Seinfield co-star Jason Alexander hosts the Really? No Really? podcast with movie producer Peter Tilden. The latest episode begins with Tilden talking about why he's stopped using marijuana. "I'm out," he tells Alexander, then rattles off a list of negatives straight out of the DEA's playbook.
"It was a crutch," Tiilden says, "because it gets you through the day. The problem was I was doing it so much that it was acting not to help me. It was making me nervous, it was making me jittery, which was the beginning of the reason for this episode. As use goes up the perception of harmfulness decreases. It's great for migraines, it's great for cancer patients with pain, I know all of that. What's the downside of all of that and opening the floodgates and maybe reclassifying it?
The episode summary explains:
"Dr. Bertha Madras, the Director of the Laboratory of Addiction Neurobiology at McLean Hospital, professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School and one of nation’s leading experts on marijuana provides answers to all of Jason and Peter’s questions. And if you smoke pot or know someone who does… you may be surprised and shocked by what you’re about to find out. Really, no Really!"
Dr. Madras starts by debunking the idea that cannabis is "only a plant, it's nature's own sedative, it's nature's own sleep medicine," adding: "Most plants are poisonous to human beings. They disable the animals, human beings and insects that consume them." She contends cannabis interferes with the nervous system of "things that consume it," making it "one of marijuana's protective factors."
Madras says children are suffering from "addiction, psychosis, poor grades in school and loss of motovation" due to marijuana use.
Regarding medical use, she repeats a familiar trope:
"There are no definitive studies that provide evidence that marijuana, the smoked plant, has any strong medicinal benefits, period. All the meta analyses and papers say that it might be a mild pain-reducing substance. It may induce sleep. It also could promote sleep disorders. Frequent use can promote vomiting. Cannabis Hyperememsis Syndrome is not frequent but people have these symptoms. Also, every therapeutuc benefit that has been touted for marijuana does not have potent high-quality science behind it and alternatives exist that are generally safer than marijuana."
Madras also knocks reports that marijuana can be a pain-relief substitute for opioids, calling it "pure fiction" and noting: "It cannot reduce pain like opioids do."
She claims 29% of users are afflicted by so-called Cannabis Use Disorder and says, "If you use daily the risks are 30%-50%."
Tilden chimes in that he'd become anxious and aggresive under the influence and asks about the potential of cannabis use leading to psychosis and emergency-room visits.
"Psychosis is a very controversial issue," Madras comments. "There are many causes of psychosis. But the association between psychosis, schizophrenia and marijuana is getting so strong that more and more peopke are claiming it's a a cause of schizophrenia."
Madras also says: "Many people who use casually have no consequences." However, she adds: "The science is on the side of what I'm saying. The data disclaims some of the folks who are heavy lifetime users."
About increased THC potency, Madras contends, "The more powerful the drug, the more you get people addicted."
Jason Alexander's Big Reveal
At the end of the Madras interiview, Alexander says:
"I'm a complete non-user. I've tried marijuana twice when I was a teenager back in the '70s. Each time I got a migraine and hives. Does that mean I'm allergic to the plant?"
Madras replies: "It's hard to know. You may be allergic to the fungi that were growing on it."
More No-Nos
