Hour 3 - The Social Cost of Weed

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 - The Social Cost of Weed
Air Date: February 11, 2026
Hosts: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Special Guest: Alex Berenson

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Overview

In this hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive deep into the social, cultural, and health impacts of marijuana legalization, prompted by a recent New York Times editorial reconsidering its past pro-legalization stance. Special guest Alex Berenson—author and journalist known for his critiques of cannabis policy—joins to discuss the consequences of widespread marijuana use and the potency of modern cannabis products. The show features spirited discussion, notable statistics, personal and listener anecdotes, and robust debate with both supporters and critics of the hosts' views.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The New York Times Has Second Thoughts on Legalization

• Clay and Buck reference a recent NYT editorial reevaluating marijuana legalization, acknowledging unanticipated negative impacts ([00:40]).
• “More people use marijuana daily than alcohol daily.” – Clay Travis ([00:40])

2. Youth Use: Cannabis vs. Alcohol

• Clay asks Berenson: Which is the greater health concern for regular use: alcohol or cannabis?
• Alex Berenson: “If we're talking about starting as a teenager, I would definitely want them to consume alcohol instead of cannabis because cannabis is much more likely to cause them really severe psychiatric health problems if they start using as a teenager.” ([02:00])

3. The Real Risks of Modern Marijuana

• Potency Surge: THC levels in cannabis have skyrocketed, with flower increasing from 1–5% to 20–30%, and vape products often exceeding 60–90% THC ([03:20], [25:53], [26:49], [27:21]).
  • “It’s like you used to drink a beer, and all of a sudden the beer is whiskey.” – Alex Berenson ([03:31])
• Addiction: Cannabis is “psychologically very addictive,” especially with high-potency products ([03:55]).
• Mental illness risk: Heavy, early use can significantly increase the risk of psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia ([04:50]).
• Notable quote: “Your risk of developing a psychotic disorder, usually schizophrenia, is much higher than people realize.” – Alex Berenson ([05:54])
• Health Effects: Issues such as memory problems, apathy, cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome ("scromiting"), and increased risk for car accidents and violence ([07:24], [07:53]).

4. Misconceptions about 'Naturalness' and Safety

• Modern vape products are far from “natural,” often involving chemical extraction reminiscent of nicotine vapes ([04:20]).
  • “[Cannabis vapes are] about as natural—actually less natural—than your average cigarette.” – Alex Berenson ([04:54])

5. Failed Policy Expectations and Regulatory Nightmares

• The idea that legalization would pay for schools and eliminate illegal sales has mostly failed, particularly due to continued illicit markets and difficulties taxing at high rates ([09:04]).
• Regulating THC content is chaotic for law enforcement: “It's hard to imagine a bigger nightmare than that.” – Alex Berenson ([09:30])
• The main issue, Berenson says, is cultural: “We have to be honest. It’s an addictive, dangerous product that a lot of people can't use safely.” ([09:55])

6. Alcohol vs. Cannabis: Societal Roles

• Clay & Buck observe that many societies function with prevalent alcohol use but see sharp pushback when cannabis becomes widespread ([10:23], [11:40]).
• Alcohol is described as a “pro-social drug”—enhancing group interaction—while cannabis tends to be more isolating ([13:00]).
  • “Alcohol is a pretty good intoxicant to pick ... it’s also a pro social drug.” – Alex Berenson ([13:22])
  • “Cannabis ... just puts people in rooms in their basements watching TV.” ([13:55])
• Historical attempts to integrate cannabis at society-wide scale—e.g., India, Mexico—have typically sparked a reversal ([11:40]).

7. Anecdotes and Listener Calls

• Several heartfelt listener calls illustrate both negative and neutral/positive experiences:

  • Sam (Virginia): Reports his son developed anxiety and became withdrawn after using cannabis heavily ([22:41]).
  • Dan (San Antonio): Argues that cannabis use leads to passivity rather than risky behavior like drunk driving ([23:22]).
  • Dan (Arizona): A daily cannabis user admits modern products are “massively different,” describes higher psychosis risk ([24:52]).
  • Dan (Pennsylvania): Shares his son's cannabis addiction, describing a “slow, downhill spiral” with serious consequences ([29:44]).

• The hosts note that while some highly successful people use cannabis regularly, public policy should focus on aggregate effects ([25:56]).

