In One Statement, Miley Cyrus Takes Down the Worst Argument Against Marijuana

Culture

The news: It's no secret that Miley Cyrus is somewhat of a marijuana enthusiast, but in a new interview, the former Disney star has taken it one step further and made some very insightful points about marijuana, the Internet and our society in the process. 

In an interview with Yahoo!'s "Sunday Night," Cyrus was asked about one of her tattoos, which reads, "Love your brain." Given Cyrus' well-known affinity for pot, interviewer Chris Bath then asked her, "Does it ever bother you that drugs could hurt your brain?"

Cyrus' answer: You can have an issue with marijuana, but social media is way more dangerous, especially for young people.

"Do you know what hurts your brain? Googling yourself. You know what hurts your brain? Instagram. You know what hurts your brain? Sitting there and reading the comments on Facebook," she said. "I have a 14-year-old sister and I go through her comments and people are calling her a slut, and that's a 14-year-old. So I think that's hurting your brain."

"I put pictures of me smoking weed, I'm not going to lie, on my Instagram because I was brought up in the way that we never thought marijuana was bad," Cyrus added. "I don't promote it in my songs or say it, it's not like I'm sitting around telling a bunch of kids to do a bunch of drugs."

And one of those Instagram posts:

She does have a point. While Cyrus' assertion that she doesn't promote drug use is weak at best — she's previously been criticized for publicly extolling the benefits of molly and weed — it is true that the health risks involved with marijuana have not been fully assessed. The limited research that has been conducted suggests excessive pot use can affect brain chemistry, but numerous health benefits have been linked to the drug as well and a steady stream of studies and reports are coming out arguing that marijuana isn't nearly as dangerous as most people believed for many years. 

In the meantime, nearly half of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 have reported being cyberbullied, with around a third of the victims admitting that they had suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. Social media addiction has also been associated with self-esteem and body-image issues. And Facebook oversharing in particular has been linked to signs of depression.

No matter what your personal opinions on Cyrus or marijuana legalization may be, she has a good point here: Cyberbullying and other bad Internet behavior might be just as bad, or even worse, than a bit of weed now and then.