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Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

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Re: Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

#4
One aspect I’m curious about, especially given the younger cohort, is the causal directionality here - especially when I was younger, I knew a lot of people who were self-medicating with cannabis for things like anxiety and ADHD, which also have effects on working memory and executive function. I’ve known enough heavy users long enough that I do believe there’s long term cognitive effects (whether directly or indirectly), but the specific effects and cohorts they were evaluating here gave me some pause.

Re: Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

#5
post #2

Effect size of -0.3 standard deviations on working memory. P value of .02 corrected for FDR. Not huge. Sounds believable to me.

These studies may also miss categorize heavy/habitual users. Heavy canabis use tends to leave a somewhat functional if unmotivated individual. This is in contrast to heavy alcohol users who quickly lose the ability to function in society due to hangovers and inebriated actions.

Re: Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

#7
post #4

One aspect I’m curious about, especially given the younger cohort, is the causal directionality here - especially when I was younger, I knew a lot of people who were self-medicating with cannabis for things like anxiety and ADHD, which also have effects on working memory and executive function. I’ve known enough heavy users long enough that I do believe there’s long term cognitive effects (whether directly or indirec…

> self-medicating

I know this doesn’t add to the conversation but I hate that term, they should just say they’re addicted to weed. 95% of the time the anxiety is either normal or a result of chronic weed use (ie withdrawal)

Re: Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

#9
post #5
post #2

Effect size of -0.3 standard deviations on working memory. P value of .02 corrected for FDR. Not huge. Sounds believable to me.

These studies may also miss categorize heavy/habitual users. Heavy canabis use tends to leave a somewhat functional if unmotivated individual. This is in contrast to heavy alcohol users who quickly lose the ability to function in society due to hangovers and inebriated actions.

That does not match my experience with alcoholics. In my experience they can stay functional in society for a very, very long time.

Not that that has anything to do with the original topic :)

Re: Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

#10
post #5
post #2

Effect size of -0.3 standard deviations on working memory. P value of .02 corrected for FDR. Not huge. Sounds believable to me.

These studies may also miss categorize heavy/habitual users. Heavy canabis use tends to leave a somewhat functional if unmotivated individual. This is in contrast to heavy alcohol users who quickly lose the ability to function in society due to hangovers and inebriated actions.

There are some surprisingly functional heavy drinkers. People who consume alcohol throughout the day rather than just at night can largely avoid hangovers and end up with incredibly high tolerance levels.

You don’t want them to operate heavy machinery, but for rote tasks that don’t take a lot of coordination it can be hard to tell.

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