Why Rick Steves is Wrong about Weed
27 June 2025 • by Bob • Health, Opinion, Science
My wife and I are big fans of travel writer Rick Steves. Over the years we've watched his travel shows on PBS, we always use his guidebooks as we travel throughout Europe, and we've been on a couple of his European tours (which are worth every penny). Because of our fanboy status, I follow Rick Steves on Social Media, and I was both surprised and shocked when Rick posted the following on Facebook earlier today:
"I'm a hardworking, taxpaying, churchgoing, grandkid-raising American citizen. And if I work all day long and want to go home, smoke a joint, and just stare at the fireplace for three hours... that's my civil liberty!" That's a line I use whenever I give a talk explaining my principled stance that all adults should have the freedom to enjoy marijuana recreationally and responsibly.
In a new article in Cannabis Now Magazine, Sara Payan - the best reporter covering cannabis I've met - reports on how and why, for more than two decades now, I've been on a mission to end America's prohibition on marijuana. Her excellent story, which is available at Rick Steves Talks Travel, Cannabis and Freedom, covers how travel has shaped my views on drug policy, why I believe in regulation over prohibition, what I've learned about Europe's focus on "pragmatic harm reduction," how the prohibition against marijuana in our country is both racist and counter-productive, and how you can get involved in drug policy reform. (Spoiler alert: Don't just complain about the status quo... join me by becoming a supporting member of NORML.)
I'm a travel writer. For me, high is a place. And sometimes I just want to go there. Can I get in my car and drive while I'm under the influence of a drug? No. Throw the book at me. But as a matter of principle, it's time we recognized the responsible adult use of marijuana as a civil liberty - not just in blue states... but in all states.
Rick's position is understandable: he's a cannabis user, and everyone who is behaving in a manner that others might perceive as wrong would love to see all restrictions lifted for their chosen vice. This mindset is what has led several states to overturn previous laws that criminalized marijuana use, but just because something has been made legal doesn't make it right. For example, adultery used to be illegal, now it's only viewed as immoral. In other words, adultery may be legal, but it's still regarded as unacceptable, because it hurts people. And it's the same thing with marijuana use; just because cannabis has been made legal in some areas doesn't mean that its harmful effects have been negated. On the contrary, numerous researchers in science and medical fields have published a wealth of peer-reviewed articles about the negative effects of recreational cannabis use, though this research falls on deaf ears because people want what they want, regardless of the consequences. (Which is why tobacco use has remained popular around the world despite overwhelming evidence that it's a highly addictive drug that kills millions of people per year.)
With that in mind, I felt prompted to respond to Rick's post with the following comment:
Myriad well-regarded, peer-reviewed studies and reviews have established a concrete association between marijuana use and various mental health disorders, and here are just a few examples:
- National Academies of Sciences (2017): This comprehensive review concluded there is substantial evidence linking cannabis use to the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses, especially among frequent users. (https://tinyurl.com/rbs6nwrd)
- CDC Summary of Mental Health Risks: The CDC highlights that cannabis use is associated with psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, social anxiety, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The risk is notably higher for those who start using cannabis at a younger age and use it more frequently. (https://tinyurl.com/rbs6nwrd)
- Yale University Study (2025, Nature Mental Health): This genetic study found bidirectional causal relationships between cannabis use disorder (CanUD) and several psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In other words, not only can cannabis use increase the risk of these disorders, but having these disorders may also increase the likelihood of developing CanUD. (https://tinyurl.com/5evyj4u7, https://tinyurl.com/2a4x79zm)
- Columbia University Study: Teens who use cannabis recreationally are two to four times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders such as depression and suicidality compared to non-users. (https://tinyurl.com/j7p8eda6)
- American Medical Association (2024): Experts emphasized that cannabis use - especially high-potency THC - can worsen psychiatric symptoms and complicate treatment. They also noted that many people mistakenly believe cannabis helps with anxiety or depression, when in fact it may exacerbate these conditions over time. (https://tinyurl.com/4eurmmbm)
There are lots of other articles and studies, such as https://tinyurl.com/4e4nw8t2 and https://tinyurl.com/mrykvkph from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), that go into additional details, but suffice to say that cannabis use is tied to lasting psychological damage. However, as a professing "churchgoing citizen," I believe that you're more than aware that a sin nature wants what it wants, which is why you're advocating for a drug with a proven track record of harming people.
I fully expected a wave of negative feedback from the pro-cannabis crowd in response to my comment, but that didn't happen. Instead, Rick promptly deleted my response. Apparently, Rick doesn't like people presenting a solid argument that disagrees with him.
C'est la vie.
Stupid People Do Not Understand Genetics
10 January 2025 • by Bob • Humor, Science
A friend of mine posted the following image from Twitter (with the actual names removed to protect the innocent):
I responded that I like to mess with people who are that scientifically illiterate by saying things like, "You realize that when you compare a woman's XX chromosomes to a man's XY chromosomes, there are 8 branches in a woman's DNA and only 7 for a man, which means that women have 12.5% more DNA than men, and that extra branch is where DNA stores all the building blocks for intelligence and logic, which is why most women are smarter than you."
Yeah, sure - that statement about DNA isn't scientifically accurate, but it doesn't matter - because whoever the illiterate idiot is, they've already proven that they're too dumb to know better.
Ninety Percent of Food and Diseases
12 August 2024 • by Bob • Science
I stumbled across the following post from an antivaxxer on social media, which I thought warranted a response:
"90% of the 'food' in grocery stores today didn't exist 90 years ago. Guess what else? 90% of the diseases we face today didn't either. Think about that."
If this antivaxxer was only referring to food allergies, then I think - in a few situations - that they might have have a point. However, with regard to diseases, those numbers aren't just wrong, and they're not just dishonest, they're a complete fabrication.
Over the past century the combined scientific efforts from every corner of the globe have managed to completely eradicate or significantly reduce the impact of Smallpox, Measles, Polio, Rinderpest, Dracunculiasis, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, Helminthiasis, Schistosomiasis, Malaria, Hookworm, Rubella, Onchocerciasis, Typhoid Fever, Trypanosomiasis, Leprosy, Lymphatic Filariasis, Chagas Disease, Chicken Pox, Diphtheria, Haemophilus Influenza, Whooping Cough (Pertussis), Pneumococcal Disease (Streptococcus Pneumoniae), Yaws, etc.
Look, I get it - some people distrust science because they don't bother to learn about it. For most antivaxxers, "science" is what goes on behind closed doors and makes billionaires out of some truly awful people. But the majority of virologists, immunologists, and biologists are obsessed with making the world a better place, and as a result less babies are dying in infancy, more children are living to adulthood, and more people are living longer lives than at any point in human history. To infer otherwise does a tremendous injustice to the thousands of people in the scientific community who sacrificed their lives and talents to ensure that humanity is alive and well today so that antivaxxers can berate and belittle science from their ivory towers of unearned and undeserved health.
UPDATE: This post is one of several that I had written that I later discovered had never been set to "public."
Anti-Vaxxers are Anti-Science
08 April 2021 • by Bob • Health, Humor, Science
I like making fun of anti-vaxxers because they tend to be rather silly people who usually act on their uneducated emotions and staunchly refuse to listen to actual science; they're much like the whackos in the Flat Earth Society.
And with that in mind, the following video contains some actual facts about vaccines for anti-vaxxers to blissfully ignore as they continue their respective crusades toward reinstating the Dark Ages.
😄