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Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

cee.lse.ac.uk

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Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#91

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

sv123 wrote: post #83
a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That simply doesn't happen in America. Cannabis is de facto legal throughout the USA. I repeat: marijuana is in practice legal in America, and all these people talking about drug charges ruining lives don't know what they're talking about. The only way you get serious charges or any jail time at all for marijuana in America is when you've been arrested for serious crimes, but a District Attorney goes with "possession…

You are misinformed, there were over 700,000 arrests made for marijuana last year. Even without jail time, a possession charge can have serious consequences for young people. Being ineligible for federal financial aid, losing your job, and losing public benefits just to name a few. Imagine what better things our police officers could be doing if they didn't have to churn a kid through the system every 51 seconds.

You don't get it. Those people get hit with narcotics charges because the cops and D.A. know exactly who they are and the long list of other crimes they've committed.

People who simply use or sell some marijuana and that's the extent of their "illegal" activity, they don't wind up in prison. Doesn't happen.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#92

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

wmeredith wrote: post #86
a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That simply doesn't happen in America. Cannabis is de facto legal throughout the USA. I repeat: marijuana is in practice legal in America, and all these people talking about drug charges ruining lives don't know what they're talking about. The only way you get serious charges or any jail time at all for marijuana in America is when you've been arrested for serious crimes, but a District Attorney goes with "possession…

This is pure disinformation. I was arrested for possession of marijuana in college. There was no other charge, there was no other crime. I was a white middle class male stopped in a middle class suburb of a smallish college town in the midwest.

You got a small fine. At no point were you at any risk of facing incarceration. You were also probably doing something stupid and very annoying like stinking up the floor in a dormitory. This illustrates how the drug laws in practice work.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#93

Post by simonster »

dubhrosa wrote: post #17
_98fj wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes conversations about this very confusing is the fact that neurotransmitters and "chemical imbalances" cannot be seen in isolation. What we are talking about is signalling inside particular structures. Changes in signalling over time effect changes in structure, just like different behaviour does. (actually different behaviour IS change in signalling) Thus it's no wonder that psychiatric drugs have so many u…

Genuine question: has there been any study that actually measured the "levels" of neurotransmitters in the brain and correlated them with the subjects' behavior? Has there been any study that actually demonstrates what the normal levels of these chemicals are in adults and children, and what the normal range is, and what environmental and nutritional factors can influence them? I ask because I constantly hear the "ch…

This is possible and I'd be surprised if no one has done it. The methodology is to inject subjects with a mildly radioactive drug that has a lower binding affinity for a given receptor than the endogenous ligand (e.g. [11C]raclopride for dopamine receptor occupancy) and then measure how much of this drug is bound to the receptor using PET. If more of the drug is bound, then the level of the endogenous ligand is lower. I don't know much of the literature here, but the technique is well-established and should be substantially more accurate than anything that measures urine or saliva.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#94

Post by duaneb »

acomjean wrote: post #46

I think things like drugs and alcohol are worse for growing brains. From a NYC teacher (One reference point) "I’ve taught high school for 25 years and I hate what marijuana does to my students. It goes beyond missing homework assignments. My students become less curious when they start smoking pot. I’ve seen it time and time again. People say pot makes you more creative, but from what I’ve seen, it narrows my student…

I think this is a phase. It doesn't last past a few years. Marijuana becomes boring for people, just like other things.

Alcohol is far worse because you can become dependent on it in a way marijuana doesn't really allow.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#95

Post by pmoriarty »

compbio wrote: post #48

As this is framed more as the results of a policy change, there are some things to consider when banning weed: - Street sales to tourists and foreigners exploded. Small-time dealers reported weekly income of 2k Euros during the prohibition. - Dutch teenagers use less weed than German, UK and Belgian teens. Legal availability seems inversely correlated with actual use. - In France there is no clear distinction between…

Or consider how shitty music would be if musicians did not have access to pot, psychedelics, and various other currently illegal drugs.

