You're listening to Well Now Slate's podcast on Health and Wellness. I'm Kavita Patel. And I'm Maya Feller. Living in New York, I feel like I can find a cannabis dispensary on just about every street corner, including in my own neighborhood. Kavita, is that the case for you in D.C.?

Oh, definitely. We are not as densely populated as New York City, but we still have dispensaries

everywhere. Many people around here travel between Maryland, the district, and Northern Virginia,

and all three have legalized recreational marijuana for adults. Basically, it's pretty easy to get it here.

Yeah, that's the same. It's also legal in New York State. In fact, this year, nearly half of

states 24 and Washington, D.C., have fully legalized marijuana. Another 13 allow it medically.

Back in 2014, Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, paving

the way for more states to do the same over the next decade. And understandably, the more states

that legalize it, the more people report using it, especially among young adults. That's right,

nearly 14% of people between the ages of 18 and 25

say they use cannabis almost every day. That's according to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and

health. And it's more than double the amount of frequent users recorded in 2002. And get this, Maya, using data from that

same survey, the medical journal addiction published a report saying that 2022 was the first time

more Americans frequently used marijuana than those who drink alcohol nearly every day.

That's pretty astounding, if you ask me. What do you think, Maya? I mean, that is

astounding, Kavita. Wow. I mean, I guess that's why New York smells the way that it does.

Yes. But, you know, what's more alarming to me is now the more people that are habitually using

marijuana, we're actually starting to get a clearer and what I would say is distressing

picture of the side effects related to the drug. So I'm a recovering addict and I'm not a hardcore

IV drug user. I'm a pothead. What's up everybody? Back in the hospital again. It's the third time in three days it literally put me almost i

swear to god in psychosis i was catatonic i could not move i could not speak good morning sir

what brings you in to see me doc i have been vomiting all the time and i can't figure it out and it's

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