8. Public Reaction and Pushback

• The show receives a surge of both supportive and critical feedback, reflecting deep divisions on marijuana in the audience ([17:56], [20:26]).
• Clay observes, “I think we are gonna get lit up in the emails ... We got a lot of weed smoking boomers in this audience that I can tell you.” ([17:56])

9. The Potency Problem in Context

• Buck Sexton: “In 1995 when the DEA seized pot, THC in the pot was about 4%. ... Today it’s 90% or more. So you're talking about 20 times as potent.” ([26:49])
• Clay likens this to comparing ordinary beer vs. Bacardi 151—“the dosage makes the poison.” ([27:21])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Alex Berenson: “We have to be honest. It’s an addictive, dangerous product that a lot of people can't use safely.” ([09:55])
• Clay Travis: “Western civilization was built with a lot of people drinking wine. Ask anybody who goes to church.” ([15:34])
• Buck Sexton: “I think a lot of parents ... have been convinced that their kids smoking pot is not a big deal. ... I think you need to be more concerned about it than you are.” ([29:20])
• Clay Travis (on policy): “You have to know what is true in the main ... when you're making these kinds of decisions about society and policy.” ([25:56])
• Alex Berenson: “The dosage makes the poison is a common phrase ... It’s absolutely true about the THC and marijuana situation right now.” ([28:16])

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Important Timestamps

• 00:40: NYT editorial reconsiders marijuana legalization; more daily marijuana than alcohol use.
• 01:59: Berenson: alcohol safer than cannabis for youth.
• 03:20–04:54: Modern cannabis potency; vaping and “naturalness” myth.
• 05:54: Cannabis and psychosis risk.
• 07:24–09:04: Law enforcement, public health, and policy consequences.
• 13:00: Alcohol as “pro-social,” cannabis as isolating.
• 17:56: Prediction of strong listener reactions.
• 22:41–30:52: Listener calls, personal stories of cannabis use and impact.
• 26:49: Rise in THC concentrations since 1995.
• 28:16: “Dosage makes the poison”—potency discussion.
• 29:20: Buck's caution to parents on modern marijuana.
• 30:52: Dan (PA): story of son’s cannabis addiction.

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Tone & Style

• The hosts maintain a frank, provocative, and sometimes humorous tone befitting their audience.
• Alex Berenson is forthright, data-driven, and insistent on societal risk, while also acknowledging nuance.
• Listener feedback adds a diverse set of perspectives, from dismissive and indignant to grave and concerned.

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Conclusion

This episode challenges prevailing narratives around marijuana legalization and safety, elevating concerns about mental health, addiction, youth use, and the implications of increasingly potent cannabis products. The show blends scientific evidence, cultural context, and real-world anecdotes. It invites listeners, including many pro-cannabis voices, to critically consider the true social costs of weed.

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Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast. Welcome in our number three Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. Still no update, really, on Nancy Guthrie. For those of you following that case, Pam Bondi is testifying on Capitol Hill about Jeffrey Epstein. And more good news coming out about the US economy. Unemployment rate fell down to 4.3%. Over a hundred thousand new jobs created. All of that very positive. It sent the stock market up again to near record highs and beyond. And we have been talking about all those stories and more throughout the course of the first two hours. But I was reading yesterday, Buck read as well. New York Times editorial came out and said, hey, about this whole legalization of marijuana, basically we were wrong. I'm paraphrasing. The impact of marijuana on society has been far more substantial than we anticipated. A stat in there blew my mind. More people use marijuana daily than use alcohol daily. Alex Berenson, you've been writing about this for quite some time. I just put up a question and I'm curious to see what the answer is. As a lead in for you, I asked would you rather your kids smoke pot for the rest of their lives as adults or drink alcohol for the rest of their lives? I'll share those results with you here shortly. But Alex, you're a parent. If, and obviously I know a lot of people out there, like, I don't want my kids to drink and I don't want them to smoke anything. Okay. Ideally that would be the case. They live to be 180 and be super healthy. But if you had to choose as a father based on what, you know, is alcohol or pot in your mind more of a health concern when it's used regularly?

[Alex Berenson]

If we're talking about starting as a teenager, I would definitely want them to consume alcohol instead of cannabis because cannabis is much more likely to cause them really severe psychiatric health problems if they start using as a teenager.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, sorry to cut you off there, but the explain what you mean by that, because most people think pot, they think like you're just kind of a. Well, I'm gonna be honest, like a kind of a slacker. Not very motivated those things. But there is evidence out there that actually it leads to severe psychological issues. Explain.

