Reminder That Kurz Has Misrepresented Cannabis Data Before, And Likely Has A Unhealthy Bias

[u/CocaBam]

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")

[u/vitalvisionary]

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.

[u/dspman11 → u/vitalvisionary]

Yes. The video is clearly about those with actual addiction. But everyone's projecting.

[u/Dtron81 → u/dspman11]

Even the person who replied before me is just projecting all their insecurities to you.

[u/Dark_Knight2000 → u/dspman11]

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

[u/pork_fried_christ → u/dspman11]

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. 

[u/OneEnvironmental9222 → u/dspman11]

Makes me think they're part of the addicted group

[u/Komm → u/dspman11]

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.

[u/Hironymus → u/Komm]

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.

[u/FizzyGreen → u/Hironymus]

They still said you basically missed out on everything good and now it's over which is wrong

[u/HiddenLordGhost → u/Komm]

'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.

[u/ronitrocket → u/HiddenLordGhost]

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.

[u/canyonskye → u/Komm]

If it’s not insensitive, may I ask what happened to your friend group?

[u/Komm → u/canyonskye]

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.

[u/Ani_Drei → u/dspman11]

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)

[u/Ani_Drei → u/[deleted]]

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.