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Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

addictionjournal.org

81–90 of 568 posts

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#81
post #2

Here is the study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/add.15764

> residual neurocognitive deficits were observed in heavy cannabis-using youths Emphasis on youth . Tl;dr clickbait headline, don’t let your kids smoke a lot of pot, if that wasn’t already obvious.

Woah, it's a meta-analysis. So, you're definitely not going to get a good summary in 10 words.

Early use of cannabis was correlated with worse outcomes, but those who started later in life were still associated with deficits in the studies surveyed.

> To conclude, meta-analytical data on the acute effects of cannabis use on neurocognitive function have shown that cannabis intoxication leads to small to moderate deficits in numerous cognitive domains, most notably executive functions, verbal learning and memory and processing speed. These acute impairments are in accordance with the residual effects that have been documented in several meta-analyses suggesting that the detrimental effects of cannabis persist beyond the period of acute intake.

and

> Additionally, as youths remain particularly susceptible to the effects

Are both in their conclusion and paint a more complete tl;dr.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#82
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That is not withdrawal. That is a preexisting condition.

Why do you mean?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#83
post #63

I used to wish to be a professional drummer. When I was 14 I attended a drum camp for a week to meet and learn from some of the world’s best drummers, along with other children and adults from around the UK with similar ambitions. I became friends with one kid who was exceptionally talented as a musician, but also had a chronic marijuana habit. He was a better drummer than me at the time, but the drum camp was held e…

I'm not sure how a suicidal heroin junkie fucking up their life with hard drugs is relevant in a thread about cannabis. The whole "gateway drug" nonsense was debunked decades ago.

[deleted]

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#84
post #78

I've known many people in silicon valley who smoke cannabis regularly (several times a week if not daily). They all seemed to be cognitively normal. Some of them function on a level I only wish I could attain. I think regular cannabis use attracts a certain type of person. That type of person can vary in their ability and intelligence, just like any type of person. This is also true of say, hardcore fans of fantasy f…

No post body was provided.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#85
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.

It's a bit distressing how many people don't think weed can be addictive, clearly it is, just not in the same way as something like cigarettes. That said, my friend, 10 years of life make you forgetful sometimes. That's just called living.

I was going to say as well, just the act of getting older means some things will be forgotten. The brain does not have an infinite store. And as you get older, there are many more things that you are responsible for, and therefore some things get sacrificed from your memory. That’s just fact.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#86
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

Interesting analogy. Yeah, I tend to combine narrow observations and extrapolate them to see what happens on a societal scale. Speaking of Generals, I can imagine China/Russia drumming up pro-Marijuana narrative in US to cripple it from within. When 20% of the population is addicted to Marijuana with memory loss and obesity (munchies! hello), it is a good strategy. I mean, isn't that the reason China is banning video…

In some ways you're not wrong, but this was the mentality of East Germany as well. Why waste time with Jazz and jeans? Much more efficient to be reading didactics or working in a factory.

Maybe China is the best anyone has ever been at social engineering and maybe this time they'll get it just right. I'm not so sure.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#87
post #66

I used to wish to be a professional drummer. When I was 14 I attended a drum camp for a week to meet and learn from some of the world’s best drummers, along with other children and adults from around the UK with similar ambitions. I became friends with one kid who was exceptionally talented as a musician, but also had a chronic marijuana habit. He was a better drummer than me at the time, but the drum camp was held e…

This is totally irrelevant in multiple different ways.

Why is it that everytime a bad story about MJ is mentioned, there are always so many people in comments doubting authenticity and relevancy? It is almost like an agenda or something

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#88

My personal experience certainly agrees with this. I definitely shouldn’t smoke on a work night, and it’s not a good idea on Sunday either. The more hours until I need to perform cognitively, the better. I abstained for months before the last time I did job interviews. On the other hand, I know people also gainfully employed at top companies who code while high and claim to have no issues. Your mileage may vary, I gu…

So why smoke at all? Don’t you want to operate in life at your cognitive best?

Not all the time. Overthinking is a thing, there is a reason why taking walks or showering helps solve problems when fully focused cognitive attention was leading only to frustration.

All that said, I think it is a good thing to not make anything that affects(increase or decrease) cognitive performance a habit.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#89

I used to wish to be a professional drummer. When I was 14 I attended a drum camp for a week to meet and learn from some of the world’s best drummers, along with other children and adults from around the UK with similar ambitions. I became friends with one kid who was exceptionally talented as a musician, but also had a chronic marijuana habit. He was a better drummer than me at the time, but the drum camp was held e…

This is an interesting story, but you have to wonder what led to this kid starting to smoke weed in the first place. It sounds to me like he may have had bigger underlying mental health issues that caused him to start smoking, rather than the weed being the cause of his subsequent suïcideer attempt and heroin addiction.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#90
post #6

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

Seriously. Am I supposed to just work and have a boring milquetoast existence hiking or whatever to make it to 80? When it really comes down to it, the most euphoric moments and best memories of my life have been messed up on weed and alcohol with people and music. Itd be depressing to move on and just reminisce about when times were better…

Your description of being messed up on weed actually sounds depressing.

I’ll take a hike in some beautiful nature anyday over depressing night in smoking weed. You have no idea how positive an effect being outside in nature has on you.

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