The New York Post had a long piece last week about Zayn Malik and where it all went wrong. Some of the stuff is years-old stale tea, stuff from the One Direction days about how various band members couldn’t stand Zayn. The argument insiders are making now is that Zayn is such a chronic marijana smoker that it’s fundamentally changed his personality. They argue that Zayn has become incredibly paranoid and that paranoia makes him aggressive. Granted, I haven’t smoked pot in years and years, but I never felt aggressive when I was high. I *did* get paranoid a lot though. That’s one of the big reasons why I stopped getting high – I was tired of constantly feeling under threat and like I was hearing sirens. Some highlights from this NY Post piece:
His marijuana use: Close sources told The Post that the singer and former One Direction member has been known to smoke weed to the point that he becomes “aggressive” and “paranoid.”
The chip on Zayn’s shoulder: “Zayn feels like life is out to get him. He genuinely finds it hard to deal with the level of fame he had, and that comes out as if he’s ungrateful and arrogant,” said a music executive who has worked with him. “If he was a bit more open about talking about his issues, I think that people would warm to him.”
He’s always smoked a lot of weed: Malik freely admits it helps the “creative process … if you’re smoking a good weed,” and was seen smoking a joint while on tour with One Direction in South America in 2014. He was seen smoking marijuana in a 6 a.m. Instagram Live this January, prompting fans to wonder whether Khai was in the house. One insider who worked frequently with the band fondly known as 1D told The Post that Malik’s marijuana use got so bad that it made him “paranoid” — and led to former bandmate Harry Styles refusing to share a tour bus and private jet with him.
Zayn’s unhappiness in 1D: “Zayn wasn’t happy in the band, it wasn’t for him,” the insider said. “He didn’t like the whole constantly touring thing and being given a schedule. He was just so difficult that he wouldn’t turn up for stuff, like photo shoots or even gigs. He would block himself in the house, smoking loads of weed, and it made him really unreliable,” added the insider. According to another record executive who worked with the band: “You just didn’t know when Zayn was going to turn up, whether for a recording session or a concert.”
How marijuana affected him: The insider said: “In the beginning, Zayn was quite sweet. He just became a different person. When you are smoking weed to that extent, it really affects you. Zayn became aggressive. He was very aggressive towards the end of the band, having fierce rows with people he worked with. He never takes responsibility for anything — it’s always someone else’s fault.” Malik’s marijuana use “drove a wedge” between him and the other band members, the insider added. “He’d just be on the tour bus [smoking] all the way to the venue. It led Harry to get a separate tour bus with Niall and Liam — Louis would join Zayn. Harry wouldn’t fly with Zayn either.”
Again, I’ll buy the idea that chronic, years-long marijuana use has changed his personality and made him paranoid. Weed really does affect some people that way. But what I don’t buy is that marijuana “made” Zayn aggressive. While this isn’t addressed by the Post’s sources, I wonder if Zayn is combining marijuana with alcohol – if there were alcohol issues combined with constantly being high and paranoid, that might be a better way to partially explain Zayn’s behavior.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Cannabis is a convenient cover for other drugs and alcohol abuse. This is to distract from the real issues.
I think Zayn is dipping into the harder stuff, personally… there have been rumors along those lines for a while, and this seems to corroborate..:
This is my opinion too.
I bet he will be going to rehab soon.
Seriously! Came here to talk about the evil “marijuana,” which is apparently what people who have never done drugs call all drugs. If this dude is getting aggressive on plain ol’ weed, he has deeper mental issues and should try medication. Too bad he self-medicates like shit.
In my group of friends there’s a lot of marijuana use and one of our friends just got so paranoid and weird that we had an intervention for him to cut down on his use. I think it doesn’t happen a lot, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen at all.
really, he should try therapy. I know people who smoke a bowl at least every morning and evening and aren’t remotely aggressive.
Whatever he’s ingesting isn’t good for him. He needs rehab and probably long term therapy, he has a child to think about. Past time to get his life in order.
