Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 120 posts

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#51

Post by nxc18 »

danso wrote: post #38
sundvor wrote: post #9

Would love to see the same experiment repeated somehow, but for alcohol / partying. Then compare the two.

In college I was a residence hall advisor in a dorm that was advertised as being more studious, including a zero-tolerance policy on alcohol (students could be kicked out if seen even holding an empty beer can). I'm sure the grades in the dorm were higher, but hat dorm tended to attract students who were going to be more studious/less drunkenly already.

Same, except the only people in that dorm were kids who had super strict parents and who often were placed there because their parents were worried...

The 'drug and alcohol free' floor was probably among the worst in terms of drug use, alcohol use, partying, and worst of all, floorcest.

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#52

Post by [deleted] »

scott00 wrote: post #29
perpetualcrayon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come to think of it, given that they state in the article: drug tourism was posing difficulties for the city I wonder if they take into account the fact that these "problems" could've been affecting students and their grades as well. What happens if only the "drug tourism" disappeared?

This was controlled for by the native students, who also experienced any improvement in the city's environment, but did not experience the ban.

[deleted]

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#53

Post by southphillyman »

chillwaves wrote: post #14
meri_dian wrote: post #2

Weed is not a panacea. Some people foolishly think otherwise. It should still be legalized, but we have to be realistic about its negatives

Nobody believes weed will make you better at studying. Nobody.

Due to it's impact on short term memory I'm not sure it's the best thing for "studying"...but I knew of some med students who would smoke then write R code on datasets until the wee hours of the morning. I guess they were using it as an Adderall substitute of sorts

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#54

Post by snuxoll »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #33

It's sad to see such a brigade of hate/insecurity around any pot study. It's a shame. Every time there is some inkling of negativity the panic sets in, they criticize the study (which is valid, but how often is the criticism valid), they bring up how alcohol is worse, when this wasn't even a comparison to alcohol. Marijuana should absolutely be legalized. But we can't just ignore its effects. I get it-weed helps a lo…

I mean, who would have thought a distraction would affect grades? Video games, alcohol, parties, weed, whatever - you think any of these benefit your grades? Of course not.

The results of this study aren't surprising, but the potential for it to be used as political ammo rightfully annoys pro-marijuana advocates. Personally, I'm all for legal weed - but trying to shuffle this study under the deck doesn't benefit anyone, we just need comparative studies on the effects of other activities because chances are it's little to no worse than any of them when it comes to impact on GPA (and if it is, then deal with it).

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#55

Post by indspenceable »

Seems like no one's commenting that the study isn't actually about marijuana - it's regarding the access to the cafes. My instinct tells me that they're probably not entirely off on the conclusion but it seems like a more complicated relationship - if I couldn't get into the place where all my friends hung out, of course I'd have more time to study!

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#58

Post by wyclif »

bigspider421 wrote: post #39
chillwaves wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody believes weed will make you better at studying. Nobody.

Nothing is absolute - I'm a medical user (with anxiety/ADHD/depression) and it's been a complete lifesaver for me, working where pharmaceuticals did not. I did not respond well to traditional stimulants (they only made me more anxious and racy) but medical cannabis is literally the only reason why I was able to function through my PhD program which I had completed two years ago at a top-tier U.S. institution. FWIW, I…

only certain types actually help

Out of curiosity, what are those? I'm not an expert and I'm really only aware of the sativa/indica divide.

Re: College students lost access to legal pot and started getting better grades

#60

Post by devrandomguy »

paulcole wrote: post #28
devrandomguy wrote: post #4

I bet banning refined sugar products would have a more significant effect.

We get it you vape. Seriously though, I don't get what we're supposed to take away from your statement. Your guess that there might be something worse than weed? Just because weed causes less problems than something else doesn't mean it causes no problems.

I am under the impression that refined sugar interferes with the optimal functioning of the brain, in addition to skewing a person's energy level, but I don't have citations or anything. It's a just info that I internalized as a child, from a family member who works with children who have learning disabilities.
Post reply on HN