I presume the uptick I've noticed of "weed is really bad, actually" articles filling my news feed and social media is a response to the imminent classification changes in the US in an attempt to sway public opinion. I can only assume this is being driven by parties with ill intent, who prefer the status quo of using the phrase "I smell weed" to end-run constitutional protections against search and seizure, allowing unequal enforcement of the law, and selling less effective but more expensive treatments for ailments cannabis is known to be effective for.
This is an active topic of conversation in the law enforcement community. The changes and adaptations of not being able to catch criminals using the illegality of weed as probable cause.
This was over a decade ago, but I idiotically drove from my "weed legal" home state into a much-less-friendly state... ultimately arrested for flakes found beneath passenger seat (was absolutely sober), in a state where 0.009oz == same "up to 2oz" misdemeanor charges. The police in this tiny Texas town acted like they had caught Pablo Escobar, and not an impoverished college dropout...
For my defense attorney, I chose a well-recommended private attorney (futureMe: I would use the public defender because it would have been the same outcome). His services cost me around a pound of "top shelf" kush. I was broke.
Ultimately I "served my time" [2mo. probation + community service]. Just a few years ago this attorney said to me, in private: "but if we didn't have this legislation [prohibiting marijuana] then I would be out of the job!"
I guess I was supposed to feel bad for his archaic legal practice/funding?
Not necessarily a counterpoint but as an HN lurker in Canada I have also been seeing these articles popping up, but, in Canada Cannabis is already essentially completely legal.
You could also interpret this by saying that the legalization of cannabis is allowing researchers to actually study its effects more widely in clinical environments.
If they are indeed finding extra symptom not previously known I think it's something the public should know about.
