When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves • Hacker News Board

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#11

Post by chickenfries » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:26 PM UTC

narzu wrote: post #5

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal doesn't mean we should legalise all drugs that are somewhat healthier than alcohol and tobacco. I think we can do much better.

Prohibition doesn’t work. Legalization and regulation do. Alcohol and Tobacco are the proof. We can do much better than a cure which has shown to be worse than the disease.

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#12

Post by rasengan » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:26 PM UTC

The conclusion comes without further study. As an example, Professor Xia Zhang from the University of Saskatchewan discovered, which was further repeatedly verified, that marijuana causes neurogenesis [1].

This is interesting because other non marijuana related studies show that neurogenesis ends after puberty [2].

So, then, could the conclusion not be that the sudden growth of brain cells causes a sudden mismapping of information and memory within the brain causing slight issues with memory recall and retention until the brain is able to cope with and understand the neurogenesis?

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253627/ [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/07/5913056...

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#13

Post by empath75 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:26 PM UTC

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

I mostly agree with that, but I think we should definitely still be telling teens not to smoke pot, or really take any psychoactive drugs. And I say this as someone who has done a lot of them. Given that a lot of adults find it impossible to use drugs responsibly, teens definitely should be avoiding them.

I also think we should be doing it honestly and not telling them that their brain is going to immediately leak out of their ears and they're going to start turning tricks on corners to pay for their next hit.

"Hey, pot is going to temporarily make you dumber. Maybe don't use it a lot while you're trying to get through school. Thanks."

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#14

Post by sjg007 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:27 PM UTC

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

Alcohol also impacts cognitive function as well. Both in the moment and for days after.

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#15

Post by geff82 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:27 PM UTC

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

Smoke once and it will be detectable in your body for weeks, drink once and no one will ever detect it in a linear number of hours after. The body has enzymes for alcohol, but non for pot. Drinking too much too often is another problem, of course.

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#16

Post by narzu » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:28 PM UTC

zaroth wrote: post #10

narzu wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal doesn't mean we should legalise all drugs that are somewhat healthier than alcohol and tobacco. I think we can do much better.

“Do much better” is a platitude - it conveys zero information as to what you actually believe should be done differently.

We should move towards the elimination of all drugs.

Prohibition has worked wonderfully well for tobacco in many countries, cutting consumption in half and even more.

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#17

Post by geff82 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:28 PM UTC

chickenfries wrote: post #11

narzu wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal doesn't mean we should legalise all drugs that are somewhat healthier than alcohol and tobacco. I think we can do much better.

Prohibition doesn’t work. Legalization and regulation do. Alcohol and Tobacco are the proof. We can do much better than a cure which has shown to be worse than the disease.

Legalization mostly works in the way that more people consume it. (punishing the use does not lead anywhere either).

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#18

Post by jerf » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:28 PM UTC

narzu wrote: post #5

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal doesn't mean we should legalise all drugs that are somewhat healthier than alcohol and tobacco. I think we can do much better.

We have done much better. Look at tobacco usage. It hasn't plummeted because it was outlawed.

I don't think we'd necessarily get the same plummet with marijuana, because the health story isn't quite as uniformly bad, and I get the sense that pot users don't get as acclimated as cigarette users, who seem to be smoking not to feel good but to avoid withdrawal. (Just on the drug's own terms, tobacco is a really bad deal; the ratio of "high" to harm is just atrocious. If it wasn't so addictive nobody would use it on a regular basis.) But we could probably get some improvement if the messaging got more realistic. And by "improvement" I don't just mean "less", but better; less adolescents smoking some of their most important cognitive years away, more people using THC for correct medicinal uses, and if one chooses to smoke it recreationally, better informed choices.

I'm in favor of legalization, because marijuana prohibition is not as bad as alcohol prohibition was, but it's the same sort of thing even if less of it. I still plan on telling my children quite strongly the best move is not to play.

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#19

Post by geff82 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:30 PM UTC

narzu wrote: post #16

zaroth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Do much better” is a platitude - it conveys zero information as to what you actually believe should be done differently.

We should move towards the elimination of all drugs. Prohibition has worked wonderfully well for tobacco in many countries, cutting consumption in half and even more.

I just upvoted your comment because it is the truth and most probably you will be heavily downvoted for not being mainstream :)

Re: When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

#20

Post by sigi45 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:30 PM UTC

narzu wrote: post #5

S0ckpupp3t wrote: post #4

A drug more benign than alcohol. Smoke too much, take a nap. Smoke too often, cut down and get sharp again. Drink too much, you get flu symptoms. Drink too much too often, you get a new liver, or die.

The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal doesn't mean we should legalise all drugs that are somewhat healthier than alcohol and tobacco. I think we can do much better.

Legalizing is doing better.

Also society doesn't has the right to keep some drugs illegal while keeping others legal.

Stop criminalising someone who chose another drug than you prefer.

Illegal should it be when it harms others.