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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

#181

Post by welly »

unethical_ban wrote: post #146
rv-de wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with "banal" activities?

You're right, it's a matter of values. Banal: Overeating/overdrinking/overconsuming, sitting around, reading reddit/HN for hours, playing video games or twitch. Not banal: Challenging yourself to new activities or hobbies that require skill. Seeing the world, interacting with other people IRL. Learning (new topics, reading, etc). Building things. Getting out of your comfort zone. Essentially, being passive/not learni…

Sometimes, often, in fact, we need banality to reset ourselves, to rest and recuperate.

We're not all Elon Musk, working 90 hours a week and always starting up a new start up. Banality will ensure we don't burn out before we're 40.

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

#182

Post by icebraining »

puranjay wrote: post #100
5trokerac3 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"more benign" !== "benign" Everyone I know that smokes daily (a lot of people) is less cognitive than those I know who don't smoke, in every arena except artistic pursuits. And not everyone reacts to weed the same way. I decided to quit when I recognized a lessened ability to solve complex coding questions the day after smoking.

I've met so many proponents of weed who say it makes you more creative and artistic Trouble is, all these people just smoke up and watch TV instead of doing anything creative

That's not my experience; plenty of productive artists (musicians, actors and photographers) among the smokers I know.

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

#183

Post by stochastic_monk »

icebraining wrote: post #182
puranjay wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've met so many proponents of weed who say it makes you more creative and artistic Trouble is, all these people just smoke up and watch TV instead of doing anything creative

That's not my experience; plenty of productive artists (musicians, actors and photographers) among the smokers I know.

I have also known a number of very bright, productive, motivated, successful scientists, engineers, and developers who consume cannabis.

Some have spoken highly of brainstorming while stoned, fleshing out the details and narrowing their scope and intentions as they sober up, while others say that it helps them concentrate by slowing down their racing thoughts.

And while I've known people who've used it to waste their lives away, that's true of so many things.

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

#184

Post by goldenkey »

nicoburns wrote: post #175
Balero wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South Park put it quite well: "Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but… well, son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored. And it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything."

I have a similar attitude to MSG. It's probably not going to give you cancer, or cause any serious health problems, but it makes you ok with eating non-nutritious food that would otherwise be bland and tasteless.

Nutrients don't give food taste though. Mostly acids and other non vital alkaloids and terpenes do..

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

#185

Post by magicnubs »

kaybe wrote: post #171
ngngngng wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are the kind of honest explanations for drugs that we need more of. Most people that do heroin don't become prostitutes to fund the habit. But once you've done it, no matter what happens in your life, it's not as good as that time you did heroin in your friends basement. And that's really sad. edit: I'm being rightfully called out. I haven't done heroin and didn't mean to authoritatively say that there is only…

That makes it sound as if we should let people that only have a few days to live take all the heroin they want, actually. Maybe we should.

To a lesser extent, that's part of what hospice / palliative care is. Not to the extent that it's purely recreational, but often involve continued use of opiods for pain management.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_care#Physical_pain

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

#186

Post by WAthrowaway »

the-dude wrote: post #157

I gave up pot and switched to hashish. Big difference for me. Is hashish commonly available in the US? I get the impression all discussions are about weed/pot.

It is, but harder to get in non-legal markets (most of the US right now). I work in the industry and the trend seems to be more towards purer concentrates like wax and oil - the margins on those are incredible

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

#187

Post by jimmaswell »

kaybe wrote: post #171
ngngngng wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are the kind of honest explanations for drugs that we need more of. Most people that do heroin don't become prostitutes to fund the habit. But once you've done it, no matter what happens in your life, it's not as good as that time you did heroin in your friends basement. And that's really sad. edit: I'm being rightfully called out. I haven't done heroin and didn't mean to authoritatively say that there is only…

That makes it sound as if we should let people that only have a few days to live take all the heroin they want, actually. Maybe we should.

Terminal patients are often given lethal doses of morphine near the end.

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

#188

Post by ragequitta »

unethical_ban wrote: post #146
rv-de wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with "banal" activities?

You're right, it's a matter of values. Banal: Overeating/overdrinking/overconsuming, sitting around, reading reddit/HN for hours, playing video games or twitch. Not banal: Challenging yourself to new activities or hobbies that require skill. Seeing the world, interacting with other people IRL. Learning (new topics, reading, etc). Building things. Getting out of your comfort zone. Essentially, being passive/not learni…

While I can say I have the experience of not 'growing' at times (now), I would never say that's the weed's fault. Mostly because I've felt the exact same thing before ever smoking weed (I didn't smoke until my 30s). It's depression for me, and it's pervasive.

That said I can say that having depression (and a bit of PTSD) is way more of a hell without the weed to take my mind off it. And even if it's just playing a video game for 6 hours (rimworld is my current 2nd drug) that's far more active and engaging than my typical super depressed not leaving my bed state.

I also think bettering yourself and being a success isn't a one-size-fits-all package. I have a friend who smoked so much damn weed it's a wonder they have any brains left. They learned to play league of legends 10+ hours a day sometimes while high as a kite. They're now making multiple times the money streaming on twitch than they ever would've with any job they would be qualified for. They're the happiest they've ever been, met their SO through twitch, and are living the good life all by ignoring the advice being given here.

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

#189

Post by folkrav »

geff82 wrote: post #39
sigi45 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is a big difference between criminalising/punishing people and hyping drugs as all those cannabis activists do. Smoking may be your personal choice - but I honestly think it would be bad for society if the majority did it. There is a reason that under current law using/selling drugs is punished: society as a whole might suffer.

Those "cannabis activists" are most likely a (very vocal) minority... I don't know of anyone that _seriously_ hypes pot as a safe thing, and we have a lot of smokers here in Quebec (last official numbers were ~15% in 2015, pretty sure it's actually higher than that), so it's not hard to find one. There was probably "alcohol activists" back in prohibition, so I'd say this could also be a side-effect of its illegal status.

> There is a reason that under current law using/selling drugs is punished

There was also a law that prohibited alcohol for a time. I am also prohibited under Canadian law from pretending to practice witchcraft. Talking about differences, there is a big difference between legal and legitimate.

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

#190

Post by rv-de »

dredds wrote: post #180
rv-de wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on your definition of boredom. What does feeling bored mean to you?

Most people say that weed helps them be more creative, which is the opposite of the South Park quote. Having creative thoughts and dreams but not acting on them can lead to depression. "Being in the moment" is doing what you are thinking, and not letting worry or doubt stop you. Hence the creative energy people often get when high.

Good point - personally, I am skeptical whether weed increases creativity. I never experienced that. I just don't like the weed-bashing from the angle of the you-have-to-be-productive-dogma.
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