Agreed. After working with a lot of serious addicts with MH, I do think marijuana can be a huge problem for some people. It can interfere with mental health meds and *judgement*. Or it’s an indication someone was already off their meds and experiencing distorted thoughts/behaviors.
Once someone tested positive for MJ, I pretty much knew it was gonna be positive for something harder the following week, then awol, then arrest. Pretty much like clockwork. Now that Zayne is criminal-justice-involved, he really has to get sober or he’s going to risk getting stuck in that endless cycle of violating probation and re-arrest.
I agree… yes, high doses can cause paranoia, but aggression? If he’s smoking that much weed, he’s probably crossing with something else.
He’s definitely into harder stuff than marijuana. Definitely.
The devil lettuce!
Yeah or he has super high anxiety that pot just won’t cover.
Different strains if marijuana have different effects, so it’s possible that it made him more aggressive. Either way, he needs to get sober if he’s going to try to deal with the issues that got him here.
Starins of weed are more like wine varieties-a merlot and a rose will taste different but still get you drunk. No strain will make you hulk out. Pot is known to trigger mental health issues in people that already had them but it wont create them. My money is onhim abusing xanax or something else in combination with pot
Yeah there’s no such thing as a very strong strain of weed that’ll make you aggressive but there are aggressive people that smoke a lot of weed. Weed can trigger mental health issues in some people, but it won’t make you a jackass. I still believe other drugs are involved and that he has a crap personality.
Agreed. People with existing mental health issues may react differently to certain strains, but the issues must have been there to begin with. He needs help to address his mental health and his aggressive behaviour. Denial is not a good first step.
Chronic use of marijuana alters the part of the brain that regulates emotion. It’s very possible it is the cause of his aggression.
A friendo f the family also got quite paranoid. He was a very mellow person, but really had bags of the stuff. He is rich and is literally smoking his inheritance away with hangers on.
Some people can function, maybe personal responsibility has a lot to do with resisting the addiction impulse of smoking any time you can.
…that’s not how pot works.
@ Eenie Googlesk those are my thoughts too, though I am not a MH or addiction professional. In my day, we had clean, organic home grown weed with zero added drugs. I never became paranoid from weed. Now other drugs yes, cocaine which I loved but then hated. My ex dealt it and he would cut it a little more. This was over 35+ years ago. Hell, look at Willie Nelson! The national face of weed!!
People talking about Zayn being paranoid and problems in dealing with how fame affected him emotionally are all symptoms of something, besides weed. He was apparently self medicating without searching for proper treatment. The best thing he can do for himself, is to seek treatment. But he has to do it on his own, no one else can do it for him or make him want to do the work.
Ironically, K2, or “synthetic weed,” definitely makes people hulk out. I put that in quotes because chemically it really isn’t similar to weed at all.
Yes—you are right! and kids sometimes do not realize that. Not that he is a kid, but I do know kids who will argue that the synthetic stuff is the same as weed.
Yeah it makes me really crazy that they call K2/Spice “weed” or “marijuana” because that is a dangerous connection to suggest. Young people who don’t know better but can get their hands on that garbage at a bodega or something might think it’s not as bad as it is. K2 Spice is extremely dangerous and probably causing a lot more problems than we realize at this point. I have no idea who initially made drew this parallel but I wish everyone knew that those two things are nothing alike.
In reality I think since MJ is legal it makes a better substance to blame than alcohol, when in reality its something much harder
from what little i’ve read (which is, as i said, small and possibly skimmed is more accurate than read), it has to do with levels of thc vs levels of cbd? some pot strains have more of one than the other, or block more of one than the other-and human endocannabinoid receptors can operate the same way (allowing one or the other in more or less than the other). it does seem to effect people with preexisting conditions, but there does seem to be some truth in the claims. but it all sounds pretty rare, overall, too and this whole thing honestly sounds like people trying to excuse his issues.
Yeah, different strains can affect specific individuals differently–any person can have adverse reactions to any substance, regardless of underlying mental health issues. And with current strains having much higher THC levels, and legalization resulting in easier access (home delivery really became popular during lockdown!), ER’s are seeing a rise in pot-related admits. Yes, adding in other substances exacerbates this, but my colleagues who specialize in substance abuse disorders tell me that this aggression/anger response is A Thing.