[Alex Berenson]

So, so it's interesting because I wrote a book called tell your children about this in 2019. Right. That's seven years ago. And even at that time, the science was pretty developed on this. It's only become more developed since. And I would say I Sort of experienced what it was like to kind of be too far ahead on an issue in that the industry hated me, the legalizers hated me, and nobody either on the left or the right was particularly interested in the science because I think most people had, you know, the only. Yes, there were older people who didn't really like cannabis, but most people, you know, I would say 50 and younger, certainly viewed things the way you do. Like, oh, this is just a, you know, this is sort of a light recreational drug that, yeah, most people, if they get stoned, they're just going to sit on their couch eating Doritos. So there's a couple of things. First of all, that was never really true, but it's become much less true in the last 20 years. And the reason for that is, is that cannabis has gotten much, much stronger. So what I mean is that the plant used to have 1 to 5% THC in it by weight. And so you, you know, you. You'd pack a joint, you'd smoke it, you'd get maybe 10 milligrams of THC. And that was, you know, that was a couple drinks. It was enough to get you a bit high. Some people like that, some people didn't. These days, what's happened is that the industry, cannabis actually is quite addictive. Not so much physically, psychologically, it's very addictive. And the industry, even before it became legal, but also since it's become legal, has responded to that by. By producing plants that are like 20 to 30% THC by weight. So you're getting much more of this chemical. It's like you used to drink a beer, and all of a sudden the beer is. Is whiskey. Okay. But there's something else that's happened which is a lot of people these days don't even smoke what's called flower cannabis, which is what you think of as a joint or a bong. But they vape. So when they're vaping, they're basically just. They're just basically inhaling pure thc. This is stuff that has been. If it's been grown at all, it's been grown with cannabis that isn't very high quality. And then literally, people run alcohol through it, they run propane through it. It's a real Frankensteinian process to extract this chemical, thc, then that's turned into a distillate, that. That's put into a vape. So when people say this stuff is natural, it's about as natural. It's actually less natural than your average cigarette. It's More like a nicotine vape. And so that what that means from the user point of view, putting aside all the, like, chemical stuff, is what it means from a user point of view is it's really easy to use a lot of thc. And unlike alcohol, most people, you know, I. I would say most people have a pretty common reaction to alcohol, right? It's an intoxicant. It loosens you up a little bit. Some people really like it. But most people, even if they don't like it much, they'll like a couple of drinks, right? With cannabis is very different. Some people do not like the high at all. They find it makes them paranoid, it makes them upset. They do it once or twice, they don't like it. Some people really like this sort of quasi hallucinatory effect it provides along with the intoxication. And those people will use a huge amount of it. And weirdly enough, some of them don't actually seem to mind that they get paranoid and quasi psychotic on it. And those are the people who are really at risk. And unfortunately, if you start using this drug when you're 13, 14, 15, 16, and you become a heavy user of it, your risk of developing a psychotic disorder, usually schizophrenia, is, Is much higher than people realize. And those are terrible illnesses, right? So schizoprenia is a, you know, you hear voices, you get very paranoid. It's something you can't turn on and off, right? It's not a temporary condition from smoking pot. It's permanent. And that wrecks people's lives, it wrecks families. And that's what tell your children was all about. And so the industry obviously hated this. And I think just a lot of people didn't, you know, they. Reefer madness was what they thought. Oh, this is nonsense. This is not a real thing. This is just somebody who doesn't like drugs. Unfortunately, it is real. And I think what's happened in the last five years is a lot of people have seen friends or family members or kids or, you know, friends of kids get very badly impacted by cannabis. And in fact, to me, the most. The most significant thing that happened on the last week the Times. The Times editorial is very important. The most significant thing that happened last week is that a conservative commentator, a young woman named Brett Cooper, who you guys may know, I think she's in Nashville, right?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, she is.

[Alex Berenson]

So she wrote a post or she posted something on Twitter on X yesterday saying, my brother has just been diagnosed with schizophren. And the doctors told us it's probably related to his cannabis use. So that post has now gotten more than 4 million views. So what, what is happening is that people out there are seeing like, oh, this guy Berenson, he's not, like, he's not some anti drug lunatic. He's writing about a real medical problem that yes, obviously it's true that most people who use cannabis, even if they use a lot, even if they smoke THC vapes, they're not going to become permanently psychotic. But this is a real risk. It's a dangerous drug. There are other health risks, there are cardiac risks. There's something called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which most people just call scromiting, which is when you become, you start to use and you basically begin to vomit uncontrollably. And this is a real problem. I mean, it sounds bizarre, but it is a real problem. And then there's just like the apathy and the memory problems and just the general issues around using cannabis for long periods of time that I think even the industry would acknowledge.

[Clay Travis]

Alex, could I, could I jump in there to just see, see if you can give us a sense of the societal cost of all of this as well? Because one thing I remember when we were at that phase of, oh, legalize, everything will be great, everything be fine. It was like, it's going to pay for all the schools, it's going to be so heavily taxed. That'll be a great source of revenue. And, you know, all these. And it's going to be regulated in a way where it's not. I can't walk around the street in New York City now with, I just. There's just weed everywhere. It's just all over the place. And it drives me nuts.

