More Americans report near-constant cannabis use • Hacker News Board

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#241

Post by WilliamEdward » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:04 PM UTC

dqpb wrote: post #195

mjevans wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly that. I strongly believe that those who /do/ use drugs like this are self-medicating to escape the seemingly/maybe actually intractable social issues for which there is no single easy answer or method of escape. Compared to /trying/ to get a good job somewhere and trying to find housing that isn't outrageously over-priced and trying to more or less win the lottery game that is presently life in western societ…

There is an easy answer though. You do what successful humans have done for thousands of years: - educate yourself - join or form a community that supports each other - fight for your survival like every ancestor in your genetic tree did before you. Life isn't easy. But you also aren't naturally weak. Unfortunately, once you start doing drugs, you risk corrupting the source code of the machine you rely on.

If educating oneself was as easy as you say, there wouldn't be a poverty / education crisis.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#242

Post by AngryData » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:06 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #139

I've tried pot a few times and my subjective experience was vastly different from all the comments here. It must affect people very differently, because I couldn't fathom being high "near constantly". I had trouble doing basic things like remembering to keep chewing the snack that I was eating or keeping track of the sentence I was in the process of speaking. Each time I come away thinking, "well, that was an awful e…

Tolerance is a large component that never gets mentioned, also the strength of pot these days means new users very easily surpass their own comfort levels. Smoking a whole joint of premo shit with someone brand new wouldn't be far off from filling a glass full of hard liquor for someone that has never drank before. Some people also seem to have a hyper-sensitivity to it too which makes it far more unpleasant or intense than for others.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#243

Post by tonydiv » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:09 PM UTC

As someone who is running a cannabis company [1], this is concerning, but it ignores the fact that a majority of the members we service (we operate like Costco with a membership model) are in severe chronic pain. They use it as an alternative to opioids and that cannot be overlooked. Having lost multiple people close to me due to opioids, that needs to be dealt with first before we roll back the progress we've made with cannabis.

That's not to say we should be aware of the potential downsides, but there seems to be plenty of higher priorities that we should be focusing efforts first.

https://flowercompany.com

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#244

Post by mbroncano » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:12 PM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #86

coldtea wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In other words, it made me feel fine just hanging out in my apartment doing nothing. That should be the natural state of man, though, I'd extend it to meeting with friends, cooking, playing, etc -- that is, being "non-productive". It took a lot of advertising and protestant ethic working hand in hand through opposing ends to move the needle towards full on consumption and full on productivity. "All human evil comes…

Not everything is a social construction. The default state of life isn't being relaxed and comfortable, the default state is starvation and defending against disease, predation, and conflict. In your world where everyone is cooking and playing, who provides the food? Who staves away conflict? What lifeform on Earth let you to believe that the default state of being was effortless comfort?

That sounds like my cat indeed

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#245

Post by opportune » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:13 PM UTC

failrate wrote: post #113

WhompingWindows wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it still a problem if people identify as users with a problem, users who would like to quit but struggle to do so? I believe it's the same with video games or porn or other "non-toxic" addictions. Even if it's healthy and useful for some, and not dangerous to anyone, if it's a negative habit that's hard to shake, public health should pay attention and study, and perhaps employ a policy nudge.

A personality type exists that can be addicted to literally anything. I have this type. It feels like an OCD and is triggered by high stress. My theory is that for some people, it will manifest as pharmaceutical addiction, others sex or videogame addiction. This doesn't imply that sex, drugs, or videogames are bad.

Is this personality / propensity towards addiction well studied enough that you can test for it, or are you just relying on your previous experiences? Previous experiences would suggest that I have this but I’d be interested in a test or DSM-like diagnostic assessment

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#246

Post by kaoD » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:22 PM UTC

throwaway0255 wrote: post #236

kaoD wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude. What? The worst case I've had to assist was a couple that ate a huge space cake (oblivious to its cannabis content) and, even if they got high by mistake (which is the worst case of bad trip) it was nowhere near close to your experience. Lots of fainting involved, but not much John Malkovich. And it didn't last 12h. How much did you eat/smoke? Maybe you're especially sensitive to cannabis? (Genuinely curious he…

> How much did you eat/smoke? Maybe you're especially sensitive to cannabis? (Genuinely curious here, not trying to discredit your story). Yeah of course, no worries. It wasn't with edibles, it was smoking. I was doing a form of inhaling that I've never done before, where I exhale very deeply until my lungs are completely empty, and then do a deep inhale. I repeated that many times. This was about the third time I sm…

Amazing (and terrifying at the same time).

That sounds an awful lot like a bad trip on psychedelics. Never had one, but the sound stacking seems to be a common occurrence (along with time dilation/loops, feeling of uncontrollable descent into psychosis, etc.)

Glad you survived the experience with no long-term damage. Sounds scary.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#247

Post by dgzl » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #213

dgzl wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I've said in another post, I smoke about everyday, but I don't have any problem pursuing my goals, producing creative works, or excelling in my career. The fine line you're talking about does exist, but it doesn't have anything to do with the frequency of usage. Responsibility can be achieved with or without pot.

Your choice. If you feel it's not holding you back then go for it. IMO, pot is great when you're stuck in a situation in life which you can't escape for other factors. It can make a bad situation tolerable. IME, pot increases your tactical thinking skills while reducing your strategic thinking ability. For instance, I spent years as a programmer doing well in my job while I was high all the time. It was great during…

Thanks for the thoughtful input, and I'm certainly taking your anecdotes as advice. In fact, taking a break seems like a good idea, I'll have to work this into my life sometime soon.

However I have to be honest, my life has never been more successful than it currently is. Not to say it would be more so if I wasn't a daily user, but hopefully you see my point.

No need to respond if you're not comfortable, but in what ways did you fail to grow, that you realized? This could also be good advice for me.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#248

Post by JL-Akrasia » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:24 PM UTC

aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #116

Has anyone else taken notes while they were high? I started taking notes when smoking around 10 years ago and it's probably the single thing that's most dramatically increased my intellectual development. The simple act of writing down my ideas helped solidify them and turned them into a foundation for future evolution of the idea. I now have 5500 notes on my computer and 2000 on my phone and you could effectively tr…

I have a similar usage pattern. I have 200+ essays (1000+ words) on interesting thoughts. Often they are more incomplete than I would like. These aren't necessary notes but more ideas sparked by recent literature I have read.

Lets take this offline? - Would be delighted to chat.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#249

Post by joseluis » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:26 PM UTC

ibrault wrote: post #239

loblollyboy wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re saying the same thing

It's confusing wording but I think the person he was responding to was saying that he had a harder time comprehending while sober, whereas he has a harder time comprehending while high.

As I understand it, the first person had a harder time comprehending while sober, because of his regular pot consumption. Compared to how well he comprehended sober when he didn't regularly smoke. So both think pot affected their comprehension, although one feels more affected when high and the other one when sober.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#250

Post by dgzl » Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 11:28 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #226

loblollyboy wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you manage to stay so high at work?

I was an engineer at a design services firm. My 'boss' was 500 miles away, along with the rest of my team. People threw bugs and tasks at me and I did them. At my company, I'd walk in, go straight to my cube, and sit there all day. Occasionally I'd get social. Even when I was assigned to other projects working with local teams, or even leading teams of people, I managed to make it work. People just got used to me bei…

How do you think being high affected your work?