Weed ‘may’ have impacted him in some way, I’ll buy that, but marijuana has long been demonized as ‘changing’ people, when in reality to make it that dangerous it would normally need to be laced with something. Some people react badly to a lot of drugs, that doesn’t make the drug an all-out excuse to behave this way. It sounds like he was smoking something else.
If he’s self medicating anxiety with pot and the kind he’s getting isn’t right for anxiety, I could see this happening. Particularly, as Izzy says, if combined with alcohol.
I believe he’s always self medicated his anxiety. He’s had it going all the way back to XFactor. Simon Cowell even had to coax him back on stage at one point. I think he’s a creative soul but never had the constitution for the level of fame he reached. He smoked pot (and probably drank heavily) to get himself through it. He definitely needs rehab and a ton of therapy. And if he truly loves music, then maybe he should retreat to behind the scenes and become a songwriter and producer. Because fame doesn’t suit him at all.
Spot on analysis
Yes yes yes
Agree. I’ve had anxiety for about a decade. I started out self medicating with alcohol and Marijuana (pre medical card). I never got violent but it also didn’t help at the end of the day. I finally cut back booze, got on an anti anxiety and picked out a weed at a dispensary geared towards anxiety and insomnia. Its made all the difference. It sounds like he needs to consult with a doctor to find what’s best for him.
I was coming here to say this. It sounds like he’s having problems and attempting to self-medicate and it either isn’t working or making it worse.
If the marijuana was making him paranoid, I can see that translating into aggressive if he is interpreting things differently.
Like take the recent story about Yolanda coming to the house where he assaulted her – if he is convinced that Yolanda is trying to steal his baby and never let him see her again, then he’s going to lash out and protect himself and his child from this potential kidnapper.
(please note I’m not saying that’s what happened or defending him, just going for an easy example of how being paranoid could lead to being aggressive.)
My college best friend would get VERY paranoid after smoking even a little bit of weed (like she would become convinced we were trying to hurt or kill her) so you know what? After a few bad incidents she stopped smoking weed entirely because she knew she processed it differently than other people.
We also have a neighbor and good friend who is a “chronic marijuana user” to put it mildly and yeah, lets just say I don’t blame Harry et al for refusing to travel with Zayn.
Yeah, it’s not the Marijuana. He’s probably on something more potent but that being said, the piece had so many dog whistles in it I can’t totally get on board with what was reported. Not disputing that he has problems, everybody who goes through the Simon Cowell machine ends up with issues, but the reporting on Zayn has always been problematic. I hope he can find peace with himself.
I agree it’s not the pot; it tends to zap ambition but doesn’t cause aggression. He’s adding to the mix. Booze, speed, something.
Claiming cannabis caused you to become an irrationally paranoid and violent person must be the new “exhaustion” reason for celebs PR to preempt rehab visits.
My dad smoked a LOT of weed during my childhood and adolescence and he was incredibly belligerent when he was stoned. It completely ruined my relationship with him and contributed to my parents’ divorce. The effects on Zayn sound plausible to me – and I feel sorry for those around him.
This NY Post piece sounds like PR from the Hadid family. When was the last time anybody saw an agressive stoner???
or possibly PR from his side trying to set up his defense in court.
NYP is a bird cage liner level paper.
He already plead guilty though. How exactly would the allegation that he’s a violent, excessive marijuana user help his defense?
I’d buy this. Weed making people paranoid- sure. Aggressive? On its own? Incredibly rare.
But if they admit he does more, coke, pills, etc. it is a tacit admission that Gigi also probably did those to some degree. Probably less to none now that she has a baby, but they probably partied together a lot in their on and off volatile relationship.
Models doing cocaine is a fairly common occurrence.
Sounds to me like they’re putting out stuff to use in a custody case against him.
