BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE

Before You Tell Me Weed Is Bad, Tell Me What You’d Rather Have Me Doing

Let me ask you a question.

What if weed isn’t the problem?

What if, in some cases, weed is actually the thing preventing a much bigger problem?

Because whenever somebody tells me, “Weed is bad for you,” I always want to ask the same question:

“Compared to what?”

Seriously.

Compared to what?

Because that’s the part of the cannabis conversation that seems to get conveniently left out.

People love to talk about what might happen when somebody smokes weed.

They’ll tell you about the potential risks.

They’ll tell you about the dangers.

They’ll tell you about all the terrible things that could happen.

But nobody ever seems to ask about the things that don’t happen because somebody smoked weed instead.

And that’s where this gets interesting.

Because I’ve personally heard people say things like:

“If I didn’t smoke weed, I’d probably be an alcoholic.”

Or:

“If I didn’t have weed, I’d still be doing heroin.”

I’ve heard husbands and wives tell me:

“If I couldn’t smoke a joint, I’d probably be divorced by now.”

And I’ve heard people basically admit:

“If I didn’t smoke, I’d probably end up in jail.”

Now, I’m not saying weed magically turns everybody into a better person.

I’m saying that for some people, the alternative isn’t exactly a relaxing evening with a cup of chamomile tea.

Sometimes the alternative is alcohol.

Sometimes it’s harder drugs.

Sometimes it’s rage.

Sometimes it’s violence.

Sometimes it’s a prison cell.

Sometimes it’s a divorce attorney.

And sometimes it’s somebody sitting in the back of a police car wondering how their entire night went this far off the rails.

THE MISSING VARIABLE

Here’s the problem with saying, “Weed is bad.”

Bad compared to what?

That’s a pretty important variable.

If a person smokes cannabis and then sits on the couch watching television, eating something they absolutely did not need to eat, and falls asleep halfway through a documentary about ancient Egypt…

Well, okay.

Maybe that’s not exactly a productive evening.

But what if that same person, without cannabis, would have gotten drunk?

What if they would have picked a fight?

What if they would have driven somewhere they shouldn’t have?

What if they would have gone looking for drugs?

What if they would have punched somebody?

What if they would have ended up in jail?

Suddenly that couch doesn’t look so bad.

Pass the remote.

THE “WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED OTHERWISE?” QUESTION

This is something we rarely talk about when discussing cannabis.

We can observe what happened.

But we can’t observe what would have happened instead.

And that’s a huge difference.

Imagine a guy who gets home from work furious.

His boss pissed him off.

His car broke down.

His bills are due.

His wife is mad at him.

His kids are screaming.

The dog ate something it wasn’t supposed to eat.

And then the cat looks at him like it knows something about him.

This man is wound tighter than a guitar string.

He smokes a joint.

Twenty minutes later, he’s sitting on the couch saying:

“You know what?

Maybe I overreacted.”

That’s not exactly the scenario people put in anti-cannabis commercials.

But maybe it should be.

Because what happened to the argument he was about to have?

What happened to the punch he might have thrown?

What happened to the bottle he might have opened?

What happened to the phone call to his lawyer?

What happened to the police report?

Nothing happened.

And sometimes nothing happening is a pretty damn good outcome.

WEED AS THE OFF-RAMP

I’m not suggesting cannabis is some magical cure for anger, addiction, marriage problems, or bad decision-making.

It isn’t.

And people can absolutely misuse cannabis.

But here’s another way to look at it:

For some people, cannabis may function as an off-ramp from something much worse.

Instead of reaching for the bottle, they reach for the bong.

Instead of looking for heroin, they look for a joint.

Instead of getting into a fistfight, they get high and decide they’d rather eat pizza.

Instead of screaming at their spouse for three hours, they smoke a joint and suddenly discover that silence is actually pretty damn enjoyable.

Instead of going to jail…

They’re watching Netflix.

And honestly?

I’ll take Netflix.

THE ALTERNATIVE MIGHT BE UGLY

There are people who are naturally high-strung.

Some people walk around with their internal thermostat permanently set to “Pissed Off.”

You know the type.

You can say, “Good morning,” and somehow they interpret it as a personal attack.

“Good morning.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

“I… I was just saying good morning.”

“Don’t tell me what kind of morning I’m having!”

Some people are simply wired differently.

And if cannabis helps certain individuals slow down, think before reacting, or take the edge off, then maybe the conversation shouldn’t simply be:

“Is weed good or bad?”

Maybe the better question is:

“What happens when this person doesn’t have it?”

Because that answer could be very different from person to person.

For one person, the alternative might be absolutely nothing.

For another, the alternative might be a six-pack.

For somebody else, it might be pills.

For somebody else, it might be heroin.

For somebody else, it might be a screaming match.

And for somebody else…

It might be the kind of decision that ends up on the evening news.

