Cannabis, its effects, and its users have been slandered and demonized in countless ways over the years. Cannabis is often, wrongly, branded as addictive, its effects are portrayed as debilitating, and its users have been labeled as lazy layabouts. All these misrepresentations are harmful in their own right but there is one mythical effect of cannabis that stands head and shoulders above the others in terms of the potential devastation it can cause to an individual consumer. Specifically, the false assertion, often perpetuated by propagandists and prohibitionists, that cannabis causes consumers to become violent can get people killed while allowing their killer to escape any potential punishment.
The entire idea that weed turns people into blood thirsty savages is absurd from the get go. Anyone who is even passingly familiar with the effects of marijuana knows that the opposite is true. One can talk to some of the literal millions of people who have consumed cannabis and he or she will be told that this is false. If the knowledge and experience of the living isn't enough to put one's mind at ease, he or she can also examine historic descriptions of cannabis (pre-prohibition, of course) and see that there is little mention (In fairness, I do recall a story about a cult of assassins who liked hash) of cannabis causing violence. However, we don't have to rely only on the reported experiences of users. A few years ago, a University of Buffalo study (I'll provide a link to the story below) found that couples who consume cannabis were far less likely to engage in acts of domestic violence. It doesn't take a great deal of research to come to the conclusion that cannabis does not cause one to become a violent maniac. Sadly, many people never take the time to do that research and they go on believing all of the propaganda that they were fed since their early childhood.
Those who are ignorant enough to believe that cannabis causes violence, may go through their lives being afraid of these "dangerous criminals" and when they encounter one they, themselves, may react violently out of fear. This is likely not an issue for most these people. They probably won't be asked to confront someone that is smoking weed but a problem arises when that person is in a position of authority. If this fictional fearful person, becomes a police officer, for example, he or she may, needlessly, end another person's life because they never saw past the propaganda.
Despite being utterly idiotic, the idea of weed making people violent is still floated in the media and in the courts to justify the use of deadly or excessive force against cannabis consumers. There are several recent (and sad) examples of this happening. After several high profile police shootings the presence of marijuana it the bodies of the victims was used as one of the justifications for the use of violence against them (I'll provide a link to one story but there are several). Those who push this falsehood, not only demonize the pot smoker as some kind of dangerous monster they also give themselves "just" cause to harm that pot smoker. This is the worst effect of the this lie. It, in essence, it creates (another, depending on how you view certain political issues) class of people who can be killed at any time with no legal consequences for the killer. I should mention that there was likely a racial component to, at least, some of those shootings but that is not contradictory to my point. If it is the case that these people were killed for racial reasons, the "scary weed smoker" defense can still be used as a shield to hide any racism. Regardless of the actual motivations for these shootings, the suggestion that pot made the victims violent is both nonsensical and unjust.
It should be noted that I am not arguing that cannabis consumer can't be violent. That would be as wrong as saying that all cannabis consumers are violent. The truth is, all people are capable of violence and some of us will use that capability. Of the group of people who do become violent at some point, some of them will use cannabis, just as some of them will eat chocolate cake or hate collecting stamps. However, I would argue that a person who just smoked a joint or ate hash cookie is probably less likely to be violent than they would be under normal circumstances (at least until the weed wears off). Cannabis is calming, cannabis is sedating, and people who are calm and sedated typically don't go out of their way to seek out trouble.
Of all the absurd misinformation about cannabis, the association of its use with violence needs the most attention from advocates. Not only is this lie ridiculous, it is dangerous. If you see someone pushing this idea, consider correcting the information if you are able to do so. Things are getting better (at a snail's pace) but there is still work to do. Every day someone starts researching cannabis for the first time and they should have easy access to accurate information. The media and our governments cannot be trusted to provide that information about cannabis (or any drug or most other things, really), so it is up to those of us who have sought out an education (unconventional, though it may be) on these subjects to share our knowledge with others when we can.
Peace.
This was another installment of my series of Drug War Stupidity posts. If you liked this, please feel free to check out my page for more similar content.
Unless otherwise credited, the images in this post were sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.
Here are some links to the stories that I mentioned in this post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/26/study-couples-who-smoke-marijuana-are-less-likely-to-engage-in-domestic-violence/?utm_term=.438548bb42da