It’s not weed. Sure, he may use marijuana from time to time, but weed is only an option from what is clearly a more robust catalogue of illicit options. The clear PR admission of marijuana use is simply there to cover up larger issues. Either he is on meds for his mental health issues or should be on them, either way, this is the kind of man who will never take personal responsibility for his actions.
It is incredibly unlikely that marijuana is making him aggressive. Much more likely that he has underlying mental health issues that he’s masking/“medicating” with marijuana and/or other substances. Demonizing of marijuana smoking has been a racist dog whistle for more than a century and this article sounds like more of the same.
Took the words out of my mouth.
Drug addiction is a mental health disorder, as well, not a personal failure.
ITA.
TMI I’m a long term pot user (I medicate for chronic pain & mental health). Marijuana hasn’t made me prone paranoia or aggressive outbursts. However, I had an ex who would punch bedroom walls out of frustration when he had smoked all his weed and couldn’t get more immediately. Weed smoking wasn’t the cause of that behaviour. His unaddressed childhood trauma and avoidance of therapy was the cause of his outbursts.
DV is widely misunderstood AND racism against Arabs is very normalised. Which means that very few media outlets are capable of doing honest & ethical reporting on this situation. It was full of racist dog whistles regarding Zayn AND weird asides about Gigi & Yolanda. How is the cause of Yolanda’s divorce with David relevant to her being pushed into a dresser by another man? Why include a photo of Gigi & Trisha Malik when the article wasn’t about her relationship with her mother in law? And Trisha wasn’t even present when Zayn assaulted Yolanda.
The whole thing read as a gleeful takedown of Arabic man who is struggling publicly and whose music isn’t selling. Because he’s abusive and that’s on public record the reporter used that as an excuse to engage with petty gossip & their unconscious biases surfaced re: racism & disbelieving DV survivors. I’m interested in analysis of the societal factors that enable abuse, how we can support survivors and how we can hold abusers accountable so that the abuse stops. Unfortunately article was snide, petty & poorly researched so I learnt nothing from reading it.
Just to clarify… Zayn is actually half Pakistani (not Arab) and Gigi is half Arab (Palestinian).
@ Le Nugget Fair clarification. Zayn is a British Pakistani man, Gigi is a white passing Palestinian womxn and both publicly identify as Muslim so my wider point still stands. Islamphobia plus bigotry towards Middle Eastern people and Arabs sky rocketed as a result of the Bush Administration’s war crimes. That lead to a dramatic uptick in hate crimes.
Domestic violence is a nuanced issue that can escalate to the point of murder if the abuser is left unchecked and allowed to get away with their toxic behaviour… so I’m interested in an analysis of how this situation has been publicly perceived and how those perceptions are influenced by the Eurocentric patriarchy.
A long form piece like that requires a writer who is good at research and well versed in those issues. It also requires a media outlet investing in that writer and giving them time to craft their article… So that’s probably not going to happen.
Even commenters here have been victim blaming Yolanda. The only reason I still click on articles about it is because Kaiser is giving sensible commentary & some of the commenters are insightful.
She’s white not white passing. Arabs can be white, too. Most of us from the Mashriq consider ourselves white. Islamophobia may be at play, but not racism wrt Gigi: she’s a white woman.
Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment is very strong in the U.S. I honestly believe that is used (in tandem with racism and colorism) to exclude Arabic and Muslim peoples from the privileges of white citizenship.
Whiteness is not (or not only) a skin color. It is a political function of colonial exploitation. In this understanding, Arab people could never be white as a political status simply because they aren’t European.
Furthermore, Gigi’s dad is a brown-skinned Palestinian man with an obviously Muslim name, Mohamed. That’s her family and she uses his last name Hadid as well. How do you presume to say for another woman what her heritage or ethnic identity is or how she relates to her own family? She can speak for herself and decide for herself. Don’t just say “she’s white” when she has never said that.
I was coming here to say this. He most likely has an underlying mental health issue that’s worsening and he’s using more weed to self medicate. He really needs therapy and the still to face his issues had on.
Any English Celebitches with Pakistani heritage know about the culture around mental health?
