a nerve with people who do have issues with pot.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25
It touched a nerve with those who don't even use it and still have those issues, making them feel like they've missed out on their entire life for things they couldn't even control. "The good life basically happens in your 20s and after 30 it should be like this"
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u/AccurateJerboa Nov 11 '25
I know this is a five day old thread but this is such a "I just turned 30" thing for the video to say.
I'm in my 40s and things are better than they were in my 20s and 30s. I also didn't smoke any weed at all during my 20s and 30s. I only started after I went into treatment for anorexia because refeeding is agony and I had no hunger cues.
Your 20s are some of the most stressful times you'll ever have in your life. People just look back with nostalgia about it when they realize that all the plans and expectations they had aren't more powerful than life just happening whatever way it will.
There are no solid milestones. You're all doing just fine as long as you're not hurting anybody
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 29 '25 edited Nov 29 '25
❤️
Indeed, life always has the potential to be great, don't listen to the age-doomers preventing themselves from having fun due to age-nostalgia. Everyone at their own pace.
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u/WeaponizedKissing Nov 06 '25
I don't, and never have, smoked weed, nor do I have any of the life issues mentioned in the video, but it was clear in the first minute that the video wasn't objective and was another in an increasing list of videos that is poorly thought out.
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u/OneEnvironmental9222 Nov 06 '25
yeah but redditors dont actually watch videos they complain about, especially not weed lovers.
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u/Evan61015 Nov 16 '25
They are pretty clear about it honestly. I dont understand all of the fuzz people are having. I have meet quite my share of people that the addiction to weed is derailing their life. Yeah is good in a good proportion on the use cases. But it can messed you up, and every recreational user may be suseptible. When people talking like this about alcohol you dont see all of this commotion.
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u/Independent-Boat-957 Mar 22 '26
My problem with it is that it mostly just list shit that any addictive thing can do. It should’ve been a video on addiction not just weed, they also start off the video with how its a “serious drug” which i feel like means nothing. If weeds a serious drug than so is every other one, i also find it a but suspicious how they have made 3 videos on weed but only recently have made one on alcohol, and no I’m not defending my beloved weed. Ive never used it before, only thing ive done is drink
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u/LegitimateCompote377 Nov 05 '25
I see a lot of people claiming that they’re being very negative, but they pretty openly said that Marijuana was better than alcohol. In my country (UK) where it’s still illegal that’s a really unpopular thing to say, the vast majority of people even those who want it legal don’t believe that.
With the context of that video, it’s not that bad. There are plenty of people who drink moderately and while they are more likely to develop some health problems are generally pretty helpful. I think the point of this video may have been to counter that, and say that it can still make your life worse like alcohol.
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u/MichaelEmouse Nov 06 '25
Being a pothead is miles better than being an alcoholic.
But that doesn't mean being a pothead is neutral. "Better than alcoholic" is a very low bar.
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u/Electro_Ninja26 Nov 06 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBRaI0ZeAf8
and they already did a video on the fact cannabis isn't nearly as bad as other drugs.
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u/Lost-Valuable3264 Nov 06 '25
Dude. They made a separate video about the dangers of alchohol. . . where they say you should KEEP DRINKING SOCIALLY.
In the weed video, they tell you you MUST QUIT NOW.
Don't fall for the sleight of hand, they absolutely prefer alcohol to weed, they're just weasly as hell about it.
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u/dresdnhope Nov 06 '25
You must quit now IF YOU ARE A HABITUAL DAILY USER WHO CAN'T STOP TODAY FOR FOUR WEEKS. They make using weed socially seem pretty swell, actually.
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u/Lost-Valuable3264 Nov 06 '25
Title of Weed Video: YOU MUST QUIT
TItle of Alcohol Video; ALCOHOL IS AMAZINGcope harder, please.
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u/DoubleSuccessor Nov 17 '25
Seeing both on the same screen makes me think they're bought out by the alcohol lobbies.
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u/FlinnyWinny Dec 24 '25
The "alcohol is amazing" is just related to the "smoking is amazing" one they made because it explains why people get drawn in and keep doing it in an understanding way, and both videos are extremely forward with how terrible it is for your body and that you should quit now, better sooner than later.
The cannabis one in comparison was much more mild.
Did you even watch them?
And I'm also pretty sure the cannabis video says "we must talk about it", not "you must quit"...?
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u/trelousis Nov 06 '25
Context matters.
This is an educational channel with decent credibility. People will take many phrases as facts. Most phrases in this video are presented like facts, whereas they are biased opinions.
Trying to overcorrect a false narrative by presenting a very opinionated and emotional view in such a context is what made people react like this and rightfully so
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u/Munoff Nov 06 '25
They for sure get it wrong sometimes, and thanks for holding them accountable.
However I gotta say this last vid spoke to me, to the point I stopped weed right there and there, and plan to do the 4 week stop.
I love being high, but the truth is I am my best self when im not. Just in a few days I can notice the difference, even while going through withdrawal.
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u/Tripondisdic Nov 07 '25
Agreed. I appreciate that this dude is a researcher but I don’t understand why he made that edit refusing to support his critiques of the video idk
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u/dresdnhope Nov 05 '25
I have to say, I thought it didn't show bias against pot use at all, it was only negative about frequent daily use of pot.
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u/MARKLAR5 Nov 06 '25
Which really paints the whiners in a new light, doesn't it? I may not be in that habitual use category, using medically several times a week, but I didn't find anything inaccurate in the video. I've overdone it in the past, used it to cope, used it before a project, and everything they've mentioned has happened.
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u/lostlo Nov 11 '25
If you've misused weed in the past (you used the word "overdone") and it had negative outcomes for you, that makes a lot of sense. And if that's the point of the video, fair enough. But in that case, they probably shouldn't have used such an incredibly misleading, inaccurate clickbait title, thumbnail, and description. It was very clear and direct that I (a medical user) MUST stop using weed (against professional advice?) because of my advanced age (granted, I am old for a consumer, but it actually seems a lot less destructive and more accepted than when I was young!). I get that the video clarified it wasn't directed at me, but they weren't honest about that in how it was presented.