[Alex Berenson]

It's. There's a ton of weed. And the truth is you can't tax it at a very high level because it will just drive people back to the illicit market. That's what California has found and one of the other amazing things. So the Times writes this editorial and they say, well, basically we don't like vapes. We don't want 60% THC cannabis products to be legal. So no vapes, basically. So what's that going to look like in practice? We're going to have a legal industry that's advertising product, but more than 60% is suddenly illegal. You want to talk about a nightmare for law enforcement, it's hard to imagine a bigger nightmare than that. So, I mean, to me, there are law enforcement issues here. There are questions that we have to answer as a society about legalization and regulation. But the number one issue here is cultural. The number one issue here is this can't be promoted to people as medicine anymore. And we have to be honest. It's an addictive, dangerous product that a lot of people can't use safely. That does cause car accidents, that does cause violence, because psychosis does cause violence. And cannabis can cause psychotic episodes as well as schizophrenia. And so if we're honest about it, if we, you know, if we push back the way we've pushed back on cigarettes, there will be less use, and that is the number one thing we got to do.

[Buck Sexton]

So, Alex, Buck and I were just talking off air. There are a lot of great societies where alcohol is consumed in a substantial level.

[Clay Travis]

Right?

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, much of human history, people have consumed alcohol and society has advanced in a significant way. Let me give you this, by the way. 58% of you say you would rather your kids. This is on my poll. 58% of you say you would rather your kids drink alcohol. 42% of you said you would rather your kids smoke pot. It seems to me, again, the slacker gene of pot smoking is that you just don't accomplish very much. Society wide, if we all smoked pot and we all drank alcohol or vice versa, what do you think the impact would be? Obviously, in an ideal world, people would only make healthy decisions and we'd all live to be 150. But obviously there are sins and vices that are going to be consumed. What should happen in your world if you had a magic wand with pot and can you think society wide again? Lots of cultures that embrace alcohol have had tremendous success. Are there cultures that embrace pot that have gone to different levels of societal and human history success?

[Alex Berenson]

So it is very interesting because usually when cannabis hits a certain level in society, and you can see this in India in particular. Okay. But also in North Africa, to some extent in Mexico in the, in the, in the late 1800s, there becomes a big pushback, actually there. And it's. Because what happens is people do say, this doesn't look like a very good drug for a lot of people to be using. It doesn't seem to, you know, enhance motivation. It doesn't seem to make its users sort of better citizens in any way. It makes a lot of them drop out, and it makes some of them, again in this odd way, it makes them mentally ill. And then. And then we have to deal with the cost of that and the violence of that. And obviously that's also terrible on a personal level for the person and for their families. And so, and so you see, basically the US And Canada have pushed legalization in these sort of last hundred years further than anybody else. And usually when it hits the levels in that it has hit in the US I'm talking about historically, there is a pendulum swing against this, which you don't see with alcohol. Alcohol. You know, look, the US did try to prohibit it at one time, but, but about 50% of adults consume alcohol in the U.S. and in some cultures it's been more than that over time. Um, and, and what you see is that alcohol is a drug that a lot of people consume pretty casually. Another thing about alcohol is, and this sounds sort of a silly way to put it, but it's a real thing, easy to titrate, meaning if you one beer, you kind of know what that one beer is going to do to you. Cannabis, it's smoked. It's actually a lot harder to know exactly how much you're consuming and how it might affect you at any time. And so alcohol in some ways, I mean, if you're going to pick an intoxicant, alcohol is a pretty good intoxicant to pick. It's also a pro social drug. Like, like, you know, you can, you can do a study. You, you get a bunch of people who don't know each other in a room and, you know, they don't talk much. You give each of them an alcohol, you know, an alcohol unit, a beer, a glass of wine, whatever it is, the noise level goes up, they start to talk. And so I'm not, by the way, I'm not saying that alcohol is in any way, you know, something we should all be using a lot or that it's a, you know, that it's a. That it's a particularly good drug. It does cause violence, it causes car accidents, it can cause liver failure. There's tons of problems with alcohol, and frankly, I don't even necessarily think it should be advertised on television, but it is a better societal lubricant than cannabis, which essentially just puts people in rooms in their basements watching tv. Right? Cannabis enhances sensation. So, yes, there's an idea of, oh, I'm going to go to a concert and smoke a little pot and it'll make the music sort of sound more intense to me. But really that's just an individual's experience. It is not really enhancing socialization in the way that alcohol does.

[Clay Travis]

So.