Agree 100%
I’ve known some aggressive, messy stoners: they were also taking tons of pills – snorting adhd meds, popping anti-anxiety pills and smoking tons of pot to deal with the edginess and sleeplessness from the Aderall, taking opiate painkillers on top of it because they feel like shit all the time. Bad news. I’m not saying Zayn is on this track but I think it’s clear it’s not just weed
Drugs exacerbate underlying MH issues so let’s not use the weed as an excuse for his behaviour. These issues with his behaviour have always been there – he needs to take responsibility for it and seek professional help instead of self medicating. I would also call out what is being unspoken here – he is clearly using harder stuff than high grade weed.
As I have said on here many times – you can have MH issues and be an a$$hole at the same time.
Just lol forever on the weed making him agressive.
Either his team wrote this to hide harder drug use, or some Karen who doesn’t know anything about drugs and warns her kids that taking even one marijuana could make them homeless.
And this is what’s frustrating. We recognize that shopping, gambling, and online activity can all be addictive, but when someone smokes MJ, we act like it couldn’t possibly be an issue.
Not a Karen, have attended Al Anon/Narc Anon meetings to deal with a family member’s behavioral issues related to weed.
Thank you. Same here. For some people, it can be a psychologically addictive substance, and if he is focusing his life around it in an unhealthy way there is no difference with alcoholism.
It’s most likely another drug or medication he’s on, and/or his own psychological issues, but it is easy to blame marijuana because it is so demonized in this country to use cannabis.
Zayn is a violent abuser, and his team has unwisely decided to use the racist connotations of marijuana to try to pretend it’s not his fault.
Domestic violence offenders often have addiction issues so he may have a weed problem. He is probably self medicating himself because he is clearly a very troubled man.
But anecdotally, I know abusers love to blame the fact that they assault woman on their addiction which is a lame attempt to distance themselves from their actions and is a sign they aren’t taking personal responsibility for their abusive conduct. They say things like, “I’m not a domestic abuser – I just have drinking problem. I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t high!” Zayn doesn’t abuse because he lost control of himself when he is high – abuse is almost always a power/control issue over the other person/people.. People get high every day without assaulting their in laws. I believe he assaulted Gigi’s mother to exert power and control of Gigi. He wanted to show Gigi that she has no control over her baby’s environment and that HE calls the shots, and look how he can do whatever he wants when she is gone working. I really think Zayn assaulting her mother, calling her screaming while she was working one of her first gigs back after the baby was a huge attempt to sabotage Gigi’s gig and force her to come back to him.
Sorry Zayn – get into rehab, get into therapy, admit you have a violence problem and start making amends.
Paranoia I can buy. Aggressive from smoking pot? No. I’m betting he is mixing his weed with something else (alcohol or prescription drugs). He has always suffered from crippling anxiety, he makes music but won’t tour because of it. I think that he needs intensive therapy because he has always had horrible anxiety. I deal with crippling depression and anxiety and I feel for him in this way. But he needs help and only he can be the one to get it.
Not sure why everyone is defending weed like it can’t possibly have a part in this. It’s been acknowledged that heavy, years long use of weed can cause personality changes. If it has enough actives to change your state of mind one way, it’s not exactly surprising that it can have a paradoxical effect the other way with an excess.
Or, look at it this way: Benadryl puts most people to sleep. In some people it has a paradoxical effect making people energetic and hyperactive.
Agree Betsy. Long term, chronic use of marijuana, especially in the young, has a known association for certain forms of psychosis and schizophrenia. So while it may not itself make you aggressive, it could serve as a trigger underlying issues in some. Also the current strains of marijuana can often have much higher THC. So it’s not the same as strains used for medicinal use or the strains we smoked in college.
Some one up thread mentioned all marijuana being like wine- it’s more akin to wine vs 100 proof whisky.
Exactly. Some of the sativa strains today are so strong that they can cause paranoia and anxiety in someone who has a predisposition to suffer from these issues under normal circumstances. If he’s combining excessive MJ smoking with uppers and downers, or other self-medicating substances, he’d best get himself into therapy ASAP.