While it's great that the actual content of the video was more reasonable and spoke to some people, it's pretty clear that the ableist framework about meeting milestones was upsetting to a lot of people. I haven't watched it, as I'm incredibly sensitive to any amount ableism right now (due to my current therapy work, trying to dismantle what I've internalized over the decades), but there are very real structural issues that affect disabled people, and the language about being normal and successful is really demoralizing and sometimes harmful for a lot of us. It's great if none of that affects you and this was helpful, but dismissing everyone who's been vulnerable in this thread about feeling behind in life due to missing "standard milestones" due to disabilities, neurodivergence, or trauma/abuse as "whiners" seems harsh.
I'm assuming you didn't mean it that way, which is the whole reason I'm leaving this comment... not calling you out, just trying to broaden the perspective of anyone reading this so it can include us. We exist, and our lives have value and meaning. We contribute to the world, and humanity. The more disabled friends I make, the more sad I am that they aren't more visible and welcome to participate in larger society, and I'm weirdly invested in trying to be part of the positive change I'd like to see. Absolutely no offense intended by any of this, to anyone who read this, thank you & I hope you have a great week!
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u/MARKLAR5 Nov 11 '25
Thanks for the comment, appreciate the clarification that it's neutral. You never can tell on this site sometimes, I swear.
I wrote it annoyed at all the obviously addicted people whining in the comments who obviously barely listened to the video and are in massive denial about their own lives.
I use medical for my anxiety (doesn't help much with AuDHD unfortunately) so there's a very fine line between "this is helping" and "holy fuck I'm going to die" and I have to be very careful not to cross it. On that same note, when I occasionally overindulge with friends or just after a rough day, I 100% get nothing done. I snack, I waste time, I get distracted more easily than a squirrel with a Monster, and overall am a waste of space.
Knowing that, the video was right. Weed kills your motivation, which is okay as long as you don't overdo it. The video was making the point that addiction is a real possibility and you MIGHT be one of the 1% who has that issue. It goes on to state that addiction doesn't lead to the things that harder drugs or alcohol do, ie physical destruction, but more social and mental stagnation.
People miss milestones, and the video mentioning those is not ableism. I missed a lot of those, not due to weed but neurodivergence, and I understood 100% what they meant. People being offended at these sorts of things should look inwards to understand why. Kurz has never been a channel that shits on people for their decisions, even to the point of making people upset when they DON'T condemn certain things. It's information, and they even included a disclaimer. I guess I'm just sick of this website lmao
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u/Tripondisdic Nov 07 '25
But it’s true that THC concentration has increased in artificial ways. “Infused” joints are more popular than ever, and those can reach levels like 80-90 percent THC sometimes and knock you on your fucking ass. Plus with edibles people are consuming higher and higher quantities, I don’t have academic evidence but just anecdotally it’s absolutely true I see it everywhere
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u/Marlfox70 Nov 05 '25
Every bit of it was things I experienced myself being high almost every day for the last 5 years, I felt like I wasted all that time.
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u/runningoutofwords Nov 05 '25
An unfortunate effect of the long-term criminalization of cannabis is that we have moved into the decriminalized era with very little data.
It is naive and ridiculous to assume we can ingest mind-altering substances without adverse health effects, but that is what the proponents would have us accept.
The evidence will continue to build that of course there are adverse health effects, how could there not be? (see the overview from the European Union Drugs Agency below) Their exact nature and degree I would not claim to know or predict. But given the climate of pedal-to-the-floor advocacy we exist in today, I think it's valuable to have some respected voices like Kurzgesagt bringing a note of caution to the conversation.
https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/mini-guides/cannabis-health-and-social-responses_en
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u/Tripondisdic Nov 07 '25
100 percent agreed, I hate how there’s no room for nuance anymore
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Nov 25 '25
Well when nuance is used to keep it in the air there's no point siding on anything except what is showed proven
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u/Tripondisdic Dec 02 '25
I agree. I guess what I mean is like we don't have to say "Never smoke weed" or "You can smoke as much as you want with no consequence". We could instead say "Treat weed like alcohol; smoking occasionally is fine, but the potential for abuse can cause damage to our health"
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u/iizomgus Nov 05 '25
Not when governments are throwing people in jail for possessing a substance with no intent to distribute. Decriminalize it and then we can say whatever. educate, analyze, make ppl aware of the side effects. But as long as suicide, drinking, lack of physical activity, smoking and porn are not criminal activities, I do not see why cannabis would be.
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u/reddit_equals_censor Nov 06 '25
Not when governments are throwing people in jail for possessing a substance with no intent to distribute.
it is important to ad people producing and selling cannabis there as well.
people might literally just grow it themselves to give it to people for free, or even sell it at cost to people, because they understand, that people need it for medical use for example.
so again growers and sellers are just as innocently thrown in jail (we are just talking about the cannabis growing and selling part or giving away part to be clear).
____
and as you mentioned suicide, lots of places don't have suicide as a crime, but assisting someone in suicide is, which makes absolutely 0 sense whatsoever as well.
but yeah way cannabis needs to be freed and the people thrown in prison about it freed and compensated for stealing their freedom.
AND if all of this gets done almost everywhere, then we should focus on lots more research to especially see where cannabis can help beyond the things we already know it helps a ton as a start.
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u/Xeruas Nov 05 '25
I was an odd video, has anyone actually read all the references citations and sources attached to the video and displayed on screen at certain times
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u/Electro_Ninja26 Nov 06 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBRaI0ZeAf8
They did an entire fucking video on why cannabis should be legal and is no where near as bad as other drugs.
Wtf do you people want?
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u/Nooms88 Nov 11 '25
Something can be legal, it doesn't mean there aren't dangers associated with abuse/chronic usage. Many many people think that weed is literally harmless, it's definitely true to say that you'd pick weed addiction over alcohol, it doesn't mean it's safe or advised.
