People have the right to know the truth. Yes, it may hurt, but if anxiety doesn’t stop people from smoking weed, I fail to see a reason why it should protect them from accepting facts.
While we may differ in our attitude towards weed, this topic is not open for debate – the evidence is out there and whether someone chooses to accept it or reject it – it does not change the fact that it is true. You may not believe in gravity, but it still affects you.
Sorry for sounding harsh, but there are plenty of topics on this forum alone where people ask for help because they developed psychotic symptoms following weed exposure. While you are right that the majority of human population would be fine, some of us may suffer from underlying conditions that increase the risk of developing psychosis in response to weed (these conditions are not clear – there is a debate in the literature whether genes that determine the function of the D2 receptor are involved in this process). Smoking weed may set off psychosis in these people, which can develop further to schizophrenia / BD. As there is no way of knowing whether someone is affected or not, the best thing to do is to avoid weed at all.
Now, before you say that what I wrote is rubbish, have a look at these peer-reviewed papers:
A. Caspi et al., Biological Psychiatry, (2005), 57(10), 1117-1127.
‘Recent evidence documents that cannabis use by young people is a modest statistical risk factor for psychotic symptoms in adulthood, such as hallucinations and delusions, as well as clin. significant schizophrenia. The vast majority of cannabis users do not develop psychosis, however, prompting us to hypothesize that some people are genetically vulnerable to the deleterious effects of cannabis.’
C. Henquet et al., Schizophrenia bulletin (2008), 34(6), 1111-21.
‘Cannabis use is considered a contributory cause of schizophrenia and psychotic illness. However, only a small proportion of cannabis users develop psychosis. This can partly be explained by the amount and duration of the consumption of cannabis and by its strength but also by the age at which individuals are first exposed to cannabis. Genetic factors, in particular, are likely to play a role in the short- and the long-term effects cannabis may have on psychosis outcome. (…) Evidence suggests that mechanisms of gene-environment interaction are likely to underlie the association between cannabis and psychosis. In this respect, multiple variations within multiple genes--rather than single genetic polymorphisms--together with other environmental factors (eg, stress) may interact with cannabis to increase the risk of psychosis.’
L. Degenhardt et al., Psychological medicine (2007), 37(7), 927-34.
‘Cannabis use predicted a small but statistically significant increase in symptoms of psychosis, but not depression, after controlling for other differences between cannabis users and non-users.’
W. Hall and L. Degenhardt, The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry (2000), 34(1), 26-34.
‘It is still unclear whether cannabis use precipitates schizophrenia, whether cannabis use is a form of 'self-medication', or whether the association is due to the use of other drugs, such as amphetamines, which heavy cannabis users are more likely to use. There is better clinical and epidemiological evidence that cannabis use can exacerbate the symptoms of schizophrenia.’
Should I look further…?