Suddenly warnings about cannabis are everywhere. At the beginning of February, researchers reported severe mental illness has spiked in young people in Canada alongside access to high-potency cannabis. The next day came the release of "A Killing In Cannabis," a book about a 2019 murder in California — and the violence that plagues the marijuana business and that legalization has not resolved. Then, on Feb. 9, the New York Times dropped its support for full cannabis legalization. Writing that the United States has "a Marijuana Problem," the paper admitted cannabis addiction and psychosis have become a crisis. It called for a ban on THC extracts, a move that would recriminalize much of the legal industry. (THC is the chemical in the plant that gets users high, and vapes offering near-pure hits of THC are now popular among users — and a big driver of industry profits.)

These days, it's hard to miss cannabis dispensaries. In the 40 states (plus D.C.) that have legalized medical marijuana, storefronts and advertisements promote cannabis as a treatment for virtually every condition, from chronic pain to anxiety to (ironically) drug addiction. Many consumers appear persuaded. In one survey, more than a quarter of adults in the United States and Canada have tried cannabis for medical purposes. But how well-supported are these claims? A new review published in JAMA, which attempted to examine every high-quality study from the last 15 years alongside guidelines from major medical societies, came to a sobering conclusion: For most uses, the evidence was limited or inconclusive. In many cases, medical organizations recommend against using cannabis because the evidence for harm outweighed potential benefits.

After years of doubling down on the legalization of marijuana and minimizing its harms, The New York Times has finally broken the seal of truth by admitting that marijuana is far more harmful than most people want to acknowledge. The article, titled "It's Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem," marks a dramatic reversal and walks back years of misleading claims. This shift is significant because, in the past, The New York Times compared restrictions on marijuana to the era of alcohol prohibition and portrayed cannabis as benign, even medicinal. It denied the risk of addiction, as many speculated that legalization would not significantly increase use. The Times was highly influential in shaping public opinion and policy, contributing to the widespread legalization of marijuana across 24 states for recreational use and 40 states for medical use. This week, it quietly began to reverse course.

"The only thing that relieves the pain is cannabis." That message came from Jeffrey from Virginia, who is still experiencing debilitating pain from a car accident about 10 years ago. Like many others, he took issue with my recent column on a study showing the current evidence does not support cannabis as a treatment for most medical uses. Sandy from Massachusetts similarly reached out to say that the drug has been a "lifesaver" in addressing her fibromyalgia.

Ukraine recaptured 201 sq km from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday last week, taking advantage of a Starlink shutdown for Russian forces, according to an Agence France-Presse analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The recaptured area (78 sq miles) is almost equivalent to the Russian gains for the entire month of December and is the most land retaken by Kyiv's forces in such a short period since a June 2023 counteroffensive. The recaptured land is concentrated mainly to the east of the city of Zaporizhzhia, in an area where Russian troops have made significant progress since mid-2025. "These Ukrainian counterattacks are likely leveraging the recent block on Russian forces' access to Starlink, which Russian milbloggers (military bloggers) have claimed is causing communications and command and control issues on the battlefield," said the ISW thinktank.