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When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

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

#41
post #21

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.

Still, being "more benign" does not imply that it won't have any effect on a developing brain.

brake dust causes dementia. if you live in a city, you're killing yourself from teh air you breath.

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

#42

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.

AFAIK the smoke is still a cause for cancer.

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

#43
post #28
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And?

And? It's ok if you do not care. But I wanted to make clear that for the body there is a difference between alcohol and other drugs as alcohol, to the body, is mostly just another nutrient (I mean almost all ripe fruits contain a certain amount of alcohol, yet we eat them without problems).

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

#44
post #25
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.

> 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. You're right. We can do better. I think it shows our hypocrisy. Nobody should get a fine or go to prison for possession of drugs. I think what we should focus on is distribution/sale of controlled substances without a proper label. I don't do drug…

There already are many places where the selling of sugar and caffeine-ridden products is controlled.

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

#45
post #5

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.

The fact that my kids can get illegal drugs more easily than alcohol is what worries me.

Making drugs illegal isn’t helping. Addicts need support services, not punishment.

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

#46
post #5

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.

legislating morality isn't much better. it's draconian and often theocratic.

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

#47
post #16
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.

wow. you have some scary views. how about you mind your own business and let others do the same.

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

#48
post #34
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also let's not forget that about everyone with big psychological problems in my peer group started to smoke early on (and developed mental health problems later).

That's just correlation. Maybe they started smoking early on because they had big psychological problems already.

There might also be some risk of psychological damage when you use a criminalized substance that has anxiety as a common side effect. For example, it's easy to see how that could make you a bit reclusive.

So anyone who's really concerned about the mental health of cannabis users is obliged to consider the damaging effects of its very criminality.

(There are all kinds of other factors. Like cannabis use being correlated with higher trait openness, which has its own particular correlations with certain personality disorders, et cetera.)

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

#49

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 ou…

> 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.

Man has this annoying tendency not to believe facts unless they are experienced directly. You can tell teens what you want and they will still do what they want, especially if they know you did the same and ended up alright.

I agree that honesty is the best policy, teenagers can smell hypocrisy from miles. Another good policy is to make experimentation safe, so everyone can make his or her mind up without risking potentially fatal or life-altering contact with the worst elements of society.

I personally think public education should also have a dedicated subject on the topic of addiction, be it to drugs, food, gambling, videogames, and whatnot. An economic system based on profit will inevitably thrive on addiction, often at the expense of public health. Surviving contact with addictive impulses is a life skill that gets more and more essential every day.

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

#50
post #34
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also let's not forget that about everyone with big psychological problems in my peer group started to smoke early on (and developed mental health problems later).

That's just correlation. Maybe they started smoking early on because they had big psychological problems already.

It might "just" be a correlation but it might be heavily interconnected. If you have data proving your "just correlation", please provide them.
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