Ask Dr. Mitch: Trust in Cannabis

Dr. Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D, author of Understanding Marijuana and Parents’ Guide to Marijuana and member of NORML’s advisory board, answers your questions about cannabis in his monthly advice column:

Kids these days are saying “cross-faded.” What the hell?
L. Derly Mann

Hey Mann,
“Cross-faded” refers to using cannabis and alcohol simultaneously, a practice I can’t recommend. Data from my lab and others suggest the habit is more likely to lead to trouble. Alcohol decreases THC’s rate of metabolism. Although the effects are small, the more you drink alcohol, the more likely you are at risk of stroke, heart problems, or aortic aneurysm.

Would a CBD cream help my eczema?
S. Kin Issues

Hi S. Kin,
Cannabidiol is a legendary anti-inflammatory, so a topical application should definitely help. I haven’t seen any human trials, but work on skin cells in the lab is very promising, and human studies on general itch suggest this approach ought to work.

I saw an idiotic experiment in which researchers gave folks THC and then bragged that it “decreased cannabis craving.” WTF?
I.M. Madden-Kursing

Hello Madden,
I’m afraid I saw the same article. They are trying to draw parallels with the nicotine-replacement idea, but it seems pretty ridiculous. Given the price of the pills (often $1 per milligram of THC), they should just go with edibles.

What pot stocks should I be investing in?
Penny Scrooge

Greetings Scrooge,
I honestly don’t know. I have no secrets about the cannabis-business world. But if you want to invest in High Times, go to hightimesinvestor.com.

My mom never used to let me read sci-fi because she said it would make me “a druggy.” Are there any classic sci-fi stories that focus on marijuana?
Jed I. Knight

Howdy Jed,
Several novels from the genre normalize cannabis use, including Carl Sagan’s Contact, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Buried Deep and Fritz Leiber’s A Specter Is Haunting Texas, and I’m sure tons of short stories do, too. Nevertheless, plenty of science-fiction books warn against drugs, especially PKD’s A Scanner Darkly and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

This feature was published in the March, 2019 issue of High Times magazine. Subscribe right here.