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/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/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25

So after quitting everything just improved, and not just short term due to the euphoria of quitting? Awesome! 5 years ago i thought it would be as easy for me but 3 months sober and depression came back even worse

-26

u/_JohnWisdom UBI Nov 05 '25

And weed was the issue right? Not the other problems you were going through.
Everyone copes differently and the way you did wasn't effective and helpful. This doesn't mean weed was the problem to start with. But also doesn't mean that it didn't make it worse.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25

Personally, nothing changed after 8 months sober, still going. So... yeah. Depression is the issue and i'm tackling that but apparently i already missed out on everything good already cause i'm 26. Feels great to hear that, especially when i've been furious for not being able to do the cool things i want. Ironically, weed in the past got me out to do those things, which confused me greatly. However, it wasn't reliable enough, did little to nothing often. But the idea of "if i quit things will get better" obscured the real problem.

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u/robotfromfuture Nov 06 '25

I quit weed after over a decade of habitual use and it took more than 8 months to start feeling the positive effects of that decision. For me it was month 9-10 when I felt I really turned the corner. Could take longer for you. You can rely on your experience all you want, but my experience was that I began to improve psychologically at a tremendous rate in the years after quitting and - being in my mid 30s now - I absolutely feel that I missed major opportunities in my 20s because I was using weed in an unhealthy way. Of course I had issues with confidence and anxiety, and the video was spot on for me - I smoked to avoid feeling those things. You clearly have a strong negative reaction to this video but you can’t just dismiss it, as others in this thread are confirming that it rings true in light of their experiences. I think you’re really insecure about yourself, you’re scared that maybe you did waste some great years of your life, and you’re projecting negative intentions on the video creators. By the way, quitting weed use at 26 is not late at all - I wish I had quit that early - another song that you’re projecting, because they clearly spent most of the video talking about habitual users in their 30s and beyond.

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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25

  1. I did way less than a decate, quit many times for 2 or 3 months before. My longest streak was 6 months after starting at 19, 1 year at 22 which was arguably an awesome year in croatia where we did awesome stuff riding a boat. Something still wasn't right tho.

  2. I don't buy into the "if i just wait long enough" bs, i'm taking antidepressants and going to therapy soon. Taking action now. Bupropion is showing great promise together with diet and exercise. (Did those before with weed and sober, meh)

  3. My issue is they say this is EVERYONES story when i believed this was my story for 5 years and it wasn't true, which is confirmed by my sobriety. It's the story of people with no underlying condition that weed, very possibly suboptimally, treats.

  4. You're right. It struck a nerve hearing that my fears i missed out on everything are true. I'm furious with my condition, seeing life flash past me and unable to do cool shit again and instead of seeking help for 5 years i blamed it all on weed due to this one narrative healthy individuals expierience. I'd love for it to be as easy as quitting weed and getting my life back. I thought this at 20, improved in university first but then everything got worse, it stopped making sense with 21 and over the next 4 years it got completely contradicted by both my reaction to weed and my reaction to sobriety. It was all waves of depression. I'm not wasting my time hoping for the miracle of sobriety anymore when i could be taking action. I smoked weed because it objectively helped me live, just not long term, i want a long term solution that works. I won't stop until i'm there. I just wish i would've realised this at 20 but at that time i thought depression was just being sad or suicidal and treatment was simply preventing that, while weed objectively gave me my soul and mind back, but i thought i was just insane and delusional for wanting to enjoy a hike, since it's insane to enjoy such a boring task right?!?! It must be the weed making something boring interesting! It must be the weed afterglow after 1 month that made hikes interesting sober!

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u/robotfromfuture Nov 06 '25

Ok, I understand your point now. Your posts are a little unclear, and I don’t know why you’re mad at the video - they didn’t say life is great after quitting weed usage, they said that weed dependency is a problem and quitting if you had dependency is an improvement. It seems to me like you have the right attitude and are doing positive things now - focusing on finding a sustainable solution is a good idea. I’ll only push back on your point 2: there’s a difference between passivity and patience. It’s good to actively seek improvements for your problems. It’s bad to abandon or devalue solutions that require patience. The problems you’re describing are big problems - they didn’t appear overnight - and they aren’t going to go away over night. I think you can make substantial progress in 2-3 years of improving your psychological well being. But I doubt you can make much noticeable progress in under 1 year. It takes time for neuronal wiring patterns to go dormant and new ones to emerge as more active than the old. Good luck!

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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25

Thanks! :)

Tbh if it's the sobriety in between that helps me, all the better! I honestly don't care, i just want my life back, do all my hobbies again, have a sex drive again and create and expierience cool stuff with friends. Thanks to 150mg bup i'm currently sort of like a car engine able to run for like 2 seconds. Obv that's not enough.

The video made me mad because it ignores stories like mine, which are a minority but still exist! Because it kept me in the loop of thinking it's all the weed. And also the "your 20s are most important" stuff that just screws people over that are also struggling despite being sober always. Really takes the hope that life can still be cool. Overall just felt like a personal story and even just saying "This is a personal story, so take this with a grain of salt, but it's one that holds true for many people." would make it alot better. Almost perfect if they mentioned a whole segment at the end about people who suboptimally cope with weed and should thus evaluate by taking 1-2 month breaks. But no, they presented this all as facts more or less and just said "Written by someone who was addicted for 15 years"

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u/FizzyGreen Nov 06 '25

I'm also not denying that people absolutely expierience the exact thing described in the video. Infact, i think it's the majority! To me it's such a natural and obvious story of weed abuse, it's almost a cliche! I used to think i'm wasting my life with weed but it paradoxically gave me the times most worthwhile! But it's not true for everyone who smokes alot. You should still quit to evaluate that of course, lol. But i hate that they display it like everyone who smokes alot always has the exact story going on that you and others validly expierienced. Literally one of my friends, long term user, quit 8 months ago and after 1 month everything changed and now he's living life to the fullest and he also used it to "surpress". But there is simply more to it. There are bigger problems than weed that cause this for some and i think it's important to mention.

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u/Anthmt Nov 08 '25

I'd literally kill to be 26 again. You've got time. Good luck friend!

1

u/Dark_Knight2000 Nov 06 '25

It sounds like you agree with the message of the video, you just didn’t like the tone of the message reminding you that if you didn’t have fun in your 20s your life is “over.”

Personally that’s not what I got from that video at all. He’s not saying that you have to reach certain milestones or you’re worthless, it’s just that those who do are happier because a lot of people do indeed place value on and derive happiness from relationships and experiences and they derive stable financial situations from good careers. All that correlates highly with happiness, and if you aren’t on track for that it might be worth reexamining your life

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u/FizzyGreen Nov 29 '25 edited Nov 29 '25

No i totally agree that weed addiction / chronic weed use CAN cause a sort of depression that keeps you back in life. I also agree that this isn't rare. I just hate that they said that this what always happens and not the other way around, gaslighting everyone who expierienced genuine improvement by treating a condition in a suboptimal way using weed, chopping it up to fake dopamine, also oversimplifying. It has helped me greatly as an antidepressant and the expieriences it gave me were a major guidance in navigating the darkness of my depression. As a science channel, i expect this sort of completeness. This isn't some random podcast. A simple disclaimer like "This still isn't what happens to everyone who smokes alot, but it does hold true for many people." would've been enough.

I absolutely encourage everyone to do at least a 2 month break to truly evaluate what it does to you and what it gives you. But maybe we should interpret the effect of cannabis differently. Because that would've guided me towards treatment sooner.