One reason this debate gets irrational is that people confuse ‘FDA-approved’ with ‘morally pure’ and ‘natural’ with ‘safe.’ Neither is true.

Medicine is a mix of science, incentives, regulation, and marketing. Cannabis is a mix of pharmacology, culture, and policy.

If we want rationality, we should discuss outcomes and evidence, not the identity of the user. If we can acknowledge the downsides (dependency potential, impairment, mental health risks for some), can you also acknowledge the upsides the medical literature keeps documenting — and that ‘trust the science’ often gets filtered through a healthcare system with strong financial incentives.

Calling people ‘potheads’ is the same move as calling everyone who trusts medicine a ‘pharma believer.’ It’s rhetoric, not analysis.

Cannabis and pharma has risks. It also has legitimate medical research behind it. Can we talk about conditions and contexts instead of caricatures?