The current belief is that it can affect the brains of growing children, but they’re not sure to what extent. In my state the legal age is 21, the same as for drinking. In adults, straight cannabis will not harm you in any way other than the usual effects of being under the influence and not always making rational choices. Worst case, you sleep it off. Do keep in mind that smoking it can slowly damage your lungs, the same as breathing any find particulates over a long period of time. I personally prefer edibles for long-term use, but the baking process does reduce the potency.

Now, like any drug, the reason you want to take it can be very important. If you need something to escape reality on a permanent basis, obviously you have a larger problem that no drug is ever going to solve. However the occasional evening can be quite entertaining, much like a trip to the water park. Other people (like myself) take it on a regular basis to help with medical problems, usually pain relief or sleep issues, where CBD is the answer rather than the THC component.

For myself, I’ve had sleeping problems for the past 16 years (since a bad car wreck). I worked with my doctor for awhile trying to find something that would help. The problem is, I’m a computer tech and I need my mind sharp for troubleshooting or writing code. All the prescription drugs leave your brain in a fog through much of the next day, and then what use am I? It turns out that marijuana has a fairly quick drop-off, so it can provide help through the night, and is pretty much out of my system by the time I head for work. As with anything, it takes some time to find the right dose. I take it along with other prescription medications to address different issues, but I’ve been getting good restful sleep for the past 9 years and feeling much more like myself again. For these purposes I highly recommend it, but talk to someone knowledgeable to guide you to the right strains and give advice on what to expect.

Review from Canadia finds: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2020&q=cannabis+health++review&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_rr=1#d=gs_qabs&t=1731272057908&u=%23p%3DZQNk8wwxTvkJ

Legalization has been associated with increased adult hospital attendances for psychiatric distress and vomiting, unintentional ingestion of edible cannabis products by children and hospitalizations for cannabis use disorders in adults. There is conflicting evidence on whether cannabis‐impaired driving has increased since legalization. There is suggestive evidence that presentations to emergency departments with psychoses and cannabis use disorders may have increased since legalization.

Evidence of slight increases in psychosis, consistent with hypothesis that cannabis can trigger episodes in people with pre-existing conditions. Evidence that taking too much is uncomfortable.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00161-4/abstract

finds that strong cannabis might make mental health worse.

Realistically inhaling it is the most harmful thing if you’re not prone to bad brain.

People have used it for a long time without serious harm but the higher dose modern strains are increasingly associated with stuff like hyperemises syndrome. So uh as with all things enjoy in moderation, we are all but food for worms, it’s probably safer than driving a car or whatever.

i go with edibles to get around the impacts of smoking it and i make it myself to ensure that it’s nothing but flower in the baked/steeped edible.

i also grow the flower myself to make sure that there’s nothing else in it and it’s a pain in the ass with my black thumbs.

It absolutely destroyed all the progress I was making around ADHD with Adderall. Also I ate too much and was overweight.

For about 2 years, I was smoking at a level that was definitely bad. I would smoke 2-3 bowls in the morning, then have multiple sessions at night of 2-3 bowls each. I was going through an ounce of flower per week.

The sheer amount of time it took to smoke that much was a waste, I mean I was watching TV while I was doing it but it was pretty garbage TV, since I wasn’t mentally present enough to watch anything good.

I basically gave myself asthma. I never had asthma attacks before I started smoking and then I started getting them during my sessions and then I started getting them outside of my sessions.

Anyways, I’m 3 months clean now with no plans to ever touch it again. I know that I can’t just be a joint-on-the-weekend-kind of guy. I’m no longer getting asthma attacks and I’m sleeping much better now (and I get dreams again! I missed that so much)

Plenty of nice scientific info in the thread but from a personal experience as someone who used to hit the bong 3x daily for months, it makes you okay with being bored, it’s instant entertainment, and at the end of it you feel stupid because you wish you’d done something with the time and been bored more to get that spark of creativity to come through.

It’s super helpful for breaking migraines and has other medicinal uses. The trips are pretty chill and it isn’t even chemically addictive.

well it’s a fairly addictive drug and physical and psychological dependency can creep up on you. your life can begin to revolve around the next joint at a certain point and it can make you apathetic to a depressive routine of not going out much or pushing yourself to do anything other than play videogames and smoke. some people will attest that it aids motivation for them but i find the inverse to be more common. in terms of purely physical detrimental effects it’s definitely nbd compared to cigs or alcohol, but knock-on effects from ending up in a sedentary lifestyle and eating poor quality food can be a concern with heavy users, it can also exacerbate depression or anxiety with heavy dependency. you can end up depending on it just to go to the store or do social interaction or even pull yourself out of bed. speaking as a 10+ year stoner who has had better and worse periods with this stuff. ultimately it’s a massive reduction in harm compared to say alcohol dependency but people definitely underrated the damage it could do for a while, up until a few years ago where that started seeing some healthy pushback. it obviously has legitimate medicinal applications too but ime self medication can spiral into recreational dependency quite easily.

Vaporizing and edibles are more good than bad. Pretty much harmless in moderation. Just have your life in order first and use it to add that extra spice of awareness, instead of relying on it.

Depend on what country you’re in.

My experience is purely anecdotal but for me it seems to make me more anxiety prone and more paranoid even when sober and thats been a lasting effect so far. Im still for legalization and I know it affects people differently. Sadly for me its mostly negative for now

Quick edit: if anyone knows more about this effect im really interested in finding out more. My doctor hasent really been that helpful

Kurzgesagt just put out a new video (piped link)on the topic, they always link the sources and studies they used.

I don’t smoke weed, but you may want to break things down to be more specific. Because currently, the answer is “they die” or “They DUI someone else, they go to jail, then they can’t get a job when they out, so they become homeless. While homeless they start doing survival sex-work, and they are forced into dangerous and unwanted kinks. They then die, of starvation in the gutter, full of debilitating STIs”

Are you smoking a derivative, like shatter?

Are you smoking the actual plant? wrapped in paper? from glass?

Are you vaping something glycol-based?

Are you using a dry-plant vaporizer?

Are you buying your weed from a legal, controlled source?

Are you getting something that’s laced?