WEED DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT TO BE BETTER

Here’s something else we need to understand.

Saying something is better than the alternative doesn’t mean you’re claiming it’s perfect.

That’s an important distinction.

Seat belts aren’t perfect.

Airbags aren’t perfect.

Pain medication isn’t perfect.

Antibiotics aren’t perfect.

And apparently, neither is my wife’s driving.

But if I’m given the choice between getting into a car with my wife after she’s had a bad day or getting into a car with her after she’s had a bad day and she’s had three margaritas…

I’m going with the seat belt.

Sometimes life is about choosing the option that creates the least amount of damage.

And for some people, cannabis may be that option.

THE ALTERNATIVES WE NEVER COUNT

We count cannabis use.

We count cannabis arrests.

We count cannabis-related incidents.

We count people who develop problems with cannabis.

But how many times has cannabis prevented something that never happened?

How many arguments never became physical?

How many people didn’t drink?

How many people didn’t use harder drugs?

How many people didn’t relapse?

How many spouses didn’t file for divorce?

How many people didn’t end up behind bars?

How many nights ended with somebody falling asleep on the couch instead of waking up in a jail cell?

We’ll never know.

Because you can’t count an event that never happened.

And that’s the great irony of the entire argument.

The biggest potential benefit of cannabis for some people might be something that is almost impossible to measure:

the bad thing that didn’t happen.

“BUT WHAT IF THEY JUST STOPPED USING EVERYTHING?”

Well, obviously, that would be fantastic for some people.

If somebody can live a completely healthy, peaceful, productive life without cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, or any other substance, I’m all for it.

But that’s not reality for everybody.

People are complicated.

Addiction is complicated.

Mental health is complicated.

Human behavior is complicated.

And pretending every person responds to every substance in exactly the same way is about as scientifically useful as assuming everybody needs the same size pair of pants.

Trust me.

I’ve seen some of you in sweatpants.

We’re all different.

THE BETTER QUESTION

Maybe instead of asking:

“Is weed bad?”

we should start asking:

“What does cannabis replace in this person’s life?”

What happens when they don’t have it?

Does their alcohol consumption increase?

Do they use harder drugs?

Do they become more aggressive?

Do they become more anxious?

Do their relationships deteriorate?

Do they make worse decisions?

Or does absolutely nothing change?

Those are all legitimate questions.

And the answers are going to be different for different people.

Because cannabis isn’t a universal solution.

But it also isn’t a universal problem.

For some people, it’s simply one piece of a much bigger picture.

THE STRAIN OF COMMON SENSE

As someone who’s spent a hell of a lot of time around cannabis, I’ve learned something:

You can’t judge the value of something without considering what it’s being compared to.

If somebody tells me:

“Cannabis is the only thing keeping me from going back to heroin.”

I’m not going to look at that person and say:

“Well, have you considered quitting cannabis too?”

Maybe the bigger conversation is how we keep that person away from heroin.

If someone tells me:

“If I didn’t smoke weed, I’d be drinking every night,”

maybe we should at least acknowledge that the comparison matters.

If someone says:

“My marriage is better because cannabis helps me calm down,”

maybe the answer isn’t automatically:

“Stop smoking.”

Maybe it’s:

“I’m glad you found something that helps, but let’s make sure you’re dealing with the underlying problems too.”

That’s what a mature conversation sounds like.

Not:

“WEED GOOD!”

or

“WEED BAD!”

Real life isn’t a Saturday morning cartoon.

There are shades of gray.

And sometimes those shades of gray are extremely green.

SO, WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?

That’s the question I keep coming back to.

The next time somebody tells you cannabis is bad, don’t immediately argue with them.

Ask them something much more interesting:

“Compared to what?”

Compared to alcohol?

Compared to heroin?

Compared to pills?

Compared to rage?

Compared to violence?

Compared to another night of screaming at your spouse?

Compared to another trip to jail?

Compared to whatever destructive behavior that particular person was using cannabis to replace?

Because sometimes the question isn’t whether cannabis is perfect.

Sometimes the question is whether it’s better than what came before it.

And for some people, the answer is a very clear:

Hell yes.

Maybe that joint didn’t make somebody perfect.

Maybe it just kept them from becoming the worst version of themselves.

Maybe it didn’t solve the problem.

Maybe it simply kept the problem from getting worse.

Maybe it didn’t save the world.

Maybe it just saved one marriage.

One night.

One relationship.

One person from relapse.

One person from a fight.

One person from a bottle.

One person from a needle.

One person from a prison cell.

And maybe we’ll never know how many times that happened.

Because the greatest alternative cannabis ever provided might be something we can never put on a statistic:

the bad thing that never happened.

So before you tell somebody that weed is bad…

ask them what their alternative is.

Because sometimes the real question isn’t:

“Is weed good?”

It’s:

“Is weed better than what happens without it?”

And sometimes…

the answer is yes.

OG Strain