🚨 Media's Manufactured Crisis: 'Scromiting' — The Fabricated Story Designed to Fear-Monger Marijuana Use

BETWEEN GA:     The latest term being weaponized in the ongoing, often dishonest, debate over cannabis is "scromiting," a sensationalist slang portmanteau for a medical condition that, while real, is being wildly amplified and distorted by mainstream news outlets to drive a narrow, anti-legalization narrative.

     The stories hitting headlines—complete with dramatic, anecdotal testimonials—present a terrifying, yet fundamentally misleading, picture of a supposed crisis. The reality is that "scromiting" refers to the extreme symptoms of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), a rare condition that is consistently and almost exclusively linked to long-term, heavy, and near-daily cannabis consumption, not casual or even regular use.

     CHS, first identified in 2004, is a disorder where chronic, high-dose exposure to THC paradoxically begins to cause severe, cyclical bouts of nausea, abdominal pain, and intractable vomiting—symptoms so intense they have earned the social media-driven nickname "scromiting" (screaming + vomiting).

     Crucially, the facts being downplayed or ignored by media sensationalism are:

• It’s Not a Casual Risk: Medical literature shows CHS typically develops after years of heavy, chronic use, often multiple times a day. This is a profile of addiction and abuse, not the common experience of millions of responsible cannabis users.
• A Causation, Not a Correlation: While the medical community has established the link—symptoms disappear when use is stopped and return when it resumes—the sensational coverage obscures the fact that the syndrome is still considered rare. The majority of daily users do not develop CHS.
• The 'Crisis' is Overstated: Reports of a "surge" often track with increased overall cannabis use due to legalization and the fact that doctors are now simply better at diagnosing a condition that was previously confused with other cyclical vomiting disorders. An increase in diagnosis and recognition does not automatically equate to a skyrocketing public health crisis among the general population.

     Mainstream media’s feverish adoption of the term "scromiting" reveals a disturbing willingness to abandon nuance in favor of fear-based clickbait. By using a grotesque slang term, outlets replace medical facts with emotional horror, effectively serving as propaganda tools for those opposed to cannabis legalization and cultural acceptance.

     The goal is clear: sensationalize the isolated extreme to discredit the moderate majority.

     This relentless focus on the absolute worst-case scenario—and applying it with an implicit brush to all marijuana use—is a profound disservice to public health:

1. It Undermines Real Education: By screaming about a terrifying but rare event, media drowns out sober discussion on the actual, more common risks of heavy use, such as addiction or anxiety.
2. It Fuels Stigma: The reporting reinforces archaic stereotypes, portraying all cannabis users as one step away from a screaming, vomiting emergency room visit, rather than acknowledging the legitimate use of cannabis for medicine or recreation.
3. It Ignores Context: The rising potency of modern cannabis products is a significant factor in CHS, a nuance that is often lost in the simple, terrifying headline, which is far more about generating eyeballs than informing the public.

     In a world desperate for objective, fact-based reporting, the media's embrace of the "scromiting" narrative is an embarrassing reminder of how low some will stoop to perpetuate a narrow, fear-mongering agenda. It's time to call this narrative what it is: fabrication disguised as news.