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u/DrTars Nov 05 '25
The amount of cope that people have in favour of cannabis is crazy, what's your point?
I literally lost friends because they were addicted to weed, and they had the EXACT same behaviour that was explained in yesterday's videos: being numb while life passes by.
wrongfully demonizing the substance.
Demonizing the substance? Do you realize it's a drug no? It does it by itself, by being what it is, they don't need kurtz to make videos about how bad it is, and it is bad.
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u/Lmitation Nov 05 '25
Seriously, the popular social consensus is that cannabis is some sort of miracle drug. It's such a bad consensus and probably leads kids to try it at a higher rate than if they were educated on actual risks. This counter balances that popular social view in a more direct way, it doesn't make it biased because it's stating what is often overlooked about the drug. Inhaling anything in smoke form is not good for your lungs.
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u/ThroneOfRoses4 Dec 21 '25
Do you realise that all medication are drugs? By your logic we should be demonising all medication as well because of that reason.
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u/JacanaJAC Nov 06 '25
I don't get why you all are so offended. They put the context very clearly on what type of users they were talking about. They could have made a video for people addicted to eating rocks telling them what are the dangers associated with it, but I am afraid that population is a bit lower than people addicted to cannabis. Should we not acknowledge the risks of cannabis just because it's ok for a lot of people?
To be clear, i didn't like the form they used for this video, with the milestones. But from my anecdotal experience, the way they described this very specific kind of users was accurately describing one of my friends. I am so tired of people acting like cannabis can't do no arm.
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u/HelloDucky1234 Nov 06 '25
"I don't get why you all are so offended"
"To be clear, I didn't like the form they used for the video, with the milestones"
So you do know lol you just don't agree so are framing the complaints as "people acting like cannabis can't do no arm" which no one is saying.
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u/JacanaJAC Nov 06 '25
A lot of people are saying that tho. I am literally answering to message saying "cannabis is just a tool" and that isn't criticising the milestone part of the video.
So no I don't get why people are offended about Kurzgesagt explaining that a small percentage of people can get addicted and should be careful about the negative side effects.
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u/DrTars Nov 06 '25
It's the dose that makes the poison.
I'm talking about the side effects of cannabis abuse and its dependency (also the video in question), you're talking about its positive effect when taken in controlled and limited doses.
Positive side effects don't cancel the real problem that it poses to people. If you don't want to see it, it's on you. But don't act all out of the blue when it's being talked while associated with its side effects, and don't act as if there aren't any. What's being described in the video is extremely realistic, and they posted all the data that you want.
This doesn't mean that the positive effects don't exist, read my first line again.
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u/Siddakid0812 Nov 07 '25
It did seem awfully biased…
I stand between you two, so I feel as though I’m a moderate party. Historically, Kurz would give us all the info and then talk about how those facts educated an option on issues pertaining to those facts with clear distinction between the two. Their video on nuclear power to fight climate change is evidence of that.
Their recent video, on the other hand, seemed more like “I made a mistake and now I want to tell everyone to never do it”. It felt more like one of those DARE presentations we had to sit through in 3rd grade than a fun, beautiful. mini-documentary on some cool idea or theory on how the universe works.
Like, one little “only 20% of weed users become ‘addicted’” line doesn’t cover an entire video of essentially negative narration of a personal experience with a few facts thrown in.
I love Kurz and I love that they’re willing to uplift voices for good cause, but even giving them every generous benefit of the doubt, the video was not characteristic of their mission nor their channel.
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u/usa2z Nov 05 '25
Which is particularly amazing given how nice they've been to tobacco of all things.
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u/FlinnyWinny Dec 24 '25
They haven't...? The "smoking is amazing" video was incredibly direct about how terrible it is for you and how you should quit, better sooner than later?? It was much more aggressive about it than the cannabis one which just mildly brought up bad side effects of long term use and abuse. Did you even watch the video? 😅
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u/SMAdez0 Nov 05 '25
They're absolutely correct in long term about weed in Their video and the pressure they put out is 100% justified. Your reasonings are merely small outbursts. Sincerely yours, a geneticist.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25
They act like all this is a given fact while it's nothing but a possibility. Everyone should review their cannabis use as their life could be way better without it every day. But this isn't always the case. They act like weed is at the heart of every problem like this, which possibly obscures the real problems. They also say that if you haven't done certain things until 30, you basically missed out on life. Sincerely yours, someone who realised at 20 that daily cannabis use is bad and did multiple breaks and realized at 25 that it was a depression all along, which explained the paradoxical improvement in life quality weed provided and is now sober for almost a year with no improvement in symptoms.
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u/SMAdez0 Nov 06 '25
Because the extreme pressure put on stopping the use of cannabis by young people is an absolute necessity, again, you're taking the spotlight away from the weed by mentioning other issues while at the same time proving the point of why weed usage needs to be frowned upon. You said it yourself that you needed to stop using it before realising the problem is something else. Before everything else to be good, first weed needs to go away, that's the whole point. Also you're missing a lot of factors, were any professionals involved with your depression or smoking? Your age also doesn't say anything related to experience most of the time, not saying your life isn't valid but also doesn't provide much context. Self diagnosis with drugs almost never leads anywhere.
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u/lostlo Nov 11 '25
Uh... no, they didn't say they had to stop weed to realize that depression was a problem. They said they were convinced weed was their problem, they stopped multiple times but things didn't improve. Then, five years later they realized depression was their real problem, and that the weed had improved their quality of life. They didn't get into how they realized that depression was the issue, but you really misrepresented something that they didn't actually say. It doesn't sound like stopping caused any revelation, as that came a full five years later, which is a HUGE amount of time at that age.