[Alex Berenson]

So, yeah, I think, look, I don't. There are going to be people who smoke pot, okay? There's going to be people who like the effect that THC has on. There's people who like the effect that cocaine has on them. There are people who like the effect that, you know, heroin has on them. And there are people who take risks. And even if those drugs are illegal, there's going to be some as they should be. There's going to be some people who use them. That's not the question. The question is, as a society, do we want to encourage the use of cannabis and have a big legalized industry that's promoting this? And I think we are seeing more and more that the answer to that question is no. And for people who say, well then you should prohibit alcohol too, I'd say again, alcohol is much more commonly used by people casually. It doesn't have this sort of. I mean, yes, there are alcoholics, but there's. Alcohol is more embedded in the fabric of human society and has been for a really long time than cannabis.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, Western civilization was built with a lot of people drinking wine. Ask anybody who goes to church. Wine is part of a lot of important things. So I think there's a whole different set of, of situation or set of facts to address there. Alex, we got to leave it there, but people should go. Subscribe to your sub stack and send all of your, all of your rage tweets and emails about weed for the cannabis users out there at.

[Alex Berenson]

Alex, me with it. I'm used to it. You might want. By the way, guys, you know, if you're, if you're interested in this, people should read tell your children and see how strong the science really is. I, I'm not, I mean, I'm promoting the book, but it's important for people to understand that.

[Clay Travis]

All right, go get. Tell your children thanks, Alex. Natural disasters and severe weather can disrupt so much, causing power outages, Internet outages, you name it. When the power goes out, your survivor instincts kick in. Starting with the ability to communicate. This is why you want to have a set of rapid radios as part of your preparation plan. Handheld, rugged long range emergency radios built for blackouts, natural disasters and every unpredictable moment in between. Rapid radios don't panic when the power grid collapses. They just work. Clear communication, a long battery life and durability that stands up to real world emergencies. Go to rapidradios.com right now, check out the Rad1, see the full emergency features and grab the launch offer while it's still live. When the world goes quiet, make sure you don't Communication Redefined Rapid Radios.com Go get your rapid radios today at Rapid Radios.com. I think we are gonna get lit up in the emails and I think we're gonna get lit up in the comments and everything else. We got a lot of weed smoking boomers in this audience that I can tell you. A lot of weed smoking boomers living, living it up like they're back at Woodstock or something. So that's something that we're gonna address here. I just, you know there's, there's the public policy side of this. There's also, it's interesting too. People are saying, well, alcohol so bad. Alcohol so bad. I don't really drink anymore and I'm not, it's not even because I, you know, I didn't have a problem with it and you know it's, I just don't really drink anymore and I don't miss it. I'll occasionally have to celebrate something like a glass of champagne or whatever. So I'm also not particularly pro like getting lit up either. But we'll talk.

[Buck Sexton]

I like beer and I like. Yeah, I'm on the flip side there. But we'll take your calls. We are loaded by the way. Epstein and weed calls. There you go. Probably some mixing both and so get your popcorn for the, the, the feedback we're gonna feature the last half hour. In the meantime, protecting yourself from home intruder. Something we hope you're never faced with but if you are, maybe you want to have some non lethal options. Maybe you got kids or grandkids around the house all the time and you know they're always snooping around and you want to make sure that if they find something it's non lethal but you also want to be able to protect yourself. That's a perfect example of what Saber does. Saberradio.com Go check them out. Pepper gel, stun gun, Saber pepper spray. We have all their products in the Travis household. Non lethal. You should too sa that's s a b r e radio.com. We have got a ton of talkbacks from a variety of different perspectives. The fastest way to get to the show is from the Iheart app. Pick it up microphone right in the app you can send your message to us. A bunch of people reacting to a variety Epstein and weed. We tried to tried to go find the two most controversial topics on the planet from the perspective of many people out there and get get your reactions. You just heard from Alex Berenson. New York Times now says hey, legalizing weed was a problem Buck. Here's what and I'm going to get to some of these feedback in a sec. Here's one thing I would say weed is everywhere. You walk down a city street now, the smell of marijuana is everywhere. Used to be somewhat rare. You'd be at a concert, at least in my experience, you would smell weed and you would notice it. Hotel rooms. I don't know if it's just me lately when I've been checking into hotel rooms, I can smell the weed in the hotel room where people have just decided, hey, it's legal. I'm going to smoke weed in here. Used to see or smell cigarettes. I very rarely see anybody smelling smoking cigarettes. Now it doesn't smell like smoke in the same way. All right, here's William Houston listening to us on ktrh. Fire away. Cut.

[Clay Travis]

D playing Buck.

[Caller Dan]

Listen to your show every day.

[Alex Berenson]

You guys are totally out to lunch on cannabis.

[Clay Travis]

The fact that cannabis use is increasing and is more.

