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Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

nytimes.com

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Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the side effects of this system developing incorrectly?

Those who use heavily in Adolescence can lose something like 6 or 8 IQ points, among other negative effects. Those who start as adults and stop don't seem to have the same effects[1], but it is unclear how much that reflects lower baseline IQ of users vs. the impact of marijuana itself. [1] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...

I would like some perspective on what a 6-8 IQ point difference actually means in real life.

I know IQ is on a curve so if I'm on the lower end and dope up I might not qualify for the military against had I not doped up by such a margin window.

For an average person, what can the person sitting next to me do +8 IQ that I can't? What can the person sitting in front of me not do at -8 IQ that I can?

Granted I've encountered "slow" and "fast" people in my life, but I have little idea how to relate that to an IQ number besides "higher" and "lower" like a water faucet for temperature.

This is a genuine, honest question.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a doctor but from what I have been reading, consuming THC on a regular basis before 21 (the commonly accepted age for the latest stage of brain development) is definitely a bad idea, as it will prevent the endocannabinoid system to develop correctly. I would not dismiss teen smoking/vaping as a public health concern, it's not just about counterfeiting, I think we need better education about the risks and ben…

I'm very much for pro-fact-based drug education. Not just for THC, but for the most common things that folks can come into contact with. No scare tactics, just answering questions like what happens to one's body, what "high" feels like, realistic methods of ingestion, and benefits. Unfortunately, the greater public - the government at least - hasn't been so keen on such things because the focus is more on keeping dru…

Indeed, we seem to have ample evidence that Tylenol seems to be strongly associated with autism[1] and weakly with ADHD[2], yet its use is not only widespread but unquestioned. The problem, of course, is that it's complicated; correlation isn't necessarily causation. So how to respond? Should all high school students be taught how to think critically of bioscience results? It's not easy to distill down to distinct usable facts. Suggesting at all that it is safe for teens to vape THC is a very dangerous proposition. I think you'd have to at least prove that it is safer than lead in gasoline, and that is not easy.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18445737 [2] https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2017/10...

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#53
post #16

Unlike other drugs (smoking, drinking) adults (at least the noisy ones online) very much want marijuana. And because of that they are very poorly motivated to stop its use among teens. So this isn't going to get better, it'll get much worse. Adults also believe marijuana use is perfectly fine, and risk free, which may or may not be true for adults, but is not true for teens. But because they believe it's risk free th…

It's very true on HN. Marijuana it's heavily promoted here.

Some promote the drug itself. Probably a lot more are behind the freedom to use what you want (and against the heavy criminalization). There are probably a fair number that would see the drug continue to be banned, but are just against the biased, fear-mongering, moral panic inducing "journalism" we see from once reputable establishments like the NYT.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#54

The thing that sucks here is the health issues have nothing inherently to do with THC and everything to do with vaping a black market product that has shitty ingredients in it. I live in CA where it is becoming more and more regulated. I have a 'church' down the street where I can buy stuff at a steeeep discount (no tax, lower prices)... but I go to the regulated places the next town over (higher taxes, higher prices…

I am not a doctor but from what I have been reading, consuming THC on a regular basis before 21 (the commonly accepted age for the latest stage of brain development) is definitely a bad idea, as it will prevent the endocannabinoid system to develop correctly. I would not dismiss teen smoking/vaping as a public health concern, it's not just about counterfeiting, I think we need better education about the risks and ben…

>before 21 (the commonly accepted age for the latest stage of brain development)

Last I remember from my psychology classes, it was 25 to 28. 21 feels like a number picked to reflect law and cultural norms, not the science. But my information is a decade out of date and there could have been new findings since.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#55
post #32

This is great news. Vaping is far better for your health than alcohol or cigarettes.

"Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars" is objectively not great news. Subjectively it might be great news if the vaping THC dose was low, but it is not. There is no technology that makes alcohol 100X stronger for todays teen than what it has been historically. But that's not true for THC products. On a personal note, I lost my hearing in one ear immediately after trying a strong MJ product. I just assumed it was congestion at…

Yeah, I'd need to see some scientific evidence on how those events were connected. I've never heard of that before, and it's not really logical from what I can understand.