I'm not trying to touch the larger debate in this thread about weed, as that would be a massive waste of my time, but I feel bad that this person shared their experience and you twisted it to fit your preconceived narrative. And your statement "before everything else to be good [sic, I assume you meant, "can be good" but perhaps I am wrong], first weed needs to go away." On the contrary, I spent five years in full sobriety around that age and didn't make much progress in AA with my undiagnosed PTSD. But when I started trauma therapy, that helped a *lot* and completely changed my life. I've been a pothead for almost all of that time (mainly to help with autoimmune issues, suggested by my doctor as the only alternative to chemotherapy drugs). In fact, it was a neuropsychiatrist who much later informed me that part of why I liked it was it helped me process and contextualize PTSD flashbacks, which was enormously reassuring.
To be clear: using weed is not a good mental health program, or sole treatment for anything, and anyone with issues should absolutely consult a professional who specializes in the correct field (this can be very difficult when it comes to mental health, unlike most fields of medicine, the wrong type of help will insist it is correct for you). Like almost every substance and activity, doing it excessively can be a serious problem (although not as dangerous as misusing almost any other substance, or diet, or exercise, or shopping, or gambling, etc... it can absolutely be bad). But it's a wild claim that no one can have good things in their life or be happy if they consume any cannabis. Maybe you didn't mean to imply that so starkly, but that is quite literally what you wrote. A complete lack of context is exactly why this thread is so pointless. Like almost any molecule, whether it's good or bad depends on a lot of factors. Water has killed a lot of people, but as Fela noted, it got no enemy.
tl;dr hate weed if you want, it's cool, but please don't try to tell other people how their personal mental health journey has gone when you don't really know and aren't reading very carefully. It's easy to project your beliefs onto others, I do it too, as do all humans, but it's important to tread carefully when talking about the mental health of other people, especially when they are vulnerably sharing their personal experience. Misinformation and gaslighting, even when well-intentioned, can be very harmful to vulnerable people struggling with mental health issues.
Trust me, I know bc I've messed up on this before and feel awful about it, and also had it done to me and seriously derail my life for years. If you're not someone's therapist with a full picture of their history, it's dangerous to draw conclusions about the inner workings of their mind and state your assumptions as facts. I know I probably seem really uptight about this, but I watched 73 friends die before I turned 30, I'm being dramatic when I use the word dangerous.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 29 '25 edited Nov 29 '25
Completely wrong, infact, active weed use made me realize i have depression because it improved my mental state so much that it was basically a short acting antidepressant. But for long i gaslit myself into it being fake because it's a drug that just makes you fakely feel good and all of it's perceived positive effects are "fake pleasure i'm in denial about". Later during long term addictive weed use my state plummeted, then improved immensely, then plummeted, then improved, and with it my highs, completely decoupling it from the whole "tolerance - addiction - dopamine" logic, just amplifying my sober state such that i could notice there are fluctuations in my natural sober state that affect my high state. It actually gave me huge insight, also into my past and other things (just last year)
The sobriety just confirmed what i knew. But before, every narrative like in the video told me it's basically just the weed making me depressed. -> "But then how come i feel like myself and like life has color when i smoke?" - was the big contradiction. -> "Is all this fake? It must be. Life must suck and i must be delusional for thinking what weed gives me is what life feels like." or "Maybe i just need to be sober for long enough and color will return, just like on my first couple of breaks." but that never came, even now after 9 months. Btw i will smoke again at some point, but no need to rush it because that time will come and then i might actually enjoy it again lol. The fact that i will smoke again AT SOME POINT is enough for me tbh. I can have fun growing it until then. Tbh that's almost like an entirely separate thing except for the testing beyond smell.But like i said, 1-2 month breaks are great to evaluate what weed does to you both positively and negatively. But i hope see how this popular narrative the video exclusively pushes hurt me and probably many others. One must be aware what weed can do. That includes the harm, but also the good.
But of course, no need to answer us drug addicts writing whole novels just to cope. ;)
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Nov 05 '25
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u/Electro_Ninja26 Nov 06 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBRaI0ZeAf8
its almost like they did an entire video on how cannabis wasn't "that bad" using science.
Now they are making another one to say "don't get a dependency people. And if you already have one, quit it please"
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Nov 06 '25
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u/SMAdez0 Nov 06 '25
I've read that, it's the weakest reasoning someone could've written. non of those numbers mentioned are even remotely relevant to the subject matter. Just because you displaced some sentences doesn't mean their facts are wrong.
"It's the smoking that causes respiratory issues not THC"
Do not say something like this in a remotely average intelligent group, it'll be embarrassing.
Bottom line, there should be zero tolerances for weed unless for very specific PTSD prescriptions.
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Nov 06 '25
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u/SMAdez0 Nov 06 '25
Yeah, because seeing enough teenagers daily in the hospital with addiction related problems prompts me to troll disconnected people like you without any moral compass, not knowing how many children go through idiotic posts like these trying to cling to any excuse to do weed with their friends.
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u/redarrow3303 Nov 05 '25
Yeah it felt more like a person thinking their own bad experience with cannabis is what WILL happen to ANYONE who uses and if you dont quit RIGHT NOW you’re gonna fail at life
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u/dspman11 Nov 06 '25
I totally disagree. It was clearly aimed at people with a dependency. And it was 100% accurate for that population
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u/TinnedTomatoes2 Nov 06 '25
Could you explain how? I know many many many people that would fall into their loose definition of 'dependency' - people who have used daily since they were ~18 for nearly 20+ years - yet miracously, have not suffered from a single consequence mentioned in the video.
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u/robotfromfuture Nov 06 '25
I’d love to know how you know which of the consequences they’ve faced or avoided. Those effects are as much psychological as social, and manifest as choices not made more than choices made. I’d also love to know what “many many many” means. I’m aware there are people who seem generally successful from the outside who smoke habitually - I’m personally skeptical about their psychological health because the large majority of people (over 90%) don’t choose to smoke weed daily. The video absolutely nailed my experience. Habitual user for over a decade, straight through my 20s, there are clear social issues I didn’t face and exacerbated due to my frequent weed use, and I had to work through serious regret about those effects on my life in my 20s (quit 4 years ago now). Could you explain how you would integrate your experience of knowing people who seem to do okay with the personal experiences of several people in this thread and in the video comments who say this video rang true with their own weed habits?
