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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

#441

Post by jeffdavis »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #438
adventured wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big supporter of legalization, because I think prohibition is dramatically worse than any negatives from people smoking pot (similar to alcohol, etc). That said, the two friends of mine that were the heaviest smokers, saw dramatic improvements in their lives in the few years immediately following giving up smoking pot. Both in terms of health and professional success. They were recreational smokers, rather than…

I am a huge opposer of legalization, because I've seen what pot has done to people I care about. I would point out that solution to the negatives of prohibition is not legalization, but decriminalization. The issue with legalization is that it removes the stigma with trying it, which means we get more users than otherwise. We can maintain the very correct statements that drugs are bad and that all possible care shoul…

Maybe we need ways other than the law to stigmatize bad behavior. The law is a blunt instrument.

Churches might serve this purpose, but those are out of fashion now.

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

#442

Post by pdpi »

joshstrange wrote: post #426
magicnubs wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If I get to choose the way I die it will be with an unlimited morphine drip slamming on the button repetitively. I had morphine back as a kid for a ruptured appendix and damn that stuff was good. I'll never forget the day they came in and I was expecting to get my daily shot and they told me I was being switched over to Tylenol lest I become addicted. I was 8, and I still remember thinking of saying "Oh I'm not becom…

> I had morphine back as a kid for a ruptured appendix and damn that stuff was good.

I suppose this varies a lot from individual to individual. I had morphine a few months ago for a shoulder reduction, and I felt horrible enough that I almost wish I'd just done it without painkillers at all.

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

#443

Post by zchrykng »

simplify wrote: post #439
zchrykng wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who break the law are by definition not "innocent". You might disagree with the laws/penalties, but anyone who knowingly violates the law is categorically not innocent.

Of course, that's the entire point. Without prohibition they are innocent. With prohibition they are criminals. That is why prohibition is dramatically worse. People who are not a threat to society are imputed as criminals, losing their life to jailtime and a permanent criminal record.

The same argument could be made for anything. Not paying your taxes is only illegal because there is a law that says you have to. You can't just define words to have whatever meaning you want. If you agree that they did something illegal then you can't call them innocent without lying.

It isn't that hard, don't do illegal drugs if you don't want to be called a criminal. You can work to make them legal, but that doesn't change the fact that they are illegal right now.

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

#444

Post by honkycat »

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.

Humans have always done drugs. We have smoked pot specifically for thousands of years.

Why do you want to keep adults from making decisions about what to put into their body?

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

#445

Post by tibyat »

LrnByTeach wrote: post #383
framebit wrote: post #278

A therapist friend recently attended a conference where a big group of doctors and health professionals focused around adolescents presented on the link between pot and the development of psychosis and even schizophrenia in users under age 32 or something like that. I've definitely heard about this colloquially with people reacting very differently to the same strain ("we were all fine but she was just freaking out")…

All high school weed smokers are not equal. There are many occasional smokers. For the sake of simplicity, let me put a number here. High schooler between 9th to 12 grade who smoke weed at least 10 times a week all four years will settle in LIFE below 50% of his potential (compared to how he would have done without weed)

Do us all a favor and close your browser. Thanks!

   - Earth

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

#446

Post by dubya23 »

5trokerac3 wrote: post #59
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.

"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.

Less cognitive, really, did you give them all IQ tests? In a discussion on any other topic on HN shitty anecdotes like this would be dismissed immediately.

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

#447

Post by grawprog »

tomazio wrote: post #389
grawprog wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people who were like that in high school who are just fine now. Actually, come to think of it I can't think of a single one of the 'stoners' that were in my grade at school who wasted their time being stoned constantly who didn't at least end up living a reasonable life to this point. The few that didn't were the ones that either got into harder drugs or were already also stealing or hanging out with gangsters…

No to dissuade or reject your points but you might have ADD/ADHD if that's how marijuana affects you.

Ya maybe...i've always wondered. Never bothered getting tested. I've mostly just learned to focus and pay attention when I need to. A while back a learned to meditate and practice mindfulness and i've found that's been more helpful than anything. When i start to feel my mind race i'll just close my eyes and focus on my breathing while I count for a little bit. It usually helps me get my thoughts back under control.

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

#448

Post by int_19h »

eternalban wrote: post #407
adventured wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big supporter of legalization, because I think prohibition is dramatically worse than any negatives from people smoking pot (similar to alcohol, etc). That said, the two friends of mine that were the heaviest smokers, saw dramatic improvements in their lives in the few years immediately following giving up smoking pot. Both in terms of health and professional success. They were recreational smokers, rather than…

> I think prohibition is dramatically worse than any negatives from people smoking pot (similar to alcohol, etc). Alcohol has been an integral part of Western civilization for quite a while now. Prohibition on alcohol is in no way comparable to prohibition on pot [in terms of its impact]. Why do you think its prohibition is "dramatically" worse than making this mind altering substance generally available? [secret han…

Because we've tried that prohibition, and the results are demonstrably worse. I would recommend Radley Balko's numerous articles and his book on how detrimental the "war on drugs" has been to civil liberties in the USA in general, and how many people's lives it ruined.

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

#449

Post by peter303 »

A Colorado study of 5 year trends in pot use found 19% of high school students have used it in the oast month. It is almost same percentage reported in a national survey. The Colorado number was based 47K respondents.

http://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2018-SB-13-283_...

P.S. Pot use under age 21 is not legal in Colorado.

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

#450

Post by dsnuh »

jhwang5 wrote: post #430
dsnuh wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's quite a leap from saying that human beings are naturally curious about changing their consciousness, which is what I am saying. I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

weed is the gateway drug. let that sink in.

I'm not sure if you're being serious, but I disagree if you are. Any drug can be the gateway for a person at risk for addiction. I don't have hard data (and I suspect there is none proving weed is the gateway drug, but am happy to be educated) but my guess is that alcohol is the gateway drug for a vast majority of Americans.

Can weed be a person's gateway to harder drugs? Sure. Is it the gateway drug? I don't think so.

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