There's a very interesting form of classism in the general cannabis community that's using holistic rhetoric and “nature” as a means to establish a clear line between a “real stoner” and a “mid-smoker”. This language is clearly our stoner equivalent of who the “haves” and the “have nots” are. Many people are so entrenched in this culture of “real stoners” and “mid-smokers” that many self-proclaimed purists will outright refuse any weed they deem “too mid”. Even the language of “mid-smoker” is an insult directly linked to classism - “mid-smokers” are people who cannot afford the most expensive and nice weed - AKA the majority of people. The average person.
Just to get this out of the way: Not everything that is natural is safe. However, it is a common belief that stoners will say to you in justification as to why traditional flower and weed extracts are “safe” compared to other drugs and why they are safer than a cannabinoid synthed from CBGa like D8. To shut this argument down right away, allow me to make a small list of things that disprove it: Cyanide, sharks, poison dart frogs, borotoxin.
It seems to me that this is an inauthentic belief, (or at the very least, an ignorant one). By this I mean it is a belief that the stereotypical “real stoner” turns on and off at will to enforce their position within this system. The person making this argument assuredly does not believe natural things are safer all the time in actuality. If you were to ask this same person if they want to smoke some poison ivy they will assuredly turn their belief that natural things are safe off pretty quickly.
To look into the more holistic-style class enforcement I’ve seen, much of it argues from a place of things like D8, HHC, and sometimes extract in general “not being what the plant is about”. This is not a position you can logically argue with. The belief that a plant can be “about” anything other than being itself is based on nothing - and, in my opinion, shows an example of the intense amount of human arrogance within us. To believe we can perceive a plants true will and wants is to claim to be god.
Many stoners will outright refuse free and perfectly good weed or concentrate that they declare “mids”. This is interesting to me because it seems that in a situation like this the “real stoner” is now choosing to refuse themselves the very thing the culture is about in order to ensure their place in the hierarchy. There is also a real social cost the “real stoner” is choosing to take on here, as this is a move that is hard to read as anything other than posturing that the “real stoner” is measurably better than the person offering the weed, both in savvy and terms of cash. All in the name of maintaining that feeling of superiority.
This turns what should have been a kind thing from one friend to another into a contest. In my opinion, this is not behavior a good friend exhibits, yet with the mask of holistic claims and natural = good, it is harder to recognize and much easier to get away with. It can easily seem like the person who just ruined the situation is just "defending nature" and the "true purpose of the plant".
Basically, smoke your mids, they make WAY more sense price-wise, and be nicer to your friends and their situation.