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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

#61

Post by hanniabu »

deith wrote: post #45
vertex-four wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And to think that I bought my child a bicycle for his birthday. I should be arrested for attempted murder.... /s

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

#62

Post by IgorPartola »

Well yeah. So long as the federal government keeps classifying cannabis as a tier 1 controlled substance (cocaine is tier 2), no research money will flow to academics to do the relevant research.

In the meantime, we will continue seeing claims like RSO curing all cancers and other diseases (http://www.trueactivist.com/this-is-the-cannabis-oil-recipe-...). Being able to research effects of cannabis is reason number umpteen to decriminalize/legalize it at the federal level.

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

#63

Post by hanniabu »

lemiffe wrote: post #4

> The worry is that all the online chatter about cannabis’s beneficial qualities will have offline consequences, ultimately influencing attitudes and behaviors, Allem said I doubt this is a realistic consequence... I mean, who is following these bots? Would people really listen to a bot? I presume most people would be able to tell bot-controlled Twitter accounts from friends and legitimate followers. I think the stud…

> I mean, who is following these bots? Would people really listen to a bot?

It certainly helped get Trump elected

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

#64

Post by non-entity »

smileysteve wrote: post #60
non-entity wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Here is my pet theory: many politicians have historically opposed cannabis use because they believed cannabis use makes people lazy and believe widespread use of cannabis could suppress economic productivity. Or y'know, this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2016/03/23/nixons-d...

It's both or all 3. 1. Corporate interests want to reduce hemp use for oil and material to help their dino oil products 2. People buyin that its bad 3. Politicians use it as a way to think people are bad 4. One generation later and the reason is whatever is most expediant. I believe that 80+% of politicians today that oppose legalization do so genuinely because they grew up being told it was bad and a gateway drug. A…

> I believe that 80+% of politicians today that oppose legalization do so genuinely because they grew up being told it was bad and a gateway drug.

That's fair, and makes the most sense, I suppose

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

#65

Post by g00gler »

superkuh wrote: post #48

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…

It drives me crazy that they sell CBD at gas stations. It’s not the same as the products I buy at the dispensary and is snake oil.

However, my medical cannabis packages don’t give that kind of dosage information.

I don’t have a high CBD product on hand but it typically says something like “1 dose is a [3|5] second inhalation” or 1mL of a tincture. The whole package typically includes less than 600mg CBD.

Are these studies for shrinking tumor growth? Could you provide links?

As an aside, I met some guys from a company in Colorado that sells pounds of high CBD flower by mail for around $130... can’t imagine that making RSO from their hemp would be hundreds of dollars a week.

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

#66

Post by acollins1331 »

deith wrote: post #30
kgwxd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been studies linking just about any outcome to any behaviour, anyone with enough money has ever wanted.

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…

Dumb attitudes like yours are why we are having such a difficult time moving to a working healthcare system in the US. Because it's paid for by taxes you want to use it as a vehicle to control other people. Screw off. People can have healthcare and freedom too. You've benefited far more from the government than you've ever paid in taxes.

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

#67

Post by quickthrowman »

deith wrote: post #19
shkkmo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the federal level, weed is still classified as schedule 1. The federal government's stance has served to place severe restrictions on exactly the sort of research you seem to be calling for. There is certainly some evidence for health and even psychological risks, but none that I am aware of for "brain damage", which is why you are likely to be downvoted.

US is not the only country in the world, and there have been studies linking teenage use to psychosis and schizophrenia

What’s the link? Perhaps teenagers with schizophrenia are predisposed to using marijuana.

For instance, 80%+ of schizophrenics smoke cigarettes. Do cigarettes cause psychosis and schizophrenia, or do schizophrenics seek out nicotine due to their schizophrenia? It’s not that simple.

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

#68

Post by DataWorker »

hanniabu wrote: post #61
deith wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

And to think that I bought my child a bicycle for his birthday. I should be arrested for attempted murder.... /s

You should know that bikes are a gateway to harder stuff.

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

#69

Post by 1337biz »

account73466 wrote: post #50
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.

Depending on which ideology you follow one could also make the case that this happens in first world nation that already have a problem with lower and lower birthrates.

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

#70

Post by kortex »

thrower123 wrote: post #31
deith wrote: post #2

You don't have to go and look on social media, just come here to HN and say "perhaps weed is not completely safe and we should research whether it could damage the brain" to get downvoted

You get this with any kind of health-related opinion, on any forum. Just look at anything diet-related, and watch the people spouting vegetarian and vegan propaganda come out of the woodwork. Health cults have taken over. My theory is that so many people feel powerless in many aspects of their lives, and they fall back on diet and exercise and snake-oil supplements as one corner of life they can over-compensate on.

Yes, but I don't think it's just "health cults". Locus of control and learned helplessness are very powerful drivers. If you have a person that has derived benefit from an intervention, placebo or otherwise, and you challenge that mental model, you cause a mighty cognitive dissonance in their brain. That challenge must be "dealt with", the usual outlet being arguments over the internet.
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