[Buck Sexton]

We played D, didn't we? Did I blow that? Ok, here is Scott from Pensacola on the Epstein files. And then I'll get back to some weed. My bad on that. I'm catching up.

[Clay Travis]

E. I don't think this is a Democrat or Republican issue concerning Epstein. We just want justice. There's a lot of people in those files that are named that have a lot of correspondence that suggests a lot of illegality. I think what we are asking for is for Pam Bondi to step up and start asking questions and. And she's not doing a thing about it. And that's the issue. I'm going to, I'm going to jump in here, Clay, with something very, very, I think, going to. Going to lay out an important principle here in the movie Training Day with Denzel Washington. Denzel Washington, thank you. Playing Alonzo. Alonzo says it's not what you know, it's what you can prove. That is certainly true about the criminal justice system and it's certainly true about general thoughts or allegations contained in email. Not even allegations. General thoughts and associations contained in emails. So you may know or think you know something. Absent proof, our criminal justice system does not have anything that it can do. And so unless someone is aware of proof that exists beyond what we are seeing in these files, there is nothing for the DOJ to do right now. It's not what you know or think you know. It's what you can prove.

[Buck Sexton]

And that's why I have said the women who are alleging that they are victims tell us who victimized you. Epstein is dead. You've got Jillian Guthrie or whatever her name is. Virginia, what's the. The Jelane or Ghislaine Maxwell is already in prison. Virginia Giuffre is already has, has, has passed. She killed herself. What are the people who are alive that have alleged that there are crimes, who committed those crimes and go public with them? I mean to me the victims are the story here. Who victimized them? Ok, a bunch of talkbacks. F this is Sam in Virginia.

[Clay Travis]

Listen, I've got a 30 year old son who used to be kind we could talk to, wasn't very angry and now due to his canvas usage he's got anxiety issues, can't talk to him, barely speaks to us and it's all. All since his canvas usage that he started in college.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay. On the flip side we have got. Sorry, I'm trying to keep up with all the things rolling in. Anthony in San Antonio G.

[Clay Travis]

Hey guys, I just wanted to let y' all know you're so off base on this that it's not even funny. People that drink alcohol and need more alcohol to continue getting their buzz that ends up meaning that you're gonna be over the limit, you're gonna go out and drive, you're gonna kill somebody if you smoke more pot. You don't go out and drive, you fall asleep. So good luck with the rest of your show. I'm not going to even bother listening because you all are way off this.

[Buck Sexton]

Here's what I would say.

[Clay Travis]

First of all, I need this to stop. Oh, sorry, I know you're bad but I need this to stop being like, but what about alcohol? We're talking about weed. I'm actually not talking about alcohol. This is, this is a cope that people have created here. I'm not advocating for or against alcohol legal. I'm talking about marijuana right now. Alex was talking about marijuana right now. I don't know why people keep.

[Buck Sexton]

Go ahead, you had an opinion. I don't like, I'm not even going to listen to your show anymore. I mean the pot guy or gal, it doesn't make it seem like you're open minded. If your response when the data does reflect that pot use has accelerated massively, is that a good thing for society? I think that's a very valid debate to have. Whatever.

[Clay Travis]

You're kind of mellow. Grateful Dead listening tight. Assert wearing hippie, are you buddy?

[Buck Sexton]

You know we're all friends so bad. Dan Arizona, you're a daily pot user. How long you been using pot and how would you compare pot today in 2026 to what it was when you began using it back in the past?

[Caller Dan]

Oh, massively different. I, I would say daily on and Off. I've had periods where I've just stopped and taken it up again. But by today's standards, it's, you know, I'm not arguing whether it should be legal or not, but it's way more potent. And I definitely agree. The psychosis, the. It's definitely causing a lot of problems today that I don't think you saw even 10 years ago.

[Clay Travis]

Dan, have you ever eaten a two or three pound bag of jelly beans in one sitting as a result of your marijuana smoking?

[Caller Dan]

Oh, man, not in a while. But yeah, back in the day, I think, because the amount. I think there's different substances in it that can cause, you know, hunger cravings or whatnot. Not so much today. But, you know, I used to use those. Those are the vape cartridges you guys were talking about. And a friend pointed out, they said, dude, have you seen how much THC is actually in those? And I looked and it was like 92%.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And I said, wow.