I’ve smoked for 30 years, and I’ve led an active, fruitful, and creative life with no incidents of violence. From my experience, people who smoke a LOT of weed go to sleep.
People defend marijuana because it is much less harmful for the body and the personality than alcohol; because for those with anxiety, it is a life-saver; because its history is a record of racism and propaganda; because dependency on it is rare.
Zayne’s problems are mental and emotional. They are probably exacerbated by drug use, but “strong marijuana” is code for marijuana cut with something else, and the something else is the likeliest reason for enabling him to act out aggressively. It is so unlikely to be marijuana that lots of commenters felt compelled to say so.
Agree. I’ve been an occasional pot smoker since my teens and am now 69 — never had a paranoid reaction from it, quite the opposite. He’s clearly using a LOT more than pot which is exacerbating an existing MH condition.
Physical violence against womxn (and like people in general) is never okay. The common denominator in any abusive relationship is the abuser. Sober or intoxicated they will target their victims and abuse them. If they lose access to their current victim they will find another one. The only way to end the cycle is for the abuser to face their choices, take accountability, seek professional help and work consistently on self improvement.
Marijuana (strong or otherwise) isn’t the root cause of Zayn’s issues. If he’s self medicating without therapy than ‘strong marijuana’ is just a manifestation of his underlying issues. Assuming he’s addicted than that complicates quitting drugs. BUT I know plenty of addicts that aren’t abusive and loads of sober men that are shameless predators. Correlation is not the same as causation.
Marijuana becoming illegal was due mostly to racism and has lead to mass incarceration. I think it’s pretty reasonable to question the intentions behind blaming Zayn’s choices on marijuana. *Especially* given that this excuse is coming from second hand sources not directly from him.
I do love weed but that’d still be my perspective even if I didn’t.
Post in wrong place.
I didn’t say Zayn wasn’t at fault.
Could you point me to the studies that show long term use causes personality changes?
That doesn’t match my knowledge of the impacts of chronic cannabis use and id like to learn more.
Studies have shown that chronic pot use is associated with brain alterations in regions linked to memory and decision processing. Other issues such as an increased heart rate for up to three hours after smoking can raise the risk of heart attack. Periods of intense vomiting, called cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, can also happen. Here’s a link to one of the studies: https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201467
Interestingly enough, a very dear friend of mine who was a long-term, heavy pot smoker was experiencing some cognitive difficulties for years — forgetting what she was talking about, meandering conversations that didn’t make sense, etc. She recently died of a heart attack in her sleep after several years of heart problems. She had also developed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and would have periods of severe indigestion and vomiting. I’m not saying it was the pot smoking that caused her death — she was a generally unhealthy person who didn’t eat properly, didn’t exercise and drank too much, but I do believe it contributed to her demise.
Yeah, no.
He’s an excessive pot user who is ALSO aggressive and paranoid.
Psych, here. I have seen all sorts of reactions to Marijuana. We do a ton of genetic testing and I can often pick out COMT enzyme variants now based on response to Marijuana. The thing that sucks is well meaning people will advocate for it to their depressed friends and (just like any substance) it’s not a one size fits all thing. Individual neurochemistry is so unique.
well said!
@Mle428. It’s good to have a professional & a scientific POV and your comment is the most logical I’ve read thus far. Thank you
Thank you, Sudie and Jules.
Why all this defense of Weed. It made my husband an incredible asshole when he was smoking. He stopped and his personality returned. Yup weed can make folks ugly.
Because people are really tied to defending it for a number of reasons. I have a friend who partakes way too heavily at times and she has a noticeable change in personality when she is using. It’s not the devil that it was made out to be, but it’s not innocuous, either.
More like chronic heroin use…
“He genuinely finds it hard to deal with the level of fame he had, and that comes out as if he’s ungrateful and arrogant” – actually, he does sound ungrateful and arrogant. He sounds like a self-obsessed pr*ck.
