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Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

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Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#251

Post by oblio »

People here probably don't want to hear this, but if there's going to be any social evolution to the next level, it will probably be 50+ years from now, when future generations will recognize that consumption/excessive consumption of the following substances should be banned:

* tobacco (completely banned, I don't think there's any reasonable amount of tobacco its users could use where its positive aspects outweigh the negative)

* alcohol

* sugar (this is a super complicated thing and it would have to include controlling how much added sugar each food has, what kinds of food are even allowed to have sugar in them - sauerkraut isn't supposed to have any sugar, US! - plus probably some active measures both positive and punitive against morbid obesity)

* all recreational and non-recreational drugs

* coffee/caffeine and all associated beverages

* probably vaping

Yes, this will probably take all fun in (current) life, we'll need to find new ways to have fun without these substances. We're quite smart, I'm sure we'll find a way. We'll just need to re-architect our societies, ergo "social evolution"/"50+ years from now").

But otherwise I don't think it's feasible to live 120+ years and to have everyone fully functional. It would probably also help those fallen on hard times (this would also require that everyone becomes much better at exercising their empathy, which is probably the > hard problem here).

Again, just because this doesn't sound like a fun world or a world you'd want to live in, it doesn't mean it couldn't be. Just like with everything about the future, it could just be a failure of imagination: > can't see how that could be, but people in the future might be able to make it work in new and interesting ways.

I imagine that 200 years from now we might look back at using all these substances as something as dumb as drawing blood with leeches for a migraine or something.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#252

Post by hypertele-Xii »

musicjohn wrote: post #167
playcache wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really no different to people using caffeine (aside to the legality). They are both drugs, the main difference being I bet more folks suffer from the effects of caffeine (anxiety, loss of sleep, stress), than the do cannabis.

Caffeine is one of the few stimulants that seems to be beneficial to the human health. Moderate use is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson’s disease... Certainly more beneficial than smoking cannabis (in most cases together with tobacco). Damage to the lungs is one of the first thing that comes to my mind.

Vaporization of cannabis without tobacco makes lungs a moot point though.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#253

Post by SirHound »

oblio wrote: post #251

People here probably don't want to hear this, but if there's going to be any social evolution to the next level, it will probably be 50+ years from now, when future generations will recognize that consumption/excessive consumption of the following substances should be banned: * tobacco (completely banned, I don't think there's any reasonable amount of tobacco its users could use where its positive aspects outweigh th…

Most recreational and non-recreational drugs are banned, alcohol was also banned. How well has this gone?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#254

Post by Tenoke »

oblio wrote: post #251

People here probably don't want to hear this, but if there's going to be any social evolution to the next level, it will probably be 50+ years from now, when future generations will recognize that consumption/excessive consumption of the following substances should be banned: * tobacco (completely banned, I don't think there's any reasonable amount of tobacco its users could use where its positive aspects outweigh th…

You'd be lucky to live to 80 if you ban all that, let alone 120+..

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#255

Post by johnnywasagood »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #96
futharkshill wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe because it has been scapegoated as a "gateway drug" for years and years by various interested parties?

Plain old denialism.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#256

Post by oblio »

SirHound wrote: post #253
oblio wrote: post #251

People here probably don't want to hear this, but if there's going to be any social evolution to the next level, it will probably be 50+ years from now, when future generations will recognize that consumption/excessive consumption of the following substances should be banned: * tobacco (completely banned, I don't think there's any reasonable amount of tobacco its users could use where its positive aspects outweigh th…

Most recreational and non-recreational drugs are banned, alcohol was also banned. How well has this gone?

Not well, because the social structure isn't in place.

People need to come to a general consensus that alcohol is bad and it needs to go on its own. And you need to come up with alternative supporting measures. For example people use alcohol to work around social pressures, so we would need to find a way to diminish those.

This is not something you let extremists enforce.

I am aware that I'm asking for something close to impossible in the current climate.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#257

Post by oblio »

Tenoke wrote: post #254
oblio wrote: post #251

People here probably don't want to hear this, but if there's going to be any social evolution to the next level, it will probably be 50+ years from now, when future generations will recognize that consumption/excessive consumption of the following substances should be banned: * tobacco (completely banned, I don't think there's any reasonable amount of tobacco its users could use where its positive aspects outweigh th…

You'd be lucky to live to 80 if you ban all that, let alone 120+..

And that's a failure of our current society.

A general failure of imagination and empathy, that we need to lean on these abuses to remain functional.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#258

Post by SirHound »

ALittleLight wrote: post #225
scaramanga wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of which would equally apply to alcohol or tobacco. And the data to support such a link for alcohol or tobacco is apparently just as strong, if not stronger. But this whole line is a canard. The question is, would prohibiting any or all of those help anyone? Does prohibition help or not? Because prohibition is the one part of the equation that a debate could actually have any affect on. But I think it is quite cl…

The consequences of a statement are irrelevant to the truth of that statement. My point, as I wrote, is that it may or may not be true that marijuana is a gateway drug even if few marijuana users actually go through that gateway.

Everyone who has ever crashed in a car first entered a car.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#259

Post by hypertele-Xii »

Yuioup wrote: 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.

As a continuous overthinker, I switched from admonishing myself for losing my train of thought to feeling relief for a brief moment of thoughtlessness.

In terms of evolutionary biology, all forms of life develop memory first. Only once sufficiently resilient, an organism can begin to learn to forget things. Forgetting is an incredibly valuable tool. Don't diss it. Embrace the train of thought going off the rails every now and then.

If it was important, it'll come back. If not, congratulations, you've just made space in your brain for new memories!

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#260

Post by SirHound »

oblio wrote: post #256
SirHound wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most recreational and non-recreational drugs are banned, alcohol was also banned. How well has this gone?

Not well, because the social structure isn't in place. People need to come to a general consensus that alcohol is bad and it needs to go on its own. And you need to come up with alternative supporting measures. For example people use alcohol to work around social pressures, so we would need to find a way to diminish those. This is not something you let extremists enforce. I am aware that I'm asking for something clos…

It will never disappear and chemically altering your mind is IMO an unalienable right as a human being in possession of their own body. Plenty of experiences have downsides at scale, no reason to shut them off.
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