Live data from Hacker News

Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

addictionjournal.org

41–50 of 568 posts

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#42
post #6

First alcohol, now this?! How else will we drown our sorrows and numb our pains?

I stopped drinking three years ago. Not because any problem just decided to stop. Started working out 3-5 days a week, heavy weightlifting. It’s been great and I feel happy, more motivated and it have split my focus, given me some much needed perspective. The only downside seems like I’m not getting tired as much as I used to which sometimes effects my sleep. No regrets.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#44

Since the article and the study are light on the details of "persistent" Here's the supporting data's in a bit more detail[0]. Overall this makes sense to me as an individually who personally enjoys it. The whole point of getting high is to be impaired (for me). So it's not really telling me anything new. Like drinking, I can't expect myself to be 100% functioning the next day so plan accordingly. The question is how…

Your comment strikes me cause I’ve been doing the same with alcohol - not to get drunk but to impair some of the logical thinking and analysis in the evenings.

Funnily enough I started to deal with ADD/ADHD in my family recently and learned from the doctor that this kind of behavior is symptomatic in adults.

Recently doc even shared this with me: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32489193/

Not directing this at you particularly but starting treatment helped with my family life so hoping it can nudge someone to their own benefit.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#45
post #30
post #18

How long do they persist? 1 day, 1 week, a year, ten years? I used to be a daily smoker and was horribly addicted. Now, at least ten years after I quit, I find myself having trouble remembering things. I lose my train of thought a lot too, really annoying. I don't know if that was attributed to my cannabis use, or just my brain in general.

That sucks, I empathise. If it’s any help the same thing happens to me and I smoked and drank very rarely. There could be a link between substance use and cognitive impairment but part of it could just be getting older.

Agree. Most people our senior (boomers, silent generation) never smoked or smoked briefly and what they smoked was very weak by modern standards. Yet many from those generations also suffered with cognitive decline despit little to no marijuana use.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#46

Since the article and the study are light on the details of "persistent" Here's the supporting data's in a bit more detail[0]. Overall this makes sense to me as an individually who personally enjoys it. The whole point of getting high is to be impaired (for me). So it's not really telling me anything new. Like drinking, I can't expect myself to be 100% functioning the next day so plan accordingly. The question is how…

Another view, is that, except for the extremely strong willed, getting used to a serene state of mind is addicting and kind of counter productive.

Perhaps, addictive is not the right word. But it seems to me (purely from a human nature perspective) its similar to obesity (Eating food is not "addictive", but there is a definite element of "craving" and inability to overcome that craving).

All in all, such substances are not natural and, with unchecked use, might put a whole society in danger. This is the reason I am ambivalent about the whole movement to legalize it.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#47

Somewhat of a hot take but I think about this every now and then - simply put, Marijuana is a drug that makes people lazy. It tanks personal productivity. So we extrapolate where large swaths of populations in various states where Marijuana is legalized, wouldn’t that have a huge negative impact on the GDP? Literally neutering people’s productivity. It’s not just careers but I’ve seen addicted people (including mysel…

There ought to be a name for this paradox. Maybe this is out of left field but I've called it the "stimpack & herion" problem.

If I was playing a game, and I was the general of an army, and I could tell my marines to "use stimpack", which would make them move faster and be more focused, or "use herion", which would make them move slower and be less focused. A general would never order "use herion", and plenty would order "use stimpack" daily.

But the human race is not an army, and you are not a general, or a king. You're looking at the world as an engineer looks at a problem with a set of objects. This is super common on this site - we're programmers, we love re-ordering complex systems.

Not only are people far, far, far more complex than inanimate objects, but it might turn out that issuing any orders, or banning any activity has a catastrophically different and more negative effect than you can possibly calculate. Who knows how much of our culture wouldn't exist if people weren't free to drown in their sorrows, or if people spent their lives resenting you for limiting them.

I'm not an absolutist, we should ban plenty of substances, but be very careful when considering society as a system to be optimized.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#49
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weed withdrawals can be very hard. I had to borderline force feed myself in the past right after quitting because my appetite was dead. You’re insomniac as hell, tired, irritable, and just generally uninterested

Weed withdrawals can last months for me, severe depression / anhedonia / executive function impairment; duration depending on how much/long I used. I'll bounce back but man does it suck going through the repair process. Nothing is enjoyable, life just feels dull and flat, and it's hard to get anything done.

The subreddit r/leaves has been really helpful for me in the past

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#50
post #6

First alcohol, now this?! How else will we drown our sorrows and numb our pains?

Controlled, ability based violence! Aka martial arts with an emphasis on live training.

I do jest only somewhat. As a personal anecdote I find sparing to be a tremendously positive tool to get my mind off of work and daily troubles.

Post reply on HN