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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

#191

Post by somenameforme »

joshmanders wrote: post #134
jimmygrapes wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah well I started smoking weed when I was 16 and I'm a poor man approaching retirement with no family or friends or assets and a tenuous job predicated in my ability to perform manual labor. Now what.

You're statistically more likely to become a burnout drunk than a burnout stoner. Literally every highly successful person you look up to in tech has been a proponent of weed usage, hell some even went farther with psychedelics. Like op, I too attribute a lot of my success to being a daily user of weed since I was 12.

Exceptional success is often associated with exceptional behavior. Not as in good, but as in the exception. For instance many/most highly successful tech people also dropped out of university and don't have many great things to say about it. They may well be right, but that's not a path to success for the average person unless they instead plan on pursuing a skilled trade or what not.

I also imagine extreme success drives social issues. It has to suck not ever truly being able to know if somebody is interested in you because they're interested in you, or if they're simply interested in your money/fame. To say nothing of the fact that a lot of these guys can't even really safely walk around strangers anymore. It all seems like a path to various artificial forms of coping, like drugs. Basically the same reason Hollywood types are also screwed.

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

#192

Post by theshackleford »

Just adding my experience/anecdote.

Cannabis came into the picture in my early 30s after years of pain management attempts following an SCI. Opiates and nerve pain meds like Lyrica somewhat dulled the pain but also dulled everything else, turning me into a near-zombie. Even at reduced doses, Lyrica messes with my thinking and lingers long after stopping. I honestly can not express strongly enough just how much high dosage, longer term drug based treatment of ongoing pain barely feels better than not managing it at all in terms of what it costs and it ultimately lead me to eventually cave and try medical cannabis.

Cannabis hasn’t eliminated the pain or worked as directly as opiates, despite what some insist. But alongside a lower Lyrica dose, it’s helped me be a person again. The pain is still there, but instead of dominating my thoughts, I can compartmentalize it and actually function, without losing the majority of my cognitive abilities when taking it. I’m 100% slower than before the injury and its usage, but I am outputting more, of a higher quality than before I introduced it into the mix using more traditional pain management methods.

It’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived with chronic pain the benefits it has brought me despite the downsides. And it does have downsides.

Given the benefits it has brought me, and not knowing the lived experiences of others, I feel I am not in a position to say whether or not the downsides or the positives weigh each other out for any other individual. I imagine like most drugs, its probably depdendent on the individual and circumstances I suppose.

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

#194

Post by hresvelgr »

tombert wrote: post #66

I've never done any drugs outside of alcohol, and I didn't do that until I was 21 and I never really drank that much even when I did. I never smoked weed as a teenager because I had heard horror stories of people spiking illegal drugs with really horrible stuff. I have no idea if those stories were true, mostly likely they were exaggerated by law enforcement, but it worked to make me too much of a coward to try it. B…

> It always felt like when my friends in high school started getting into weed, they would become insufferable pseudo-intellectuals

My experience is that it temporarily made me and my friends blithering idiots. There seems to be a broad range of experiences.

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

#196

Post by eleumik »

onemoresoop wrote: post #144
throw18376 wrote: post #113

cannabis is pretty safe for the average person, even heavy users. it's not good for you, but i think most of the effects like this are explained by selection effects. unhappy people use it to self-medicate. however, using cannabis comes with a very big tail risk. if you are susceptible to psychosis, cannabis can cause it or make it much more severe. this is undoubtedly causal. people take all kinds of worse risks in…

When I was younger I had a bout of insomnia and somebody procured me some wee. I did not know how strong it was and had a psychedelic trip instead. It was terrifying, I thought it was the end for me. Nobody seems to believe me that weed could give you psychedelic visuals.

Of course it can, weed is a multiplier. You probably had more than just insomnia like anxiety or ?

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

#197

Post by guywithahat »

ultimafan wrote: post #49
guywithahat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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)

I agree with this in general though of course there are exceptions though from anecdotal experience they're outliers. The amount of people I went through my teenaged and then university years with who adopted the stance of "weed isn't a "real" drug and smoking every day for years on end doesn't make me an addict" when it was clearly affecting their life negatively in a visible way was always baffling. The majority of…

I had a college friend who claimed it wasn't addictive, and then became addicted. Towards the end of freshman year he quit school for a couple weeks, just to determine he couldn't stop smoking and went right back. Last I spoke to him he was still trying to quit, and he had a new method of locking the weed in a box to limit his use.

His withdrawals included him becoming extremely anxious, which is presumably why so many people think the weed helps with their anxiety. In 30 years we're going to look at weed like a slightly different version of cigarettes and wonder why anyone legalized it knowing what the consequences would be.

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

#198

Post by ramesh31 »

somenameforme wrote: post #189
brailsafe wrote: post #91

I'm inclined to believe that there is fairly likely to be long-term negative health effects from cannabis use, but that the very obvious correlation many people in this thread can probably identify with their friends in highschool is just that, a correlation, for some reason or series of reasons. My friends who really got into weed at that time were absolutely addicted to it, and some of them I do believe let it affe…

A cynical take on many governments embracing weed is Soma [1]. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(Brave_New_World)

>A cynical take on many governments embracing weed is Soma

The marijuana prohibition of the 20th century was a complete anomaly in practically all of human history, driven almost entirely by US policy. Before that humans had used the plant recreationally and commercially without hassle for thousands of years. We'll be just fine.

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

#199

Post by dedeera »

somenameforme wrote: post #189
brailsafe wrote: post #91

I'm inclined to believe that there is fairly likely to be long-term negative health effects from cannabis use, but that the very obvious correlation many people in this thread can probably identify with their friends in highschool is just that, a correlation, for some reason or series of reasons. My friends who really got into weed at that time were absolutely addicted to it, and some of them I do believe let it affe…

A cynical take on many governments embracing weed is Soma [1]. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(Brave_New_World)

[2] - https://github.com/zrm5kfc401t0q1

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

#200

Post by fsckboy »

_yb2s wrote: post #157
Perenti wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've consumed far more than my fair share of cannabis, starting at age 19. I'm also almost certainly ADHD (according to friend who's a psychiatrist, but says I'm untestable), and have a meaninglessly high IQ. I've noticed that amongst very slow people, more _seem_ to have started smoking dope at a very young age (9 to 12). The idea that pot could be very bad for adolescents in particular is not a new one. I certainly…

I recommend getting evaluated for ADHD. Both drugs and non-drug management strategies can radically improve your quality of life. I don’t see how you can be “untestable.” There is no test- they interview you and other people in your life to see if you have the symptoms or not.

and the test is, try ritalin, if it helps you concentrate, it works. If not, no.
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