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Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

addictionjournal.org

321–330 of 568 posts

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Eating food is not "addictive" Oh, it most definitely is. Or to be more specific, eating the "wrong" kinds of foods (typically fat and sugar) is addictive. Also, unlike other addictions, you get bombarded with billboards and television ads for the thing you're trying to moderate.

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Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#322

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…

You can’t just throw out the word “human nature” and expect anyone to accept it. “Human nature” just means “this thing we all know about how the world and people work, come on… now don’t be difficult”. It means nothing.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#323
post #242
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise and a healthy diet. I typed this in jest but instead of closing the tab I realize that yes, this is a good alternative, perhaps the best, if you can do it . Not everyone can, and typically it’s not their fault if they can’t.

> ExerCiSe AnD a HeAlThY dIeT God, I can't hear that stupid saying anymore. Tell that the MD of a psychiatric hospital. He will have a good laugh.

Cope.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#324
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…

I used to do this and in fact getting really high was the way I could marathon code. Sativa dabs would keep me up as long as I wanted and I could just keep going and going until about seven years into this habit, I sort of hit this wall where getting high no longer motivated me to keep going, instead I just wanted to play video games. Then I was prescribed medication for ADHD and it basically removed the desire to get high and helps me better than getting high used to because it doesn't impair my memory and gives me the ability to choose what I am motivated to do.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless incredibly severe I think the consequences should not impact it’s legality. People will use it legal or not. If it’s legal you can charge taxes and spend that money on addiction prevention and treatment. Help people with addiction problems instead of putting them in jail. Addiction is often a symptom of underlying mental health problems, you don’t solve those with punishment. And that’s even disregarding the a…

Being legal adds a whole lot of marketing push and general acceptance in the population, especially young ones. Time and again I see so many stories of young people fucking up their lives, and wasting so much of their lives trying to correct mistakes. Something which should have been guided by elders and well-wishers. But US society is neck deep into "individuality" at their own detriment. A society that is taught fr…

> Being legal adds a whole lot of marketing push and general acceptance in the population, especially young ones.

Maybe where you live...

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about you other than the two sentences that you just wrote up there, but I've known other people who have expressed similar sentiments. After years of struggling with this, they've determined that what's actually going on is that they in fact are depressed and have been for years, and their cannabis use has basically been self-medication of an anti-depressant. They thought it was cannabis withdr…

> but what's actually been going on is that they were stopping treatment that was working Hard disagree. Cannabis isn’t actually an anti-depressant in the same way that alcohol and other euphoric drugs aren’t antidepressants. Chronic cannabis use has also been correlated with increased depression scores over time. But that’s beside the point: Cannabis withdrawal and rebound is a very real phenomenon. It’s another myt…

There is ample research that cannabis functions as an anti-depressant. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=cannabis+as+antidepress...

There are many caveats that go into posting a Google Scholar link - the quality of the research is unknown, there is the reproducibility crisis to worry about, etc. etc; However, the presence of this ample research means that "Cannabis isn't actually an anti-depressant" is far from settled, and you shouldn't be stating that with such confidence.

Edit: Also, I happen to agree with you that cannabis withdrawal and rebound are real, and I agree with you that it is possible to get addicted to THC, and, sure the effects described above are consistent with cannabis withdrawal. None of that contradicts what I wrote.

However, those effects are also consistent with anti-depressant self-medication, and, as I mentioned, I've known people who went on prescribed anti-depressants, stopped having those effects and have had a marked improvement in their quality of life. (Some continued using cannabis, some stopped; it didn't seem to matter afterwards). I thought it was important to share that anecdata. I was very careful in my message to not say "you don't have cannabis withdrawal"; I was trying to communicate that I knew people that sounded like basq and it turned out they were diagnosed with clinical depression. Basq could have either outcome.

So, yea, sorry - hard disagree with your level of confidence.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#327
I'm surprised that no one in this thread has used the word "hangover" yet, because that's exactly what these researchers have quantified. They certainly haven't "discovered" it, because anyone who is familiar with cannabis can attest that, just as with alcohol, if you get super high, you're going to feel it the next day.

To put it simply, if you get really wrecked on weed, the next day you're going to be stupid.

With that said, unlike with alcohol where hangovers are quite unpleasant, I suspect that a lot of cannabis users enjoy the next-day feeling. If you are like many people in technology whose minds are continually churning, problem-solving, absorbing and processing information, checking your phone, reading HN, obsessing over whatever idea and in general running on the mental hamster wheel that so many smart people struggle to take a break from, the feeling of being stupid and slow can be quite nice.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#328

Before anyone freaks out too much: "Persistent" means up to one week. From the actual paper: "However, results were not significant for an abstinence period of more than 7 days." Basically, science has proved that stoners behave like stoners. And if you stop it takes a few days for everything to wear off.

Thank you for this extract. Iv seen many past meta analysis on the 7 to 14 day impairment but no difference after that. Based on these findings i use marijuana regularly but never in periods of need of high output like fundraising, product release date sprint etc... There are a lot of parts of life when you have a lot of stress but you don't actually need to be on your top game you just need to show up for those periods weed is amazing.

Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#329
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

To cut it short, I think a tiny amount of alcohol can be a superb bargain. It allowed me to stay a bit neutral in parties (instead of crippled by anxiety and phobia). And being around people, even like a wallpaper had strange positive effect on my moral. I don't know if doing that long term (even tiny amount of beer) would harm your body, but having zero social life is also very very damaging.

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Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review

#330
post #131

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.

Not even alcohol (one of the "dirtiest" drugs as far as physiological effects go) kills brain cells. I wish this myth would die. The issue is in the way they affect your dopaminic and serotonergic regulation and how this can fuck up your brain chemistry, not that they're literally killing off your brain cells. > My concern with modern (incredibly strong) Cannabis/THC is that some regular users seem to struggle with w…

Alcohol can kill brain cells, but from overactivity of withdrawals.

> Scientists postulate that this syndrome [Alcohol Withdrawal] represents the hyperactivity of neural adaptive mechanisms no longer balanced by the inhibitory effects of alcohol

> Increased NMDA receptor activity significantly increases the amount of calcium that enters nerve cells. Although calcium is essential for nerve cell function, an excess of this substance within neurons has been reported to produce cell toxicity or death

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh21-2/144.pdf

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