Weed makes my husband calmer, but my one experience was horrible: I felt like my heart was going to explode, and I was shaking violently until it wore off. My husband wanted to take me to the ER, I looked so bad. Like many drugs it affects people differently.
But it won’t make you shove people into walls and call them sl*ts and so on: this has to be already there.
Sorry I think he uses harder stuff and the weed is a cover. People can’t deny he uses so they say weed because it’s more socially acceptable.
I feel like I have heard about him associated with heroin for a long time. Maybe I’m wrong?
You are not wrong, I have read that too multiple times over the years.
Everybody saying they or someone they know doesn’t get aggressive on weed doesn’t mean that every single person just mellows out on weed. It really depends on the individual. Weed can cause anger and paranoia in some people. (It can also cause psychosis in people with pre existing mental health issues but thats another matter). I think this isn’t just tied to drugs its tied to his mental health. Instead of going to therapy and getting the help he needs he seems to be self medicating.
I have never met a single person who was aggressive after marijuana and only marijuana use. Not in 30 years.
Meanwhile, alcohol has proven severely damaging to the body, and is a frequent element in social violence. Yet many people enjoy a glass of wine or a beer at the end of the day or at dinner, and no one is clutching their pearls about it.
Marijuana has been vilified for the last 70 years or so because it was associated with the cultures of people of color.
Merricat – just because you haven’t experienced it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s happened to me if I smoke too much all day and I’ve seen it happen to a couple of others.
@Merricat – no, alcohol in moderation has a protective benefit for most people. I don’t drink, for what it’s worth, but unless a person has an addiction or drinks to excess, it’s beneficial for adults.
@Betsy not disagreeing that some types of alcohol can have some positive health benefits, but overall, even modest consumption of one alcoholic drink per day is associated with increased risk of multiple types of cancers, including breast cancer.
@betsy I believe the World Health Organization revised the notion that drinking alcohol (even in moderation) promotes health.
The latest review of research literature compelled the WHO to conclude that any ‘protective’ benefits from moderate amounts of alcohol consumption are arguably negated by the increase in cancer risks. (Though, guidelines might have again changed since I read this?)
Lol, we’re talking percentages. MOST people are not aggressive while under the influence of marijuana. It doesn’t light up those parts of the brain. And Betsy, that is the point–MOST people who smoke, do so in moderation, and it is not a problem, just as moderate alcohol use is not a problem.
I object to a the vilification of marijuana, which has its roots in racism. I object to the characterization of it as a drug that provokes violent reaction, because it DOES NOT in the vast MAJORITY of people.
SOME people have a violent reaction to peanuts.
Sounds like they’re trying out the “Reefer Madness” angle but I suspect he’s mixing in other substances, and dealing with an unaddressed mental health disorder.
I bet you it’s skunk, not weed. That being said I remember reading a blind about him really being into heroin.
IT. IS. CO. CAINE.
It’s not about the pasta!!!!
I went to school with 3 kids who ended up in psychiatric facilities due to a combination of paranoia from chronic marijuana use and underlying psychiatric issues. Obviously the psychiatric issues were the main cause and the increased paranoia pushed them over since the rest of my school were like Spicoli in Fast Times. Perhaps Zayne is similar. Maybe he’s smoking stuff laced with angel dust. Who knows? He has issues and needs help. End of story.
Are they saying its… Reefer Madness?!?
Weed just made me laugh a lot and want Doritos. I’d laugh at the dumbest shit – road signs were hilarious, so were cars.
I don’t think his problem is weed alone. It sounds like there are underlying issues and he’s self-medicating. Weed, alcohol plus whatever else and other issues?? There you go.
Pot can cause aggression, it’s rare but happens. No drug is perfectly harmless. Zayn has also had struggles with harder drugs, so I wouldn’t be surprised. This situation can be both/and.
When I was a regular pot smoker all I did was eat and watch Clue on repeat. And when I did it with friends it was the same thing and just constant laugher and really horrible philosophy conversations (looking back, yeah, we were dumb 😀).
But like others have said, everyone is different.
