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Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

news.usc.edu

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Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#41

Post by bromuro »

catalogia wrote: post #23
geff82 wrote: post #16

Recently, a friend came to me with a list of all the health benefits that are attributed to cannabis. I sent him back a list of all the health benefits attributed to good old ginger - and they matched almost one to one. Health claims concerning cannabis are usually just for those who want to consume a drug and feel better about themselves.

Maybe not the best example, ginger seems legitimately medicinal to me. I've not found anything better for settling an upset stomach than real ginger (not "ginger ale" soda pop.)

OP found a perfect example to show how cannabis share same of the benefits as ginger. So he’s actually suggesting his friend to get weed if he cannot take get ginger :)

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#42

Post by bertil »

outime wrote: post #39

I do agree that cannabis health “benefits” are often exaggerated but this happens with any substance. Also, social media bots spam about many things all the time. Should we then talk about all the topics spam bots post about?

Those bots are expensive and complicated to operate at scale. Some topics are there to make them look legitimate, others because you have large clients supporting a change in opinion and willing to spend social-media agencies to promote it — or discredit it with a ham-fisted campaign.

It’s hard to sort them apart but that example, for me, echoes a BBC documentary/sci-fi speculation from 10 years ago about cannabis legalisation and more generally licensing psycho-active molecules for entertainment purposes. The title was “If drugs were legal” or “When” as most specialists had little doubt this would happen soon.

Both cigarette and pharmaceutical companies came out as very ready for the idea, with teams dedicated to lobbying for it, of course, but marketing, products ready for the day. Overall, they were clear large players with established industrial assets and experience in large-scale distribution would completely take over.

They even speculated that some tests on new drugs were done without permissions. A couple of years later the “Bath salt” craze and the mention most of those were molecules no one had seen before also echoed quite loudly.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#43

Post by todd3834 »

normalnorm wrote: post #28
geff82 wrote: post #16

Recently, a friend came to me with a list of all the health benefits that are attributed to cannabis. I sent him back a list of all the health benefits attributed to good old ginger - and they matched almost one to one. Health claims concerning cannabis are usually just for those who want to consume a drug and feel better about themselves.

Is your friend called "straw man", by any chance? And hey, people feeling better about themselves is not such a bad thing, especially when the world is so full of judgemental pricks who can't seem to be able to mind their own business or keep their religious superstitions to themselves.

Sounds like the two were having a conversation about medical benefits. I think his response was reasonable within the given context. Nothing wrong with feeling better about yourself so long as you are not doing so at the cost of potentially harming yourself or others. Spreading potentially false medical facts is risky because not everyone will do their own research.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#44

Post by [deleted] »

vertex-four wrote: post #33
deith wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you science nowadays is mostly junk. On the other hand if we can choose to ignore any study that links X to something bad, then this is a conversation not worth having. Myself I like to err on the side of caution, since my country has free healthcare which means I have to pay for the mistakes of others, so I don't want them making mistakes in the first place. They should feel free to smoke all the weed t…

Your healthcare system also treats people who have got into a vehicle accident or a sporting incident - should buses and cycling also be banned? How about alcohol? Everything has some risk, and the anecdotal evidence is that weed does not affect the vast majority of adults in a way that would result in additional healthcare needs.

[deleted]

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#45

Post by deith »

vertex-four wrote: post #33
deith wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you science nowadays is mostly junk. On the other hand if we can choose to ignore any study that links X to something bad, then this is a conversation not worth having. Myself I like to err on the side of caution, since my country has free healthcare which means I have to pay for the mistakes of others, so I don't want them making mistakes in the first place. They should feel free to smoke all the weed t…

Your healthcare system also treats people who have got into a vehicle accident or a sporting incident - should buses and cycling also be banned? How about alcohol? Everything has some risk, and the anecdotal evidence is that weed does not affect the vast majority of adults in a way that would result in additional healthcare needs.

>should buses

No. They are generally safe and people NEED to get around to live. They don't NEED to get high though.

>cycling also be banned? How about alcohol?

