Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 208 posts

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#91

Post by freehunter »

DanBC wrote: post #53
Zelphyr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're just bad drivers in general, regardless of our level of intoxication. Texting. Dancing (I see this frequently). The number of elderly people who drive who shouldn't be is mind boggling. I'm of a mind that its actually way too easy to obtain a drivers license in this country. For example; my mother took my uncle to get his drivers license renewed. Why she did is beyond me because he has early stage dementia. He…

> The number of elderly people who drive who shouldn't be is mind boggling. Is this supported by any research? Road traffic accident statistics show too many young people. So, older people might be safer drivers. Of course, there are a few people with dementia or visual impairment who shouldn't be driving but it's interesting that it's ok to suggest that older people are risky drivers when that doesn't appear to be t…

Old people are more accident prone than middle-aged drivers, and the numbers back that up. However, young drivers are just as likely to be involved in a fatal accident as old drivers.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/10/teenager...

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#92

Post by guelo »

jrells wrote: post #78
Zelphyr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're just bad drivers in general, regardless of our level of intoxication. Texting. Dancing (I see this frequently). The number of elderly people who drive who shouldn't be is mind boggling. I'm of a mind that its actually way too easy to obtain a drivers license in this country. For example; my mother took my uncle to get his drivers license renewed. Why she did is beyond me because he has early stage dementia. He…

I would question the claim that Americans are bad drivers in general. Compared to driving I've seen in other countries (particularly India, China), even the worst drivers I've seen in America aren't so bad. And the worst drivers in America I know personally are not actually Americans but internationals. Maybe we are generally worse compared to other western countries but my experience suggests the prevalence of drivi…

There are different driving cultures and becoming proficient in one style might look like bad driving to someone from another culture.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#93

Post by remarkEon »

dethstar wrote: post #42
Someone1234 wrote: post #23

I've never been a user, but I do support legalisation. The reason I support it even though I myself wouldn't benefit is: - It is at least as safe as tobacco and alcohol. So even if we leave the question of what is safer on the table, I think most people would agree based on available evidence that it isn't LESS safe than those two, and they're legal. - The "war on drugs" has been a disaster. It has actually hurt econ…

>We gain tax money from it being legal AND drug users aren't funding pretty horrifying criminality in countries like Mexico and Columbia. As a note, I remember an article somewhere about how it was meth the drug that gave more profit to drug mafias. So it'd still be a problem. The question is, bigger or smaller? I'm pretty sure there's data of the translation from marijuana users->hard drugs users.

I'm pretty sure there's data of the translation from marijuana users->hard drugs users.

It's super hard to control for endogeneity of those variables though, which would cast significant doubt on a causal interpretation of what's going on. The fact that marijuana is currently illegal means that there is an associative bias for dealers - they have access to/hang out with harder drugs/more dangerous dealers.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#94

Post by jMyles »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #62
jMyles wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone's mileage varies - you'll find no shortage of people who lament the long term effects (although abstinence for even a month or so seems to cause complete reversal). For my part, smoking cannabis is great for me, especially for programming. I find both that I feel more focused and that I am more capable of juggling multiple tasks. The "listener" in me comes alive, and I'm better able to empathize with the aut…

>After smoking fairly consistently for 13 years, I seem to be blessed by having no negative effects of which I am aware. Well, that's the problem with cognitive faults, we usually aren't aware of them.

I'm sorry - did you just change the predicate of your comment from "Except, apparently, your prose skill" to "Well, that's the problem with cognitive faults, we usually aren't aware of them" after we had responded to it?

Are you serious?

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#95

Post by autoreleasepool »

tsomctl wrote: post #88
integraton wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> drive under the influence The research about Marijuana's impact on driving is inconclusive, but there are indications that it might have no negative impact (for the most recent example: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1667... ) and even that it might reduce risks of crashes. As a result, it's unfortunate that it's apparently socially acceptable to assume without question that marijuana has a…

No. Just, no. Speaking from my own experience, and that of my friends, marijuana can make you a shittier driver. I very much doubt the current scientific consensus is that marijuana in general makes you a better driver. It is possible that there are some strains with a certain cannabinoid ratio that has a minimal impact (like low in THC), but there are other strains that have a major impact.

You are responding to a post with a link to research by countering with anecdotal evidence. The parent also never said that "the current scientific consensus is that marijuana in general makes you a better driver". That's a total distortion of the comment was saying.

I, for one, think we should be open to actually studying the topic instead of baselessly and unscientifically concluding that driving under the influence of marijuana is equally as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#96

Post by lotsofmangos »

mark-r wrote: post #86
lotsofmangos wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure there's data of the translation from marijuana users->hard drugs users. The data for oxygen is far more alarming. 100% of hard drug users users first started out on oxygen. Furthermore, if nobody was allowed oxygen, all illegal drug addiction would stop. Oxygen is the ultimate gateway drug.

DHMO is pretty bad too: http://www.dhmo.org/

Without oxygen it would just float away harmlessly.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#98

Post by hga »

techmarketerguy wrote: post #75
hga wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suspected "unwanted mental health effects" include full blow permanent schizophrenia. (Emphasis on suspected, for we know there's a lot of mental illness self-medication with psychoactive drugs starting with alcohol.) That strikes me as making it very hard to do ethical research of the sort you're positing.

If you think regular usage of cannabis increases the general prevalence of schizophrenia sharply enough that it would prohibit further medical research, I don't really know what to tell you. I just don't see it.

This is a question of ethical experiment design.

You by definition start with a postulate that there is an "unwanted mental health effect" you want to reduce. We'll assume for the moment it isn't permanent schizophrenia. To see if you've reduced it, you need a control group getting the "wild type", who will be at risk of getting permanent schizophrenia to the best of our current knowledge. If that risk is real, there's also a real chance the causative agent(s) will be administered to the control group.

BTW, two of the major active ingredients are already legal drugs or being tested in the US:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol#Marinol (Schedule III!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabilone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabiximols (in US Phase III drug trials)

So your initial premise that the US government hasn't been allowing medical research is not quite the case. However, unlike recreational use, pharmaceutical use has a much higher tolerance of side effects, there's medical gain to be balanced against risks, or so you believe and keep testing at each stage of the drug trials.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#99

Post by maw »

guelo wrote: post #92
jrells wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would question the claim that Americans are bad drivers in general. Compared to driving I've seen in other countries (particularly India, China), even the worst drivers I've seen in America aren't so bad. And the worst drivers in America I know personally are not actually Americans but internationals. Maybe we are generally worse compared to other western countries but my experience suggests the prevalence of drivi…

There are different driving cultures and becoming proficient in one style might look like bad driving to someone from another culture.

The amount of damaged cars and stationary objects and injured people in bad-driving countries belies that particular nugget of cultural relativism.

Re: Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say

#100

Post by techpeace »

tsomctl wrote: post #88
integraton wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> drive under the influence The research about Marijuana's impact on driving is inconclusive, but there are indications that it might have no negative impact (for the most recent example: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1667... ) and even that it might reduce risks of crashes. As a result, it's unfortunate that it's apparently socially acceptable to assume without question that marijuana has a…

No. Just, no. Speaking from my own experience, and that of my friends, marijuana can make you a shittier driver. I very much doubt the current scientific consensus is that marijuana in general makes you a better driver. It is possible that there are some strains with a certain cannabinoid ratio that has a minimal impact (like low in THC), but there are other strains that have a major impact.

The plural of anecdote isn't data.
Post reply on HN