re: NY Times: It’s Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem

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THC is a miracle substance as long as you know how to use it.

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Nothing is a miracle substance

"harmless"

I smell it everywhere I go. It’s pretty bad when you’re in a car and with the windows up at a red light and you can smell it outside just amazes me the amount of people that feel the need to be high all the time and be bring weed everywhere they go like it’s their keys or their cell phone blows my mind.

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As someone who's quit drinking recently, I cannot understand how anyone with experience from both alcohol and THC, how you could think for one minute Marijuana is worse than alcohol.

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As someone who's also quit drinking recently, this is 100% on point. And it's not even close, IMO.

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It's interesting how many weed smokers get horribly defensive.

Alcoholics recognize they are alcoholics. Every single pothead I have ever met is in denial and says he (or she) is the responsible pothead.

And when I say pothead, I don't mean someone who smokes at home every now and then or before bed (I know every one of you pot smokers think this you), i mean anyone who I can smell weed on them (which is actually what almost every single one of you pot smokers are).

It has become invasive. Work, store, lsu game, park, school parking lot, on the interstate on the way to work.

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You’re equating “I can smell weed” with “addicted and in denial,” which isn’t how addiction works. Your nose isn’t a medical diagnostic tool. And for most of your life marijuana was illegal. Not volunteering that information isn’t denial, it’s self-preservation.

The idea that alcoholics routinely self-identify while cannabis users uniquely hide it is false. Denial is common across substance abuse, and alcohol carries higher addiction risk, harsher withdrawal, and greater health damage. That comparison cuts against your point.

What you’re noticing is the visible minority. The loud or careless users stand out. The quiet, functional ones don’t advertise it to someone openly hostile. That’s availability bias, not evidence. You’re mistaking the few people you notice for millions.

More broadly, this reads less like public health concern and more like discomfort with change. When your complaint centers on odor instead of measurable harm, you’ve left toxicology and entered identity territory. “Invasive” becomes shorthand for “this isn’t the version of normal I prefer.”

If you’re debating harm, use data. If you’re debating smells, you’re arguing aesthetics. And once that distinction is clear, we can have an honest conversation instead of pretending it’s about addiction science.

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have you ever met anyone, or even ever heard of anyone ever stating...

I have a marijuana problem and it is affecting those around me?

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Absolutely.