Yes, definitely. Both things are risky and bad. But that would be hard to achieve. Since weed has never been legal (at least here), things can go on the way they are.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#46

Post by tartoran »

fiblye wrote: post #27
JaumeGreen wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of pro-cannabis and pro-LSD comments everywhere. My cynical view is that the "power" wants us all sedated, and it's investing its media to promote the "new" batch of drugs to get another generation hooked up. I do think that there are probably quite beneficial uses of drugs, but probably not in a ludic way as most people prefer to use them.

I think at least with regards to HN, it's that the average user is, just being honest, wealthy and from a very privileged background without too much lifetime difficulty. There's a disproportionate number of people here who can and did walk into Silicon Valley and said something along the lines of "give me 10 million dollars and I'll make a phone app", then have the free time and comfortable fall back to write a fail…

Anything that can be abused is finds its population to do so. Banning is not a solution though, but more research and education on the subject. Think about how alcohol abuse and even sugar abuse are treated by society: people are aware of the dangers yet some can’t stop having them.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#47

Post by Shivetya »

normalnorm wrote: post #28
geff82 wrote: post #16

Recently, a friend came to me with a list of all the health benefits that are attributed to cannabis. I sent him back a list of all the health benefits attributed to good old ginger - and they matched almost one to one. Health claims concerning cannabis are usually just for those who want to consume a drug and feel better about themselves.

Is your friend called "straw man", by any chance? And hey, people feeling better about themselves is not such a bad thing, especially when the world is so full of judgemental pricks who can't seem to be able to mind their own business or keep their religious superstitions to themselves.

well confidence in one's decisions is something many do not have so they start rationalizing after the fact; sometimes just to themselves! Then it becomes a situation where rationalizations never seem to have an end, there is always one more, because they are not sure in themselves.

we all have these acquaintances who must justify every little thing after they have done it because they lack confidence in themselves. Learning to be honest with yourself is the first step in a long line of personality traits that are beneficial for yourself and those around you.

so if you want to try weed, just say you do. If you want to buy that car and you have the means to do so and you know you can afford it, then just admit that you wanted it.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#48

Post by superkuh »

Worst of these claims are the (almost literal) "snake oil" companies and sellers that are selling 10mg of CBD to people as a 'dose' and implying or telling them it is anything other than placebo at this level. All professional journal studies that have made claims about CBD do studies that use at least 300mg and more often 600mg as the absolute minimum dose and repeat this daily for weeks. Unfortunately 600mg of CBD (with the THC removed down to It doesn't even have an significant affinity for the CB1 receptors at reasonable 0.6g doses. The mechanism of action is actually through binding to the serotonin-1a autoreceptor, much like the atypical antidepressant buspirone.

This unregulated wild west of CBD and non-THC pot products is only going to backfire on the charlatans and ignorant users caught up in it. It's going to hurt the legalization movement.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#49

Post by klyrs »

fjabre wrote: post #38
actuator wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Propogating false health claims doesn't help people either. I can claim that good old whisky is the cure for cold if you are mountaineering in extreme climates, but it certainly isn't going to help anyone.

Of course but I don't think there's any debate about which side has been subjected to more propaganda over the years. Regardless this furthers my argument - that there is not enough research because of said propaganda for any claims to be made in the first place which is the real travesty.

There's idiots on both sides, and peddling unsubstantiated rumors as medical fact doesn't somehow make up for anti-reefer madness. Rather, it legitimizes the fearmongering.

I've seen dispensaries coming dangerously close to claiming it eradicates cancer. Heard activists encouraging driving under the influence because "it makes you chill out and take your time, man." There's no excuse for this shit.

Re: Social media bots often tweet fake health claims about cannabis: study

#50

Post by account73466 »

cneurotic wrote: post #40

There are so many complications when it comes to REALLY understanding the health effects of weed. The science is really tough, and underdeveloped. One problem is that there are so many varietals, and so many different vehicles for administration (smoking, vaping, eating, tinctures, lotions, etc) — that make it hard to announce, globally, that "marijuana does X to your brain." Really, the most we can say after a given…

>> None of this is to say that weed can't be beneficial.

There might be a non-trivial impact of weed on climate change if weed consumers produce less kids which according to UNESCO is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint.

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