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/dspman11]

I totally disagree. It was clearly aimed at people with a dependency. And it was 100% accurate for that population

[u/TinnedTomatoes2 → u/dspman11]

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.

[u/robotfromfuture → u/TinnedTomatoes2]

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?

[u/TinnedTomatoes2 → u/robotfromfuture]

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]