I don’t think weed is the issue. The main issue seems to be mental health issues that he is using weed to self medicate. He obviously struggles with anxiety and possibly more. I hope he decides to see someone about it to get proper help.
Yes-this exactly. The weed is an issue only insofar as he’s using it to attempt to address symptoms of larger mental health issues at play. Hopefully he has the clarity to acknowledge this is an unsuccessful strategy.
Cannabis used to make my ex paranoid but also very irritable, emotional and aggressive. This is why I had to break up with him. I agree with those saying that weed can interact badly with folks who already have mental health issues they are dealing with. We just legalized it in Canada which is great, but as a society we need to be willing to talk about how cannabis is not the best for many people.
People acting like weed doesn’t mess with your brain in the LR just don’t want to call a spade a spade.
Yeah, let’s stick with the story that he’s violent because of weed. That’s literally the dumbest thing to come out of this entire affair. Unless weed is code for opiates and/or speed, this is an outrageous headline only meant to gain clicks.
Weed can trigger Psychosis and Schizophrenia in people who are pre-disposed. This means you could be fine until something in your environment triggers your mental illness. Weed Is that environmental trigger in some.
This isn’t to say that Malick is not responsible for his actions but that we should have nuanced conversation about the effects of weed bcz everyone is different. Saying that weed can never be bad for anyone is engaging in disinformation. Stating opinions as facts can be harmful even if we don’t mean it to be.
Regardless of what Malick is using, he needs to get help. I doubt most victims care if it’s weed, heroine, alcohol, or just plain oxygen that made you shove them into dresser.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/teens-who-smoke-pot-at-risk-for-later-schizophrenia-psychosis-201103071676
Every behavior has a “reason” & humans are story-tellers. So weed might make one person paranoid, & that paranoia might cause them to lash out (like a cornered dog). & other people might be just fine on MJ.
It doesn’t seem to be doing him any good at this point, so maybe he should try something else, like therapy?
As an aside, I’m not surprised that constant smoking (of anything) was something Harry Styles didn’t want to be around, since he has a real case of asthma.
Here’s a thought: maybe he is just an arsehole
I know ZERO individuals that become “aggressive” when they partake in weed. That is absurd. People can become aggressive when its coupled with something else, though. The story doesn’t say thattt…
We I’m guessing you didn’t know my ex husband — not physically aggressive but screaming, ranting, berating by the hour, and paranoid to the point of psychosis. He didn’t use other drugs and rarely drank alcohol.
This behavior developed after about 10 years of daily use (homegrown, no additives) and has gotten worse over time.
I have spent many years around people who smoke all day everyday. The only time they get “aggressive” is when they havent smoked. That being said when I say aggressive I mean irritable and quick tempered bc they havent smoked yet. Many people are chronic potheads who dont get violent with others. This is just another excuse by Zayn’s team to deflect from his behavior. This shouldnt be an arguement about weather pot makes you aggressive, this should be a discussion about an adult man, a father who is still making excuses for his violence.
I hope he gets clean and back to good health. He used to be so handsome. He’s still good looking but he has a look about him of someone who does hard drugs. . I don’t know if that’s true just my opinion. I used to work with a kid who did “casual” drug use. Some people can some can’t. He started looking like Zayn does here. I told someone I think he’s addicted which I shouldn’t have but I meant it in a concerned way. They said no, I don’t think he’s addicted. A couple of months later, he got Caught and fired for stealing money. Sad 😥
I still think all his future stories will be to exculpate him from his behavior. “It wasn’t his fault.” But you know what? It was.
Yeah. The “he never takes responsibility for anything — it’s always someone else’s fault” part stands out, because a lot of people have been telling him different versions of that since this story broke too. When you’re a female you’re most certainly responsible for your own reactions AND expected to take on responsibility for other people’s behavior almost all of the time. Sometimes pitch, gesture, attire, presence, or facial expression can be enough to make the female ‘just as bad’ in these situations.
Snoop dogg is never violent. He is really mellow. So thos theory, drugs made him violence is void
The whole cast of players in this drama are screwed up. Sad and dangerous for their baby.