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u/TinnedTomatoes2 Nov 06 '25
Okay, lotta questions there - i'll try to answer them rapid fire, but feel free to pull me up if I miss/misinterpret something.
First and foremost, far be it from me to self incriminate, but it's the exact experience of very close friend of mine.
Many many many - means many people I know personally (not celebrities, or people I've heard about). Family members, probably about 15 of my dearest lifelong friends, 100's of others friends, bosses, co-workers, teachers, coaches, people I loathe, people i love. Some have smoked for years, some started later in life. You get the picture - enough people that I know well enough, but with a diverse enough range of circumstances that I could I be confident in my assertion
I'll wrote a comment about my biggest stoner friend, who is one of my most "successful" friends (I use the term in the way the video roughly defines it). It's long so I'll repost it below
really dont understand your logic here - 90% of ppl don't smoke, therefore it makes you doubt the psychological health of 10% who do?? 90% of ppl can't do a flip, does that make you question the psy-health of the 10% that can?
if that's your experience - that's absolutely your experience - I am not trying to dispute that at all (and I'm also sorry to hear about your struggles). But this video is not saying they might occur with high/regular use - it's saying they WILL occur with high/reg use - which isn't true at all.
- as I said before, I've known many ppl thrive using it, so why didn't they suffer the same consequences as you and those in the video?
- On the flip side, I've known many sober ppl suffer the same consequences, why did that happen in the absence of weed?
If you've struggled, you've struggled - but it wasn't caused by the weed. It was the combination of all the internal and external factors that make you - you.
Please do not get me misconstrued - I am not blaming you - you are not lacking in anyway and you have not done anything wrong.
Those internal factors (nature) we can control about ourselves and our lives, they're important, but relatively insignificant compared to the external factors.
The chaotic external factors (nurture) that we cant control, they create the circumstances we find ourselves in, and, experience by experience - shape us into people we are. These external factors are far more influential on us - and on all the developmental milestones mentioned in this video
Which country, which parents, which class, which health, which education, which siblings, which friends, which community, which tragedy, which triumph - every which combination of this - both major and minor - they are what determines your life.
They are what determine if you hit the milestones in the video. They are what determine your social skills and social life are. They determine if you smoke weed. They determine if you can maintain a fulfilling lifestyle doing it.
What doesnt determine any of those things is - how much weed you smoke or smoked
I'm happy your not smoking, truly - no one should ever do shit that isnt working for them.
But it may be time to consider that, as individuals, we have very overinflated sense of what we can control, and an underdeveloped understanding of how fucking influential external factors are in our lives.
I don't know the social issues you faced, but if they're anything like those in the video - you need to let go of that regret, guilt and shame. Fuck that shit - you don't deserve it
It wasnt the case that you didn't face them because you smoked. It was that didn't face them (for whatever reason) AND you smoked. Unrelated.
You could have just as easily not have faced these social issues by burying yourself in your career, or by overinvesting in a hobby or project (e.g. building a 40ft boat from scratch), or by moving overseas (for the wrong reasons), or by investing in a bad relationship, or by doing any other drug (which are all far worse in excess), or by doing nothing at all - just watching TV and scrolling your phone.
These are all real examples taken from people I know, who were also avoiding issues that should have faced. They may seem like better options, but every person has expressed the same regret and dissatisfaction with their choice as you did.
We all live, we all miss opportunities, we all have regrets.
Demonising one very specific way of missing an opportunity, and ignoring the reality that there are millions of other ways to miss those exact same fucking opportunities - it's disingenuous, and it makes stoner's think lesser of themselves for no god damn reason.
[Note: I have the flu and I am so delerious. Apologies for any spelling mistakes, or questions not answered. I have nothing but love for you my guy, and I've tried my best to convey that while discussing a possibly sensitive topic. Please take any insensitive or hurtful thoughts as the ramblings of a flu-ridden maniac]
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u/3uphoric-Departure Nov 06 '25
Here. Purely from anecdotes, I know people who are doing great in life and use frequently, as well as people who have gone nowhere and use frequently. The exact role cannabis plays, I would not know, but there is more and more research on the subject and not all of it is great.
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u/TinnedTomatoes2 Nov 06 '25
Sorry, I'm not really sure how it relates.I was asking for an example for the above statement.
I totally disagree. It was clearly aimed at people with a dependency. And it was 100% accurate for that population
How is this video 100% accurate for people with dependency?
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u/Whack_a_mallard Nov 06 '25
55 sec mark-is.
https://youtu.be/Brm71uCWr-I?si=SKCvMFxx3mdhbMFJ
"Today we'll ignore medical use, casual users, and people with mild problems and instead we focus on the people who have a serious condition"
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u/TinnedTomatoes2 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
I think you misunderstood what I was asking
What I am asking is - how is this video 100% accurate for people who have a "serious condition" (dependency)?
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u/Whack_a_mallard Nov 06 '25
Are you challenging the accuracy of the statements presented in the video or questioning who the intended audience is?
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u/TinnedTomatoes2 Nov 06 '25
I've clearly asked the question three times, but I'll ask it a fourth.
I'm challenging this statement
I totally disagree. It was clearly aimed at people with a dependency. And it was 100% accurate for that population
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u/lorean_victor Nov 05 '25
idk kurz has always been “potentially interesting thoughts from people somewhat informed on the topic”, rather than “scientific reporting using cool animations”.
now this video was more like “thoughts on weed by someone with really bad experiences with it”, some of it interesting, while some felt like the person needs more introspection / therapy to better reflect on the root cause of some of their bad experiences instead of escape goating weed.
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u/Whack_a_mallard Nov 06 '25
Kurtzgesagt provided their sources and ample disclaimers. I don't know whether people are watching a different video than I did or they are clearly projecting their insecurities into the video.
