Two Americas, Three McElroys, Endless Edibles
Plus, some real science on mental health and reproductive health
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It’s the Fourth of July
I haven’t bought any fireworks this year. The ones you can buy in Minnesota are pretty tame but one can drive over to Wisconsin, maybe 30 minutes, and get all manner of super dangerous unregulated fireworks. Here in Minnesota you can only buy unregulated marijuana edibles.
For several years now, America has existed to me as two places: the really kick-ass freedom jam that it should be and the violent, oppressive, and hateful place it so often is. Theory America and Practice America
In Theory America, you are able to say what you want, have autonomy, and live without establishment of a state religion. In Practice America, women do not have complete control of their bodies, by law, because of the religious beliefs of some.
In Theory America, you may own a musket in case your local militia needs to be mustered to stave off British attacks. In Practice America, you don’t ultimately have the freedom to go to school or a parade because people can get just about anything.
In Theory America, we are a broadly diverse array of people from all over the world, living together, learning from each other, and being free to pursue dreams. In Practice America, the immigrants, particularly the ones with browner skin, are vilified and attacked and killed.
We may drive to see some fireworks tonight. Probably not but maybe. The downside to doing so would be having to loudly shout “I’M HERE IN SUPPORT OF THE UNFOLLOWED IDEALS OF THIS COUNTRY, NOT THE ASSHOLE WAYS IT SOMETIMES BEHAVE!” And I don’t know if I’d be heard.
Justin McElroy is anxious and he knows it (clap your hands)
I’ll be honest, I’ve always kind of marveled at the concept of My Brother, My Brother, and Me, the huge smash hit podcast hosted by the McElroy brothers. It’s the same way I feel about any kind of family business, really, whether it’s run by parents and kids, spouses, multiple generations. Because wouldn’t you drive yourself, and I’m going to use the correct mental health terminology here, bonkers?
Nothing against the family members in my own life, but to meld the two sides of family and work feels absolutely terrifying to me. Because what is family and what is work anyway?
But the McElroys make it work. Obviously, because MBMBaM (pronounced muh-bim-bam by fans) is hugely popular.
Justin, the oldest sibling, is my guest on the podcast this week.
In the interview, Justin talks about trying to get his anxiety under control but, more crucially, understanding what his anxiety is actually up to and how it works. Because you need to know your opponent before you square off against them.
Edibles become legal in a weird sudden way in Minnesota
This is a picture of a shop on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul, not far from my house.
There’s been a line down the block all weekend because you can now buy marijuana edibles here. Anyone can sell them, you don’t need a special pharmacy license or anything. And they’re even classified as food so there’s no sales tax.
I’ve read several stories on how this all went down and I’m still pretty confused but it appears the legalization language was tacked on to the end of a different bill and it got approved by at least some legislators who did not know what they were voting on.
State Sen. Jim Abeler, a Republican from a Minneapolis suburb, told the newspaper that he hadn’t realized the bill broadly legalized products containing THC. He said he thought it had permitted only delta-8 THC, which provides milder effects, though it also legalized the sale of delta-9 THC, which causes stronger feelings more commonly associated with a high from cannabis products. Abeler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
State Sen. Michelle Benson, a Republican from Ham Lake, about 25 miles north of Minneapolis, “dodged repeated questions of whether she herself understood the law would legalize THC edibles,” the paper reported. She told the Star Tribune she wished the state pharmacy board had realized the full impact of the law earlier. Neither Benson nor the head of the pharmacy board immediately responded to requests for comment.
Here’s how I feel about all this:
1. I know that many people find THC helpful for anxiety and insomnia. They will now have easier access to that.
2. I worry about the lack of regulation around anything that one ingests. I’ve never been all that into marijuana and a big reason why for a long time was that you had to trust the ethics of an entire supply chain of shady characters.
3. That shop is by my house. I might see what they have.
4. This legalization process was FUNNY.
Reproductive rights and mental health
The Seattle Times does excellent work on mental health coverage and they have a new article on what the Dobbs decision means in that regard. Many states already required “counseling” for people seeking abortion, part of that being a bunch of scary talk about the long term mental health damage of having an abortion. And that talk is bullshit. There’s no science to support it.
But the effects of being turned away are broad: Those denied an abortion were more likely to have serious health problems, raise children alone without the help of family and be unable to pay for basic needs like food. When it came to participants’ mental health, those turned away experienced more symptoms of short-term anxiety and low self-esteem. Those symptoms largely resolved over time, and by the end of the study, the mental well-being of both those who received and were denied abortion had improved.
A handful of other studies suggest that in countries with abortion restrictions, like El Salvador, teenage pregnancy is tied to a heightened risk of suicide. Studies in Bangladesh and Kenya have similar findings.
CNN has some good journalism on this as well.
"There were states in which women were told that because they're having an abortion, they're at increased risk for depression, suicidal ideation, post traumatic stress disorder and more," said Julia Steinberg, an associate professor of family science at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health.
"Abortion does not cause depression, it does not cause suicide (or) suicidal ideation. It does not cause substance use. It does not cause anxiety disorders," said Steinberg, who has studied the mental health impact of abortion for years.