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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

#141

Post by Broken_Hippo »

eddyerburgh wrote: post #60
fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #4

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?

Don’t you want to operate in life at your cognitive best

I'm over 40 and have worked crap jobs most of my life. It isn't like my increasing my cognitive abilities being "best" - whatever the heck that actually means - is going to make a huge difference in my life. To tell you the truth, I'm much more worried about cognitive decline as a side effect of MS than I am the effects of getting high.

It isn't like it makes me stupid. I simply think differently and that isn't all bad. Cleaning house and other mundane chores are less bothersome, and my life is full of this mundane crap. It also isn't like being drunk and I can still participate in society (I personally don't drive and just use public transport, sober or not)

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#142

Post by vintermann »

playcache wrote: post #123
hooande wrote: 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…

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.

A big difference is that caffeine is a stimulant, or "upper". Stimulants have a very different role socially. They are little good as excuses: No one is going to claim the reason they hit on the boss' wife at the Christmas party was because they got too high on coffee, or that the reason they got low grades in college was that they spent all day in their room drinking red bull.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#143

Post by kunai »

erulabs wrote: post #86
systemvoltage wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Why waste time with Jazz and jeans? Much more efficient to be reading didactics or working in a factory.

Considering the level of social infrastructure in the former DDR exceeded that in the BRD at the time of reunification, they might have had a point there. More public hospitals, more research facilities, better public transportation, more affordable housing. Sure, none of it had the flashy elements of Western capitalism, but it mostly worked.

Note that I'm not endorsing the Stasi or the many other things the DDR did to keep its population oppressed. But real life is full of grey areas.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#144

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

kumarvvr wrote: post #46
irjustin wrote: post #14

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…

Another view, is that, except for the extremely strong willed, getting used to a serene state of mind is addicting and kind of counter productive. Perhaps, addictive is not the right word. But it seems to me (purely from a human nature perspective) its similar to obesity (Eating food is not "addictive", but there is a definite element of "craving" and inability to overcome that craving). All in all, such substances a…

Plenty of animals consume alcohol (e.g. fermented fruit), presumably to get high. Is that natural?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#145

Post by cthalupa »

olivermarks wrote: post #8

It seems virtually all stimulants used as a crutch to counter anxiety, depression, physical pain etc wind up killing off a lot of brain cells. My concern with modern (incredibly strong) Cannabis/THC is that some regular users seem to struggle with withdrawal if they don't smoke their bowls regularly, run short on weed etc.

Near daily smoker, these days pretty exclusively of the high potency stuff.

I've quit cold turkey multiple times for a variety of reasons, sometimes for 6+ months at a time. I've never noticed any withdrawal symptoms, thankfully. Or cravings on days/weekends/whatever where I don't smoke.

It's anecdotal experience, obviously, but it leads me to believe that there's not some near-universal withdrawal process that pot smokers go through that you would see with someone who is going through opiate withdrawal or similar.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#146

Post by Ar-Curunir »

systemvoltage wrote: post #23

Somewhat of a hot take but I think about this every now and then - simply put, Marijuana is a drug that makes people lazy. It tanks personal productivity. So we extrapolate where large swaths of populations in various states where Marijuana is legalized, wouldn’t that have a huge negative impact on the GDP? Literally neutering people’s productivity. It’s not just careers but I’ve seen addicted people (including mysel…

Right, because human existence is entirely to "improve GDP". People have lives beyond making money for their bosses, you know?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#147

Post by misja111 »

I can confirm, I have known some people who smoked Cannabis basically the whole day long for several years. They lost certain cognitive abilities, e.g. they were not really able to do calculations in their head anymore. They also got severe problems with their biorhythm by the way.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#148

Post by tigershark »

playcache wrote: post #123
hooande wrote: 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…

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.

No, it’s not. If you are really comparing weed and coffee either you never tried weed or you are posting in bad faith.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#149

Post by loceng »

xlii wrote: post #44
irjustin wrote: post #14

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…

Your comment strikes me cause I’ve been doing the same with alcohol - not to get drunk but to impair some of the logical thinking and analysis in the evenings. Funnily enough I started to deal with ADD/ADHD in my family recently and learned from the doctor that this kind of behavior is symptomatic in adults. Recently doc even shared this with me: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32489193/ Not directing this at you par…

What was the treatment, I presume medication, but was anything preventative-proactive or non-medication prescribed or suggested first re: lifestyle changes like cleaning up diet etc?

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#150

Post by Karrot_Kream »

rex_lupi wrote: post #107
serial_dev wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All in all, such substances are not natural... But they are natural, aren't they? No less natural than the watermelon we are all eating (it might be cultivated), and I don't see anyone wanting to criminalize eating watermelon. Weed, tobacco, alcohol, coca leaves, poppy, they are all natural. Also, even if it's natural, it has nothing to do with its dangerousness, so I don't follow your argument. With regards to leg…

They are not "natural" in the sense that humans don't consume ethyl alcohol to survive, in fact it is often quite damaging to biological systems. Apart from some microbes I'm not aware of any other organisms that use alcohol as their energy source. Alcohol/thc/caffeine/nicotine (you name it) do not fall in the "natural" diet of humans. Most psychoactive substances are metabolites which plants/fungi store in them to d…

Sure, but what if you tripped and sprained your ankle? Yeah it hurts in the moment, but would it cognitively impair you the next day? It certainly might; maybe when you're thinking about something while in the shower, you put too much weight on the ankle and the pain makes you drop your train of thought. I think the point that GP was going for was (or what I read at least) that there are many human experiences which cause some form of cognitive impairment; it's more important to see how deleterious the impairment actually is to the individual and to society before judging it.
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