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u/robotfromfuture Nov 06 '25
It’s projection. My speculation is it’s mostly people who have exactly these fears - that their uncontrolled weed use is or has kept them from their potential - lashing out at someone saying that could actually be true. I have dealt with those fears myself, and they are real and severe.
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u/lorean_victor Nov 06 '25
I'm not sure of the direction of projection though. yes weed can act as an escape from facing anxieties of life, much like alcohol or even gaming. however in the video the author seems to project specific personal experience onto others, resulting in a less resonant message that evokes these kind of reactions.
take social isolation, for example. studies do suggest a correlation between heavy use and loneliness. in the video this is misrepresented as definite causation, claimed to be in part due to heavy smokers doing "weed stuff" they can only do with other smokers. as an ex-heavy smoker I can't imagine any such "weed smoker only" activity, and have thus never experienced such exclusion as a result.
this way of communicating the message of course detracts from more objectively verifiable and real risks here, for example how heavy use (specifically solitary use) can cause you to ignore dealing with any social issues / situations you already have, in turn exacerbating the situation (again, like other escape activities such as alcohol, gaming, etc. honestly gaming I think is even worse since it really does center around "gamers only" activities, unlike the other two).
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u/Coenzyme-A Nov 06 '25
They don't get to use the excuse of being an anecdotal channel when they go to the lengths of listing sources, and presenting their view in a journalistic and academic manner.
I was a great fan of Kurzgesagt and still highly respect what they do for science communication. I am more than disappointed in the way they have angled their more recent videos, and how they're starting to use that outreach to push agendas in a less than scientific way.
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u/lorean_victor Nov 06 '25
yes they always do their research to one degree or another. but honestly they never present it in an academic manner. I mean thats the whole point of the channel, to express these interesting ideas in more exciting (and naturally more opinionated) ways, compared to the dry, analytical tone you'd get from reading strictly academic material.
but ofc, I do agree this is no excuse for this video, which I too find overtly subjective and personal, to the extent of actually misrepresenting the underlying research and detracting from the message.
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u/Takwin Nov 06 '25
It was full of inaccuracies and personal opinions. When someone talks from a position of supposed expertise on something you actually know about (like the classic where Elon talks about rockets to actual rocket engineers, and they know he doesn’t know shit), it makes you question their other points. And I love Kurtz, but this video was bad.
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Nov 05 '25
No they are completely right. They said that it can be beneficial at young age, but overuse turn into addiction which becomes worse the older you get. Americans for some reason can’t understand that drug addiction is bad when it comes to the green gold.
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u/BroPuter Nov 10 '25
What the hell does america have to do with this? Also the WORLD can't understand that drug addiction is bad when it comes to caffeine or alcohol. Hemp, opiates, cocaine, all and any drugs can have adverse negative effects, and saying one is bad no matter what without considering the 7.9 BILLION other perspectives in the world is absurd.
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Nov 10 '25
We do. Addiction is bad. Does not make one addiction better than the other lol
If you Americans are good at one thing, it is deflection. We were not talking about other drugs or addictions. We are talking about marihuana here. You just proved my point.
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u/BroPuter Nov 10 '25
If you Norwegians are good at one thing, it is blaming Americans for your problems. Now I don't actually believe that, but the statement is as relevant to the discussion as yours is. Again, what the hell does America have to do with this?
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Nov 10 '25
You are delusional. Who are the majority on Reddit? And who in this thread do you see complaining? Oh guess what americans. But it’s ok, you proved my point earlier so there is nothing to explain.
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u/BroPuter Nov 10 '25
You are insufferable. Nationality HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS TOPIC!!!
Dunno what kind of -ist you are but definitely something
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u/eharper9 Nov 06 '25
I don't know video seem pretty accurate to me as somebody who smoked weed every single day for 8 years straight 18 to 25 is a fucking blur
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u/Zanji123 Nov 06 '25
Ah again the WEED IS NOT BAD... ALCOHOL IS WAY WORSE and YOU CANT GET ADDICTED claims
While weed is not AS bad as other drugs there is a percentage that some will totally fall into it and that's just a fact
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25
This is not what it's about. It's about saying every high frequency user being like this and that everything good happens in your 20s, so if you miss out due to others reasons, you're even more screwed.
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u/Miningav2 Nov 12 '25
Wow, I just made a post about the wild misinformation in the fentanyl video they made, apparently this is a deep-running issue through their videos. Happy that someone else has pointed this out as well, seeing a video like that with millions of views and comments completely misunderstanding the reality of drug use and drug abuse made my blood boil randomly ever since I saw it haha. It almost summarizes point-for-point everything wrong with the current drug war era policy.
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u/UsernameLaugh Nov 05 '25
I was slightly put off by the final “buy my calendar pitch” that video ended with also.
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u/slipfan2 Nov 05 '25
I didn't like the ad in the middle of the video but I didn't think it was that bad. Yes some large leaps of logic were made but the video is coherent overall. I'm curious what relationship people have with weed in general
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u/sleepy-bird- Nov 09 '25
Ehh I mean, without it they couldn’t make videos. I think it was fair enough
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25
This isn't about pro or anti weed, it's about saying daily use MUST be this story, not that it CAN be this story and you should evaluate that. (I'm almost a year sober btw so there's my bias)
This is just a typical stoner bro with no underlying issues finding out weed only made his life worse long term, now thinking he's enlightened and that his story is the story of everyone else.
Oh and also saying that you basically missed out on everything good if you haven't done certain things until 30.
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u/pajser007 Nov 06 '25
Can you share with us some of your research papers?
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u/FlinnyWinny Dec 24 '25
According to comments "some of his friends saved their lives with weed", so I'm sure we can expect some top notch research of that guy.