[Clay Travis]

So. So we talked about this in the context. Thank you so much, Dan, for the astute observations and the intelligent call. Appreciate you. I would say, by the way, I'm also going to admit this before people call in. I know people who are wildly financially successful who smoke weed all the time. Personally, I know some. So I understand that there are people that are able to do this and operate at a very high level and they don't have schizophrenia. And. Okay, fine. We are talking about what is true or most true in the aggregate and what society should be encouraging. Right. You know, there, there are some people who make it into, like, the very top ranks of professional sports and get to live in, you know, big mansions and marry supermodels. It's not a good idea to tell most kids, don't learn how to read. You're going to become a professional athlete. Right. You have to know what is true in the, in the main true for the most part, when you're making these kinds of decisions about society and policy.

[Buck Sexton]

I was just gonna. I think that's 100% true. Producer Ali just sent. I believe this was in the editorial. And it also ties in with the call we just had. In 1995 when the DEA seized pot, THC in the pot was about 4%. That is the, the hallucinogenic car aspect. Today it's 90% or more. So you're talking about 20 times as potent pot today as back in the 1990s when many people were first starting to smoke pot.

[Clay Travis]

I don't, I don't know if we talk about this on the show or off air. So sometimes I forget, Clay, when we're having our off air versus, you know, on the air for everybody. But I do remember in like early in college, people would pull out the Bacardi 151 and that was. It was like, hey guys, we're at the shooting range and now somebody's bringing out a missile launcher. It was like, Whoa, the Bacardi 151. Now why was that such a thing? Because it was 151 proof. Right? So it was a very, very high. Absolutely. Like could take the paint off a car, man. I mean, you know, it's not something that's fun to drink, but people kind of drink it as like almost like a party trip. I'm drinking my Bacardi one five one and there's some overproof rums and things out there where you do this. But, you know, when you're talking about hard liquor and then you're talking about something that's 151 proof and. And you're comparing that to beer, which is like 8% alcohol or something.

[Buck Sexton]

I think a lot of light beers, like four and a half percent.

[Clay Travis]

Four and a half percent alcohol, yeah. You know, I don't know what my favorite Zima is, but that's probably up there too. You know, these are, these are the dosage makes the poison is a common phrase that you'll hear in medicine. The dosage makes the poison. It's absolutely true about the THC and marijuana situation right now. Absolutely true. And people say, oh, we should just have the certain amount then. Well, a lot of people are going to want the higher amount. And then you're going to, you know, you get into this, how are you going to regulate that? And who's going to be take doing these purity tests? And it's, it is a weed. It is easy to grow. I might even have known some people who have grown their own weed, for example. It's not that hard to do. So, Clay, you know, I think that we. I think people have been sold a bill of goods on how this is for society, how much this is going to benefit people, how safe this is. I don't think it's as safe as, again, I'm not saying anyone should be locked up for this stuff right now. I'm just saying I don't think it's as safe as people have been told. I think it's had a much higher social cost than people realize. And I think we need to have a much more honest conversation based on the realities of legalization than we've had in the last decade.

[Buck Sexton]

I think a lot of parents, and I'm a parent, have been convinced that their kids smoking pot is not a big deal. And I think when you look at the levels of THC that modern marijuana has, I think you need to be more concerned about it than you are. Dan. Pennsylvania has got a story for us. Dan, you've got a kid that got addicted to pot.

[Caller Dan]

Yeah, exactly right, guys, appreciate you taking the call. My wife and I were 57 year old parents, got a 28 year old son. My wife and I, we both smoked a little weed back in the day. And I think we both felt it wasn't any much different than alcohol. Our son started smoking as a senior in high school. He went to college and he's, you know, you talk to him now, he'd say he smoked it for anxiety and to help with depression, but you don't realize it exacerbates those symptoms. And he went into a slow, downhill spiral. It took us a few years and some therapy to figure out where he was at. He ended up in rehab. I mean, he's a full blown addict. All the classic symptoms of addiction. It controlled every aspect of his life. It almost destroyed his life and our whole family. Fortunately, he's turned it around now. He's doing very well. But he'll tell you, most of his friends are chronic who are chronic weed users. They're addicted. It controls every aspect of their life too. And it's just a problem. I don't think anybody has any realization how bad this is.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you for the call. Look, I am a, you know, moderation guy in general. My perspective is the key to life in many respects is moderation. You can't drink every day, you can't smoke every day. And so that's my. I gamble, you know, can't gamble all the time.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

There are certain people that have susceptibility to addiction. And I think there is a danger in addiction to potential that did not exist in 1995. Based on the significant quantities of THC that are in a product today.

[Clay Travis]

If somebody was drinking 8 ounces of alcohol, that was 4, that was 4, sorry, 8 ounces of an alcoholic beverage that was 4% alcohol growing up. And now they're drinking 8 ounces of a beverage that is 90% pure alcohol. That is a massive, massive difference that will manifest in the health and psychological effects of that drug. I don't know why anyone thinks the THC situation is different. That's the part of this That I am really feel like there's real clarity on here, everyone.

