You're missing the point of the conversation if you think this is about "reputable researchers".

I don't think there are any researchers saying marijuana is anything but beneficial. It's every day people. Same thing for psychedelics. There was a thread on LSD the other day and I had to point out twice that HPPD happens as a result, and is a disorder that can cause significant mental distress. Honestly I think it only does a disservice to the cause to make claims like that

Agreed, it is the general public propagating this. Just go onto Reddit and you’ll see it everywhere.

For cannabis I find the attitude pretty scary, having been a daily user myself several times (including now) and dealing with the side effects. It does have negatives. I would hate for everyone to have to learn that the hard way or for them to misidentify the causes, though even those side effects are pretty mild - some are acutely bad like CHS but it’s more the mild anhedonia as you sober up that I think is the worst.

For psychedelics, having dabbled myself, I can confidently say the worst case scenario is very bad and often not talked about. A bad trip can be an intensely traumatic experience. I think it would be possible to get PTSD from such an experience. Ironically my own bad trip was precipitated by lighting up a bowl about 5 hours after taking LSD.

I also go through phases of daily use. Quit for awhile, then dip back into it to I.e. deal with flu symptoms, special occasion, or when I really feel the need to disassociate from life’s stresses.

I won’t go so far as to say it’s addictive for everyone but it’s is incredibly addictive for me.

Daily symptoms include:

* wake up more tired

* wake up with mild morning sickness

* wake up a bit foggy

* higher tolerance to caffeine

* less general stamina

* memory a notch worse in general

* less energy for physical activities

* increased anxiety while sober

* slightly higher sense of paranoia/conspiracy

—-

Notably I consume only edibles and tinctures, which I think is the driving factor for the mild morning sickness.

The morning sickness is called Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome(CHS). Well technically the symptoms may need to be more acute (vomiting), but I am pretty sure it’s the same mechanism and cause, just milder.

At my peak of consumption I also had it mildly with morning nausea. Though at the time I wasn’t using edibles or tinctures at all, almost exclusively oil cartridges.

It's not super addictive to me currently. When I was a youth I used to great excess and it eventually drove me to using harder drugs - one of which, xanax, or alprazolam, nearly ruined my life. I had to take anti-psychotics for years to deal with the absolute mental clusterfuck that poly drug use, but especially xanax, left me with. I stopped all psychoactive drug use, even alcohol, for quite a number of years. At least 5.

I currently only use legal D8, D0, and broad spectrum hemp CBD/CBG/etc. tinctures and edibles. Not daily, maybe 2-3 times a week, after work or on weekends. I mix the three, with a small amount of D0, maybe 5-10mg, maybe 35mg D8, and the broad spectrum to near excess. My experience of your symptom list:

* wake up more tired - If I'm up too late (like I am now) the grogginess can be worse.

* wake up with mild morning sickness - Not the stomach thing that people tend to talk about. I even have to take some pretty nausea inducing medications each morning and even those don't give me nausea. Strong stomach, I guess.

* wake up a bit foggy - Sometimes, especially if I take too much tincture, I have a bit of fog and things "glow". A bit like the afterglow of a psychedelic trip in terms of the way everything seems kind of bright and fuzzy and pleasant and I feel a bit dull.

* higher tolerance to caffeine - Hadn't noticed this one explicitly, but I think I have been having two coffees or energy drinks more often since I started using again in the past couple of years.

* less general stamina - I don't get this one, though I think I'm less apt to use the stamina. Physically or mentally it is no problem compared to not using I think.

* memory a notch worse in general - Definitely true. Most noticeable when watching Jeopardy. I totally failed tonight's Knighted Actors category, only getting Sean Connery, when I absolutely knew and could see the faces of the other 4 answers, but just could not come up with their names. It doesn't seem to affect me much in my work - I definitely think the perspective shift and enabling of more creative and abstract and unusual thinking is a net positive despite the minor memory drawbacks.

* less energy for physical activities - I actually find it enhances my desire to do physical activities. Lifting and cycling are both greatly enhanced experiences for me when under the influence, I find.

* increased anxiety while sober - Don't really get this, except perhaps when I drink too much caffeine.

* slightly higher sense of paranoia/conspiracy - Well, my baseline (see intro paragraph...think "holy shit the government is going to assassinate me and is talking about it openly on television") for this is so abjectly high that I don't notice it at all, or I do notice it briefly while pursuing some random stoned line of thought and laugh at the absurdity.

Psychedelic popularity goes in waves, but it never really "takes off" the way stimulant and opiate use does. I suspect it's due to the radomness of bad trips, basically.

There's been some interesting research that for most drugs, effects are heavily mediated by expectation - if you don't expect to enjoy it, you almost certainly won't, and the effect it has on you is likewise very learned - there are many cultures where they don't believe alcohol makes you more social, for instance, and where consequently, it doesn't.

But psychedelics are the big exception. They really do "work". But the flip side of that while you may get a wonderful experience despite not expecting one, you may also get a very bad one. And "guidance" isn't reliable in avoiding it, precisely because it's not expectation driven like other drugs.

If you read all the YouTube comments on massive trips I suggest that people aren’t actually getting the ‘message’ and are just the same old, same old.

I don't know if it's happening more now than in the past, but it's really just magical thinking -- people believing something is true because they want it to be true.

Moderation is so key otherwise you start believing your own thinking It’s a tool and it’s easy to get into a way of life(the high life). That is what is more addictive I find.

I have definitely come to a point where I can see myself in others usage and it’s clearer to me that while all it’s ‘benefits’ are something great the key is to finding how to bring that into reality without having to invest it.