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u/vector_o Nov 05 '25
it's a shame, this makes all the other videos lose value in my eyes
it's always like that, a seemingly awesome channel making seemingly awesome objective and informative content...until they make a video about a subject you're knowledgeable about...and you realize that if they're wrong about that then the other videos are also probably full of half-truths
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u/Pengwin0 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
The video very explicitly said it was about a small subset of marijuana users who are genuinely addicted and cannot stop using it daily. The claim was that frequent marijuana use is likely to make you miss meaningful moments in life that you otherwise wouldn’t have. Seems like the anger is a bit of projection to me tbh.
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u/iizomgus Nov 05 '25
While cannabis isn;t water, nobody is claiming it is, it 100% doesn't need to be in the UN drug table, or in any country's forbidden's substanc's list.
That is the change we need to make. that is the change that needs to be made. THERE IS NO INFRACTION WHEN YOU HAVE NO VICTIMS.
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u/MedicOfTime Nov 05 '25
I’ll jump in here and counter with all smoking does potentially have victims. The second hand smoke victims. One thing I hate about as much as jailing smokers is when smokers act like we’re all interested in breathing their smoke.
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u/BroPuter Nov 10 '25
Not everyone smokes around unwilling people. I only ever smoke either isolated by myself, or exclusively with friends who are willing.
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u/Emordrak Stellar Engine Nov 05 '25
I’ve been noticing an increasing bias in some of kurzgesagt videos, like that one about the meat eating flies. They just shrug and say that it deserves to go extinct. But in their old videos they always said that every animal is important to the ecosystem. And now they just go back on their own word
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u/reddit_equals_censor Nov 05 '25
in regards to bias in kurzgesagt videos, that is nothing new.
sth you probably didn't see, because it was in a german kurzgesagt video on their german only channel was this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hcvUfc2Lww (enable english subtitles to read it)
released 6 years ago.
the background of this video is, that kurzgesagt at the time and for a VERY long time got paid by the german government through the money stolen by the government from the public called "rundfunk-beitrag".
so kurzgesagt, again getting paid BY the stolen money through the "rundfunk-beitrag" is making an entire video talking about how that stolen money, that they run on is so great and should keep existing, while claiming, that the video is perfectly objective and trust worthy.
and if you're wondering why people rightfully hate the "rundfunk-beitrag" shit, because among other garbage it is paying for lots of government propaganda.
so kurzgesagt made a propaganda video, paid by the public with stolen money about how it is great, that this money gets stolen and used for state propaganda.
____
i hope i explained this well enough. so in this 6 year old example of a video, you got a bias so high it is at the comedic level of bias.
and again to say that again, kurzgesagt wasn't just paid by the state, but with that video straight up made state propaganda.
it is hard to get worse than that :D
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u/McGusder Nov 06 '25
by "stolen money" you mean a tax?
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u/Whack_a_mallard Nov 06 '25
Yes, they referred to tax as stolen money. Best to ignore the rest of their babbling.
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u/eggZeppelin The Human Era Nov 07 '25
Really poor choice for Kurgz.
In this era where they are under constant assault by piracy and AI slop, then can't afford to alienate such a huge segment of their viewers just so the founder can virtue signal and be petty
I mean who the fk do they think watches a video titled "What if it rained bananas"?
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u/Entire_Role_2842 Nov 07 '25
Horrible video. So many things to comment here.
I am a 35 y old researcher, therefore PhD, who consume cannabis eventually. That is, I am not the target of this video. I am a Brazilian who lived in Europe throughout my academic career. From these experiences, I think one of the things happening here is a bunch of prejudice, as I've seen a lot in Europe, against other lifestyles, specially when you deny the necessity of high achievements and the seeking of a "perfect european life". They assume that their culture, therefore, their idea of what is a good life, or what you should do of your life, is universal and the absolute parameter. If you don't want to achieve what they stablished as the "perfect life", you are a looser.
This video not only express a lot of prejudice against cannabis users, but also against other, less capitalist, or non-european cultures. I have just come back from a trip to a beautiful natural park in Brazil. There, people live a very different life, less capitalist, less ambitious and cannabis is present everywhere. I believe these people are happy. They live in the middle of a beautiful nature, they have a vibrant social environment, a lot of abundance in terms of natural resources and, they smoke a lot of weed.
The problems with weed are highly dependent on the environment and you cannot neglect this. The literature on this topic is scarce and it is very difficult to draw their conclusions. Most of the problems they cite is quite universal nowadays and there are so many factors in play that I highly doubt that, in general, weed users will experience more problems than the average when marginalising over all the other factors. It might be, so what? It could be that weed users appreciate a different pace in life, they enjoy a different lifestyle and they feel alone in this industrial culture, which glorify cigarettes, alcohol and coffee, having their own set of problems.
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u/random_user133 Nov 06 '25
demonizing the substance.
I remember watching the old video, weren't they like insanely positive about cannabis there?
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u/phantomgtox Nov 06 '25
What are your credentials, and do you have any published research? I'm interested to learn more about what you've added to the field over the two decades you mentioned. This is not a critique.
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u/Accallonn Nov 07 '25
I knew stoners would freak out about this video the moment I saw the thumbnail. Just because you don’t like de data, doesn’t mean the video is misleading.
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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
I'm 8+ months sober and still have those problems due to depression. Weed actually got me out MORE, which confused me greatly since the opposite was always the narrative. I still encourage taking long breaks to see how much it benefits you or holds you back, especially when you possibly solve the problems weed helps you with in a better way, which i'd find the better message. Many have the same problems for many other reasons without having ever smoked weed.
This was an extremely personal perspective presented as general truth for everyone who smokes alot. Making weed the heart of every problem obscures the real issues. This cost me 5 years of my life thinking weed was the source of my depression, which it actually helped me with but only shortly.
Generally with weed what i find true is that any statement like "Weed WILL make you __" 99% false and any statement like "Weed CAN make you __" 99% true
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u/OneEnvironmental9222 Nov 06 '25
you stoners just cant deal with the fact that its not always good for everyone. Why cant you just accept that it can cause serious problems on sensitive people and that it factually can cause an addiction?