[Alex Berenson]

It's.

[Clay Travis]

It is a. It is. This is not your daddy and mommy's weed. This is a different situation now and then we didn't even talk about this. How. How a lot of this stuff, too, sometimes gets laced with fentanyl and other things that's scary. But now you're actually talking about straight up mortal health risk from that. Now, I understand that's. That's like people being poisoned, but that does happen too. So there's real concerns with this. All right, I'll be back here with all of you. We'll all be back with you in just a second. And I will continue to take the incoming on this one. Clay, we're in the bunker together. We'll blow the whistle when it's safe to go outside because we got incoming all over the place, my friends. Boom. Boom. All right, today's pictures and videos are on our cell phones. It wasn't always the way, though. I grew up with a dad who had a VHS camera in his hand at a lot of family events, Christmas, school plays, all of that. And, you know, I've got a little son now, and I want him to be able to enjoy those memories and see his grandparents and see his great grandparents on those VHS tapes. But you don't have a vcr, do you? That's why you need Legacy Box. Legacy Box, founded over a decade ago, has a very straightforward mission to bring all those family memories into the 21st century and beyond. Legacy Box is the simple and safe solution for digitizing your memories. You order one of their specially made shipping boxes, send off your tapes, film, and photos to Legacy Box. Their team digitizes everything right in Clay's home state of Tennessee. And you get your original media back, along with secure digital files you can watch, share, and save. We've both relied on Legacy Box with great results. Those memories matter future. Proof your family history with Legacy Box. Go to legacy box.com buck get 50% off today. That's legacybox.com buck. Closing up shop today. Some almond brothers. Am I getting that right? Is that right? Play has no idea what is.

[Buck Sexton]

It's for the pot smokers out there, I presume.

[Clay Travis]

I was gonna say I thought, you know, I was like, maybe we can get them some. I don't know. Is it Chunky Monkey ice cream? That was the. The big popular one from those Ben and Jerry's. Right? Is that the. That's one of the. That's one of the well known ones. There's Some very good ones of the ice creams. Some people say the most delicious thing. Ice cream. I, I think that would be my. If, if I did have the munchies, which I haven't smoked weed in, oh my gosh, going on 30 years now. So if I, if I did get the munchies though, Clay, I think Reese's Pieces, just like at Halloween, that would be my weakness. I don't know what it is about those. I don't know what they put in them, but Reese's Pieces are like the perfect candy and you can just eat so many of them with a cold glass of milk. I'm, I'm giving myself munchies just talking about it.

[Buck Sexton]

What would be peanut butter cups top number one?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, it's number one. Peanut M&Ms. Yeah, it's Peanut MMS too. I mean, if you're also, if you're looking to put on some weight, let me tell you a couple things. Peanut M&MS. Great. It's a fat and a sugar high, high calorie and they're delicious. You can eat tons of them. Also, if you just melt some ice cream down and kind of drink it like a slurry, you can put away a thousand calories and 100 grams of sugar in no time. So not that I'm recommending that. I'm just saying for a movie role, if you want to put on weight, you could do that. There is, there's a lot of calls, a lot of things we have to get to. And I just, I don't usually do the celebrities pass away thing, but James Van Der Beek just passed away. Dawson of Dawson's Creek, who was apparently a really good dude, actually, you know, like, like outside of his movie roles was just like a good dude. So it's very sad. Only a young guy, 48. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Six kids. Six kids. And for those of you who remember Varsity Blues, one of the all time great football movies ever made, he was Johnny Moxon in that movie, which is still a great watch. And do you feel like that was.

[Clay Travis]

Kind of a Friday Night Lights rip off in some way? Even though it was a good movie, I enjoyed it, or no, it was.

[Buck Sexton]

Before Friday Night Lights really took.

[Clay Travis]

No, I mean the book, the book.

[Buck Sexton]

Was, was out maybe a little bit. I think it was more juvenile than Friday Night Lights. Like bud Buzz Bissinger's Friday Night Lights book is actually a beautiful, you know, sort of reverie of high school football and its impact on Texas. This was just like a really fun teenage high school football movie. Mixed together.

[Clay Travis]

It was the beginning for many of us of that generation of celebrating Ali Larder's whole catalog.

[Buck Sexton]

Whipped cream bikini. One of the great all time scenes in in sports movie history, I have to say. And now she's in Landman and evidently kills it there. All right, we will take a ton of your talkbacks and your emails tomorrow. Remember, you're all mad at Buck. Make sure you address all of the anger to him. I'll be back with you tomorrow.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking.

[Buck Sexton]

Truth and having fun. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Alex Berenson]

Foreign.

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.