If you like virtually any 20th or 21st century popular music, you are greatly indebted to drugs.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#96

Post by pmoriarty »

ludamad wrote: post #66
willholloway wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this teacher should take this as an opportunity to examine what it is he, and the institution he works for is offering these students as an alternative, and consider the students are making rational choices that serve them better. We know from the Rat Park study that rats in an enriched environment full of positive social engagement and freedom do not choose morphine. [1] If the students are choosing drugs, i…

Frankly I'm very skeptical about the idea that people don't use drugs when fulfilled. There's always stress in modern life, and drugs are always attractive at some level

It's not just about dealing with stress. Some drugs offer transcendence, others escape, some enhanced creativity, or the potential to learn more about yourself or the world around you, or a greater bonding with people you love, or greater tolerance, understanding, and empathy, yet others are self-destructive.

A lot depends on who the user is, what assumptions, pre-conceptions, and goals they have, how and where they use the drug, and which drug it is.

Sure, some may use a drug for stress relief or to party, but others use them to expand their mind.

Unfortunately, escapist, ignorant, and self-destructive uses are all too common in modern societies. It doesn't have to be that way.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#97

Post by pmoriarty »

DarkContinent wrote: post #35

The real concern with this study is not the possible negative effects of marijuana (which are already known) but the moral correctness of its legalization. I personally have not and never will smoke pot, but that doesn't mean I support the continuing ban in America. Everyone has the right to determine his own destiny, and if engaging in personally (but not socially) destructive behaviors like smoking pot is a person'…

Never say never.

I was very anti-drug when I was young, due to being very trusting of the tons of anti-drug propaganda I was fed, and my lack of knowledge about drugs.

As I learned more about them I found out that they were not necessarily so evil and their users not so stupid as I'd been taught. In fact, there were some brilliant users and advocates of drugs, and their effects could be quite interesting and useful. That included pot.

Eventually, my attitude towards drugs turned almost 180 degrees. Now I recognize that currently illegal drugs have benefits and drawbacks. Some of them (psychedelics in particular) have quite amazing benefits. A lot depends on who uses them, with what knowledge, mind-set, and intention, and how they are used.

It's possible to have respectful, constructive, and beneficial use of drugs. That's something the laws and most mainstream society do not yet recognize. To them all use is abuse. I believe that's a mistake. Scientific research on psychedelics is bearing this out. Barring another major conservative backlash against drugs (which is still quite possible), there may be a positive sea-change of attitudes towards drugs in the not-so-distant future.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#98

Post by AC__ »

wavefunction wrote: post #79
AC__ wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see the truth isn't popular today.

Well, you did mention a number of organizations that are strongly associated with conspiracy theories of various sorts. I upvoted your post because I agree that the freedoms we are offered is limited to a set of options deemed acceptable by un-elected and un-representative authorities.

That is where we are as a society now? Discussing the influence of global organizations on sovereignty is consider conspiracy theory? Every organization I've mentioned has publicly stated mandates, far from conspiracy theory.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#99

Post by pakled_engineer »

andrepd wrote: post #57
DarkContinent wrote: post #35

The real concern with this study is not the possible negative effects of marijuana (which are already known) but the moral correctness of its legalization. I personally have not and never will smoke pot, but that doesn't mean I support the continuing ban in America. Everyone has the right to determine his own destiny, and if engaging in personally (but not socially) destructive behaviors like smoking pot is a person'…

Would you extend that reasoning to heroin, for instance?

It's already handed out to addicts for free where I live. Immediate benefit was discovering weening people off heroin with heroin works much better than methadone, throngs of violent street dealers disappeared, no more seeing countless people sprawled out in alleys shooting up either.

Re: Cannabis Access and Academic Performance

#100

Post by stephengillie »

pmoriarty wrote: post #95
compbio wrote: post #48

As this is framed more as the results of a policy change, there are some things to consider when banning weed: - Street sales to tourists and foreigners exploded. Small-time dealers reported weekly income of 2k Euros during the prohibition. - Dutch teenagers use less weed than German, UK and Belgian teens. Legal availability seems inversely correlated with actual use. - In France there is no clear distinction between…

Or consider how shitty music would be if musicians did not have access to pot, psychedelics, and various other currently illegal drugs. If you like virtually any 20th or 21st century popular music, you are greatly indebted to drugs.

Likewise the vast majority of modern computer software, though alcohol does share credit. There's a saying that Microsoft wouldn't be able to hire anyone if they drug tested. (Though Nintendo does drug test.) And, for alcohol, there's the famous Ballmer Curve: https://xkcd.com/323/
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