Why is this forum so much more straightedge than the general population?

[Del Tachi]

This is a tangent, but has anyone else noticed that the average "stoner" is now someone with life-impairing anxiety?

This was not the case 10-15 years ago when smoking was a highly social activity and still a subculture attached to certain music, interests, and countercultural social groups.

I'm not sure if this has more to do with decriminalization/legalization changing the character of the typical user or more to do with the fact that severe anxiety seems to be several times more common among people under 35.

It has to do with the chemical composition of today's marijuana, actually.  Cannabis potency (measured by THC content) has surged over the past decade, making the drug more psychoactive and contributing to anxiety-inducing disassociative episodes.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It is interesting that in response to the OP's question so many immediately jumped to associate Straight Edge with alcohol consumption.

As with many BRTD threads there is a mixture of potential "bear traps" (poker ref) combined with conflation of different terms and jargon with historical roots into a post-modern redefinition of the original concept / terms originally associated.

I have always associated the term Straight Edge with a particular strain and subculture of Punk Rock, which I very much doubt most of Atlas has ever really followed much less listened to.

Back in the '80s, '90s, and early '00s when I was still somewhat involved in the Punk subculture, I always tended to gravitate more towards Peace Punk bands and to a somewhat lesser extent Drunk Punk / Skate Punk sounds, and even some Pop Punk bands with political overtones.

Wasn't really aware of the whole "Straight Edge" phenomenon very much until I was going to College in SW Ohio, and a gang of Straight Edge punks attacked and beat up a group of non Straight Edge punks outside of a music venue in Dayton, Ohio because they were smoking Cigs and drinking alcohol.

Their behavior reminded me of actions similar to what Nazi Punks had been doing up and down the West Coast in the '80s and using physical violence and intimidation to shut down Punk gigs, frequently as part of coordinated activities by Regional and National White Supremacist funders with deep pockets.

Regardless of the whole drugs / alcohol / tobacco prohibitions, many Straight Edge bands did promote animal rights activist causes, although the reality is that was already a feature of many UK Peace Punk bands from the '80s such as Conflict, The Subhumans, Rudimentary Peni, etc....

BRTD's attempt to reinvent "Straight Edge" as "straightedge" is disingenuous (Albeit understandable perhaps considering the OP's history of stirring the pot with some new substitute chemical).

Why narrowcast the definition of Straight Edge to only include consumptions of substances such as alcohol, drugs, and tobacco?

I would definitely NOT fit into that narrowcast category let alone other traditional "Straight Edge" conceptions such as avoiding sex and caffeine, although I currently eat meat and consume animal products fundamentally am still sympathetic to the concept that Factory Farming of animals for meat and dairy products is inherently exploitative and generally consume a "low meat diet".

Rudimentary Peni was not a straightedge band.

[NOVA Green]

....

Rudimentary Peni was not a straightedge band.

I am well aware of that but thank you for clarifying for the rest of Atlas, although I believe in my post I did reference Conflict, Subhumans, and Rudimentary Peni as Peace Punk bands.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

This is a tangent, but has anyone else noticed that the average "stoner" is now someone with life-impairing anxiety?

This was not the case 10-15 years ago when smoking was a highly social activity and still a subculture attached to certain music, interests, and countercultural social groups.

I'm not sure if this has more to do with decriminalization/legalization changing the character of the typical user or more to do with the fact that severe anxiety seems to be several times more common among people under 35.

It has to do with the chemical composition of today's marijuana, actually.  Cannabis potency (measured by THC content) has surged over the past decade, making the drug more psychoactive and contributing to anxiety-inducing disassociative episodes.

This sounds like DEA propaganda but the hypothesis is plausible to me. I've had many conversations with former stoners who have had a few horrible experiences while smoking: they have some panic attack or extreme anxiety, then marijuana is associated with anxiety, then they quit smoking. In my case, I wasn't quite permabaked but I'd get high whenever I'd have the chance from age 16 to 20 - then I had a few bad experiences, specifically after smoking/eating legal marijuana that was "loud" i.e. extremely, extremely potent. No more marijuana for me!

[Continential]

Geometry is better than Algebra.

This is false.