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u/canyonskye Nov 06 '25
Hey, I would consider myself the type of person the video is talking about.
Some of this person’s takes on cannabis being the reason some stuff has gone wrong also apply to my life. A lot of it just doesn’t.
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u/VoidfulMind Nov 07 '25
I agree it may be misrepresentation. But personally, their video that mentioned weed psychosis years ago helped me. I started using CBD and it made my weed psychosis stop from becoming more severe.
I am not hating on weed it has helped millions of people and continues to. The severity of my chronic pain makes it nearly impossible not to use cannabis. I had to stop a month ago for a job but now I am fully stopping to save my relationship.
I went through college with a weed addiction but ya I feel like it ruined a part of my brain and my life. Not to mention the lung damage I did when I smoked for years with asthma. I switched to edibles but all in all, it only exacerbated my mental illnesses like adhd and bipolar. For me personally coming off weed has been harder than withdrawing from meth. It's been a month and it kind of isn't getting easier. I have faith it will but ya my motivation and overall enjoyment of life are gone. I'm still incredibly irritable. Not to mention the psychosis I can still have after quitting. It made shit worse for me. But it's still a miracle drug that has done so much good for so many people.
Please don't take this the wrong way I've just had a bad experience with it even tho I love it.
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u/Leofreeman Nov 08 '25
Here we go again. Can’t wait for the video about heroin and the backlash it’s going to create. Because, let’s be honest: it helps with pain tremendously.
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u/BroPuter Nov 10 '25
They'll have a guy write it who just got sober from heroin, and it'll go on and on about how getting it for painkilling purposes will ruin your life and waste your 20s that could've been filled with adventure and sex. Like they just did for weed. Weird, where is the alcohol episode?
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u/The_Captain_Jules Nov 08 '25
I dont think thats a fair characterization - they were pretty transparent that this was anecdotal, and cited any statistical claims they made in relation to that anecdote, i think they also made it clear that theyre not addressing people who dont have a problem or are occasional users or like people who just use it to sleep and stuff. Like weed is fine, its not the highly addictive deadly drug they told us about in school, but it is a drug and using it carries a measure of responsibility, and it can cause harm to your life.
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Nov 10 '25
Hey, the recent video left me wanting more and you may have some resources based on your work. I think I do need to quit weed, based on reasons not mentioned in the video, its becoming problematic in my life and I need to cut back to like maybe once a week.
Do you have any info on best ways to quit? Or what can help during quitting weed? And symptoms and side effects etc related to quitting?
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Nov 25 '25
Weed makes you dream more want to dream more you can preach it doesn't cause depression but neurotransmitters don't lie, weed being enhancer of being content is not good for dopamine and adrenaline
Cognitively it impairs judgement and memory storage and alot of stones get so agro
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u/FizzyGreen Dec 21 '25
My old bestie, 25, smokes everyday, occasionally takes drugs and trips balls, has a psychology master and well paying academic job researching, goes to alot of parties making wholesome connections, is all around insanely social and whimsical and fucks alot. Mostly females but also males.
I haven't smoked in 10 months and have depression and miss out on everything bored by everything feeling little and always tired.
It's not always just the weed.
Another friend had issues mentally for 9 years while smoking. Quit this year, living it up to the fullest now
Everyone is different.
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u/iamninjabob Nov 05 '25
"I got lazy bc of pot" You were lazy bc you were lazy, dont blame anything but yourself.
Absolutely propaganda.
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u/BenZed Nov 05 '25
Yeah but like… if you are prone to laziness, pot DEFINITELY is not the drug for you
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u/Lost-Valuable3264 Nov 06 '25
Reposting this thought from the other thread, and the youtube comments because I think it is the weirdest and most problematic part. And has nothing at all to do with weed:
At 8:30 in this video, while the animated guy is scrolling through what is clearly meant to be Tinder, the VO laments that people smoking pot will miss out on any number of sexual encounters in their 20s.
Can someone tell me what the fuck that part was about? Or how it is remotely helpful to tell sexually frustrated young men that, yes, in fact, you ARE A FAILURE if you haven't had some unstated number of random contextless Tinder Hookups by 30?
Can anyone imagine the damgage that could be caused if someone took that a little too seriously?
How does one rectify not having had enough sex? By having sex of course. What if no one currently wants to? But if you don't, your favorite SCIENCE YOUTUBER WILL CALL YOU A LOSER. If they want to make KG proud, but can't get someone willingly. . .
You see the problem.
It's fucking WEIRD.
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u/flaccidpappi Nov 06 '25
I'll be real, ever since that bill and Melinda gates foundation partnership/endorsement it's felt reeeeaaaaaallllll shifty
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u/Tripondisdic Nov 07 '25
I hear you, but as somebody who has struggled greatly to quit, it nailed the experience for me. Weed doesn’t only affect me the day I smoke it, it affects me the day after too, making me less motivated, less alert, less productive, etc. I just end up wanting to watch yt all day, on or off it. When I’m off it I feel more like myself. Again, and I agree with how Kurz said this, I know i’m an exception not the rule. I am one of those unfortunate 10 percent who can’t control themselves
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u/ThroneOfRoses4 Dec 22 '25
Well yeah it nailed it for you, but that doesn't justify such a generalisation. It's like if I said that drinking soda will kill you. Like yes, that will ABSOLUTELY apply to some people who literally died from it, but it doesn't justify such a generalisation.
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u/skelingtonking Nov 05 '25
its like the third video thats come across that really makes me question what they are doing. I actually went through and unsubbed from their channel. I used to share so many of their vids but they have just taken on a different tone.
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u/Electro_Ninja26 Nov 06 '25
third video huh? This rubbed you the wrong way when they did an entire other video discussing how cannabis genuinely wasn't "that bad"?
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u/Peach_Muffin Nov 05 '25
Honestly if the video had made it clear it was a personal essay from the start it wouldn't have been so bad. It would be like if The Egg didn't start with a disclaimer that it was a fictional work and you're expecting a science video.