I have never been an advocate for dope use. Various prior posts are listed and linked in Dope and Heart Disease (March 2024). For years, I have listened to people explain that weed is harmless and that, therefore, the classic risk/benefit analysis should always lean toward pot (if the risk is indeed zero, then almost any benefit creates a scale tipped toward dope).
That said, history teaches us that there have been few examples in which there was an opportunity for benefit that was utterly free of corresponding risk. That is not to say that it cannot occur, but I suggest nature abhors such a win/win outcome. Benefit generally begets risk and vice versa.
In November 2025, Congress acted to change the methodology for defining hemp. In December 2025, the president issued an executive order regarding the "scheduling" of dope. That did not change weed from a Schedule I drug ("no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse"), but directed the Attorney General to expedite the reclassification to Schedule III.
This will undoubtedly mean more availability and increased use of pot in the general public. There have been some interesting studies suggesting that dope use decreases alcohol demand. And alcohol consumption by U.S. adults is at the lowest point since polling began 90 years ago (1939); prohibition ended in 1933.
Is weed killing alcohol, or are people waking up to the health risks of each? That will be hard to measure for some time because there is a natural disinclination to admit illegal activity, and dope has been illegal a long time. In an informal, unscientific survey recently, I had many respondents acknowledge that they would be reluctant to admit pot use.
The fact is that weed has killed people. See New Testing for Marijuana (April 2016). Granted, the outcome is not seen frequently. There are likely more deaths caused by impairment, but the critics of zero-pot-tolerance aptly note that impaired driving and other judgment issues are as possible with alcohol, prescriptions and more.
Nonetheless, there is no argument that pot is harmless.
Recently, CNN featured news of "Scromiting, a bizarre condition linked to chronic marijuana use." This is a combination of "screaming and loud vomiting," and the medical term for it is "cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS." It seems to affect various age cohorts.
The condition is described as "bizarre" and has been part of the medical lexicon only since 2004. The first documentation came regarding Australian dope users. That early study revealed an amazing treatment. Apparently, in 100% of cases studied, "symptoms went away when cannabis use was stopped."
Remember the old joke: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this," and the doctor says, "Quit doing this." That was a great old saw. According to Goodreads, we can thank Henny Youngman for that gem.
Patients are reportedly coming to emergency care facilities repeatedly (some as often as 203 emergency room visits per month) with unbearable "abdominal pain and nausea" coupled with ongoing and persistent vomiting, sometimes "for hours." It's like the old Ray Guy quote, pot "is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer; it always feels great when you" stop.
The medical profession is seemingly powerless to stop the symptoms of Scromiting, but can offer amelioration ("anti-nausea medications and IV fluids"). The home remedy for CHS is "extremely hot baths or showers," but some who report to emergency rooms say they have tried that without success.
The emergency physicians who treat this behavior screen for causative explanations of the symptoms. CNN reports that the battery of tests "to rule out other causes" includes "blood and urine tests, expensive CT scans, unpleasant upper GI endoscopy, and gastric emptying tests." Thus, though inexplicable and excruciating, the good news is that it is repetitive, incurable, and expensive.
Anyone who has ever visited an emergency room knows there is the potential for delay. There is a triage process, and the life-threatening conditions are treated first. Then the less serious are taken in a first-come, first-served order. Thus, depending on severity, a CHS might wait their turn or go to the front of the line. Hint to readers: the patient screaming in agony may get more rapid care.
Nonetheless, according to Visual Capitalist, the average time for emergency room services, from arrival to discharge, is almost three hours, and the high end is over 5 hours.
Contributing to that delay is the fact that some people use the ER as primary care (they have no family doctor and present only when immediate care is needed). But, for the patients waiting their turn, is it comforting that they wait while doctors and nurses test and treat a self-inflicted condition?
Does it bother anyone that it is self-inflicted with a clearly illegal activity? Will the reclassification to Schedule III increase both use and impairment challenges? Will it increase the need for medical care and even emergency room visits? Is the science present to conclude that weed is harmless or that it is no more harmless than alcohol?
What of the expense?
Emergency room blood and urine tests might run from $50.00 to over $1,000. A CT scan in the ER might be $1,500 to $8,000. The endoscopy might run $1,500 to $10,000. The cost of several hours of emergency care could easily reach the used car level and might reach the new car value. For a condition that can be avoided by not consuming dope.
The prevalence of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is curious, and the societal and personal costs are worthy of consideration. The expenditures are significant. The potential to distract from and delay care for other patients is noteworthy. Indeed, there is danger in consuming pot, whether prescribed, recommended, or off the street.
Patients, smokers, and consumers might be wise to listen to Mr. Youngman's doctor's advice. Just stop doing that. It may "feel great when you quit."