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Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

addictionjournal.org

411–420 of 568 posts

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. An anecdote about cannabis use producing persistent cognitive impairment seemed to me to be relevant to an article describing cannabis use producing persistent cognitive impairment.

Did you miss the part where the kid became a heroin addict? Heroin will certainly provide long term impairment in the form of a lifelong addiction. Hard to find the effect of MJ in that long shadow.

I’m not sure why you’re asking if I missed that part given it was me that shared the anecdote to begin with.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#413
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether taking punches is healthier than weed or alcohol is of course questionable.

Depending on the particular martial art strikes could be light or even missing entirely as is the case of grappling arts such as judo or jiu-jitsu thus lessening the risk of head trauma.

Agree that judo/jiu-jitsu have far less risk of head trauma/concussion, but as far as sports go they are still relatively dangerous - I quit after having one too many injuries.

I would say probably the safest sport, and my current favorite, is Olympic weightlifting, although climbing is in many ways similar to jiu-jitsu, and much safer.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#414

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…

I use it as a sleep aid via CBD pills with an equal amount of THC. THC just knocks me out. Dosage is consistent and there’s no smell. I don’t enjoy the high from THC vs alcohol, so I just sleep through it. THC’s high feels like my brain is being “underclocked” which isn’t a pleasant experience for me personally.

I’ve tried living without it during the lockdowns since working from home saves hours. From eight months of not using it, I’ve found that I lose about 2-3 hours of sleep per day which drastically affects my performance. I’ve tried melatonin and I consistently workout every week, but nothing is as good as a sleep aid for me as THC

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#415
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…

Disclaimer: I'm an almost daily smoker of cannabis. There is definitely some impairment long term. I think we can assume that even without this huge study. I don't think knowing that matters unless we have some scale that tells us how dramatic that impairment is. If I compare someone who smoked all the time, but also had a rich and engaging social life with a lifelong abstainer who live a mostly isolated existence, w…

I wonder, if you hold other psychoactive substances - say coffee, alcohol, or nicotine to the same standard?

That is, we should assume they cause long term impairment without the need for any kind of study?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#416
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In me, it's partially a coping mechanisms, and a method to to silence the brain demons. It's interesting that you brought up food, because I'm an emotional eater too. I've had them under control for a while now, but the emotional eating is a struggle sometimes. I need to trick myself into not doing it. For weed it's less of a struggle because I genuinely notice the "persistent" effects (no more than a few days in me)…

Try quitting Coffee / caffeine. The most horrific withdrawal ensues (at least for me).

I used to drink a litre of brewed coffee a day, when I worked at home. I drank it from 9AM to 4PM. When I resumed office work, that fell to about 3 shots a day (espresso equivalent), all by itself. No withdrawal.

Now I'm retired. I drink one strong coffee in the morning, with occassionally a shot later, on te rare occassions when I pass my fave coffee shop.

None of these changes required any effort, or even any intention; they just happened. There were never withdrawal symptoms. By comparison, I have withdrawn from both alcohol and nicotine; nicotine calls loudly, but alcohol withdrawal is really horrible (and dangerous).

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I'm an almost daily smoker of cannabis. There is definitely some impairment long term. I think we can assume that even without this huge study. I don't think knowing that matters unless we have some scale that tells us how dramatic that impairment is. If I compare someone who smoked all the time, but also had a rich and engaging social life with a lifelong abstainer who live a mostly isolated existence, w…

I wonder, if you hold other psychoactive substances - say coffee, alcohol, or nicotine to the same standard? That is, we should assume they cause long term impairment without the need for any kind of study?

You should assume any disturbance of your brains chemical equilibrium is bad long term. Those drugs included. Absent fixing a specific deficiency that is.

If a study comes back and says, with a high confidence, that isn't the case for this or that, great, but I think it's a safe assumption for most chemicals.

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm saying it's not enough to show something is bad, as pretty much everything is bad. It has to be bad enough to matter.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#418
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, impairment is not my intention at all. But, to not impair myself takes careful moderation and preparation. For cognitive benefits or "virtuous pot smoking", I need to have exercise, sleep, right intentions, a clean room and music. If I do it right, I have transformational ideas. If I don't write them down, they are gone. The first hour is often a wash. I expect little. I often combine with coffee. Then, after an…

what kind of music do you use? Any playlists you can share?

The flow state music podcast on Spotify is perfect.

Anything without lyrics.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#419
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mmm sounds like American individualism. You do not live in isolation and nothing happens in isolation. Everything we/you do affects others. Freedom is a false carrot that's been used to make people feel good enough so they don't burn down their governments when things go wrong. Stop paying rates/taxes and see how free you are. Every single person who end up in EC/ER due to drugs/alcohol/jumping off roofs, are a drain…

> Mmm sounds like American individualism. Having rights to one's own physical body has nothing to do with America. If we don't have ultimate physical control over our own physical body, to do with it as we please, we can't really be said to have any meaningful rights at all. All other basic rights as an existing entity stem from the fact that we are ourselves, and others are not. It's absolutely not individualism to…

> How can you even have the concept of a society of people if the societal group claims ownership rights over the bodies of the people that supersede those of the people themselves?

Uh... how can you have the concept of a body of cells if the body claims ownership over the entirety of each one of it's cells?

Did you stub your toe? Well it's not actually, your toe, it's an independent living organism, and you need to respect it's God given right to run into hard objects every now and then.

Really though, I think if you explore the wide variety of human cultures that have existed over time, you'll find that historically speaking, the default level of organization has been the tribe, not the individual. Indeed, individualism as we know it is only possible in highly organized societies, with super-powerful governments that create a monetary system, common language, infrastructure, legal and judicial system to enforce contracts, and other things that enable one to live "independently" like Ebenezer Scrooge.

For a right-wing take on this, please see "The Rational Optimist" by Matt Ridley. If you prefer a more moderate view, I recommend "Better Angels of our Nature" by Steven Pinker. Finally, the book "Debt, the first 5000 years" by David Graeber touches on more than a few of these topics.

Granted, I may be misunderstanding your argument, so please clarify if this is the case. :)

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me: Do it alone. Do the first 5% of the task to get the momentum. Vape it slowly while doing the task. Combine w caffeine. Psych youself up by saying "what if...". Use low temp vape so co2 and physical symptoms don't interfere. Use it to let your curiosity propel you. Use the smallest amount you can to achieve the effect. Try different strains and keep track. Sometimes a body strain can put you in touch with your…

This is great advice, have found much the same (different people are different). I'd only add to make sure you're drinking enough water and have some quality snacks nearby.

I drink a lot of water and never eat until I want to come down. When I eat, I become mortal again. Really, if you can just avoid eating, it is a completely different high.

I definitely agree with doing it alone. I also use a fake cigarette "one hitter," as it is a minimal amount. It is always enough to work.

Also, yoga. Going to a Yoga class after a puff is just so healthy. Building health habits into drug use is a very good harmony of interests. Helps convince my wife that I'm not just getting stoned-- if I smoke, do work, work out, generate, etc—its hard to judge. (She also likes the sex—which Carl Sagan also talked about-- search for Mr x).

I believe Cannabis has a sort of state dependent memory. If you make an effort to fill cannabis experiences with lots of positive, productive, aesthetic events, it kind of "comes out" other times when you smoke. So, it takes practice! So, smoke before going to a museum, a concert or upon reaching the top of a mountain-- positive recreational use is another way to prepare for applied work-oriented use.

Never use it to escape. Use it to sensitize. And if you need it to solve your problems, that's a good sign that you might want to take a break.

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