And at least we have regulation now, you're welcome to buy weed with less THC. :)

>> "Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars" is objectively not great news

Bullshit. Smoking is far worse for you than vaping and I'm extremely grateful to read this headline instead of it being meth, crack, or Fentanyl.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first source states in the abstract that causality between marijuana use and altered brain function was not determined edit: if anything I think more research is needed to inform effective regulation. I'm astonished how little there is on this drug

Getting permission to do research on a schedule 1 drug is pretty tricky, from what I understand? Since marijuana is schedule 1 it's termed as having a) no medical benefit and b) a high potential for abuse, which puts you in something of a catch-22 situation: you can't justify the research on medical grounds because the drug has no medical benefit (or it wouldn't be sched 1), and you can't justify research for explora…

>> Since marijuana is schedule 1 it's termed as having a) no medical benefit

Eye. Roll. I always thought this was the most absolutely bullshit, patently false thing I'd seen in law for time.

The medical benefits of THC have been well-established for decades. The sheer idea that there were ever arrests related to this plant is a disgusting mark on how shitty humanity can be, and how unwilling it is to acknowledge when it is wrong.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those who use heavily in Adolescence can lose something like 6 or 8 IQ points, among other negative effects. Those who start as adults and stop don't seem to have the same effects[1], but it is unclear how much that reflects lower baseline IQ of users vs. the impact of marijuana itself. [1] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...

I would like some perspective on what a 6-8 IQ point difference actually means in real life. I know IQ is on a curve so if I'm on the lower end and dope up I might not qualify for the military against had I not doped up by such a margin window. For an average person, what can the person sitting next to me do +8 IQ that I can't? What can the person sitting in front of me not do at -8 IQ that I can? Granted I've encoun…

Based on my own reading of IQ and general heuristics I've developed from observing people (i.e. this is my folk wisdom, I am not sharing links), on a team of SDEs, the one SDE who is really really sharp, not just due to tenure, but generally just grasps things faster and earns the intellectual respect of his peers, is probably about 8-15 points higher than the average IQ of the SDEs around. Again, this is super heuristic, as IQ is non-linear.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first source states in the abstract that causality between marijuana use and altered brain function was not determined edit: if anything I think more research is needed to inform effective regulation. I'm astonished how little there is on this drug

Getting permission to do research on a schedule 1 drug is pretty tricky, from what I understand? Since marijuana is schedule 1 it's termed as having a) no medical benefit and b) a high potential for abuse, which puts you in something of a catch-22 situation: you can't justify the research on medical grounds because the drug has no medical benefit (or it wouldn't be sched 1), and you can't justify research for explora…

There's plenty of research out of Israel on it.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#59
I'm an avid user for many years, and when I used vaping pens for a couple weeks, I felt the damage in my lungs, it was uncomfortable. Burning oil was a little better but it still felt like the hot air was burning your lungs, and burning wax had a completely different problem where I literally felt wax on my esophagus and lungs the more I vaped. Never had any of these problems smoking from a bong. I'll stick to what has been tried and tested for centuries if not millenia.

Re: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting permission to do research on a schedule 1 drug is pretty tricky, from what I understand? Since marijuana is schedule 1 it's termed as having a) no medical benefit and b) a high potential for abuse, which puts you in something of a catch-22 situation: you can't justify the research on medical grounds because the drug has no medical benefit (or it wouldn't be sched 1), and you can't justify research for explora…

>> Since marijuana is schedule 1 it's termed as having a) no medical benefit Eye. Roll. I always thought this was the most absolutely bullshit, patently false thing I'd seen in law for time. The medical benefits of THC have been well-established for decades. The sheer idea that there were ever arrests related to this plant is a disgusting mark on how shitty humanity can be, and how unwilling it is to acknowledge when…

Yeah, you can definitely look at the list of schedule 1 drugs and get a strong sense of "one of these things is not like the other".
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