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

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#341

Post by int_19h » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:46 AM UTC

WhompingWindows wrote: post #145

peterwwillis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One in six Americans takes psychiatric prescription drugs, mostly antidepressants. Weed is basically an antidepressant and pain killer. I think the bigger question is, why are Americans self-medicating so much?

Chemically, cannabinoids are not really antidepressants (which mostly affect the serotonin system) or pain killers (opioids affect the opioid receptors). Cannabinoids have a variety of effects due to the endocannabinoid system, which is naturally occurring in the human physiology and does affect mood, memory, etc. However, it's simply not chemically accurate to call them pain killers or antidepressants, cannabis lies…

The point is that it is how many people use it (and alcohol, and other drugs).

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#342

Post by int_19h » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:49 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #290

flanban wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't really list any problems either

A society in which most people were walking around stoned, drunk or on hallucinogens is not consistent with what most people would consider a civic or moral society and the negative aspects wouldn't need 'explaining' as it would be self evident.

What are the civic virtues or moral precepts that you believe would have been infringed by such a society?

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

#343

Post by int_19h » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:50 AM UTC

Simulacra wrote: post #21

IMO: Cannabis rewards you for doing nothing.

This is literally the function of most human entertainment.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by justboxing » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:51 AM UTC

tgb wrote: post #274

Confiks wrote: post #160

I think it's a mistake to legalize cannabis and continue to treat it like any other consumer product, opening the floodgates to gratuitous advertisements and dubious health claims. Instead, the sale of cannabis (and perhaps other drugs) should be treated as a public health issue, where the sale is permitted as long as it isn't advertised and proper information is given about the product. The Netherlands partly has th…

Is advertising cannabis legal in anywhere in the US? I haven't spent much time in the states where pot is legal but I certainly haven't seen any. Contrast this to traveling in Germany where the cigarette ads shocked me as an American - it felt so backwards.

> Is advertising cannabis legal in anywhere in the US?

I see cannabis dispensery ads pretty much everywhere here in San Francisco, on Buses, bus stands, billboards, even on the taxi cab top cone thingys....

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by kvczor » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:53 AM 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…

oh man, that's exactly my experience - I get shit done but I'm perfectly aware that what I'm doing is not near my real capabilities. And tech life allows you to smoke every day without consequences - good money, no strict working hours, no one watching you work etc.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by 2Xheadpalm » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:57 AM UTC

justaj wrote: post #192

slowandlow wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The other downsides were that I wasn't as sharp mentally when I was sober. I wasn't as ambitious. I was less social. In other words, it made me feel fine just hanging out in my apartment doing nothing. On the balance that made pot a negative for me. This is exactly why I quit. I found myself not comprehending technical conversations as well as I used to while sober. Hanging out at home doing nothing when you REALLY…

> This is exactly why I quit. I found myself not comprehending technical conversations as well as I used to while sober. This has not been my experience at all. In fact, total opposite entirely. If I smoke up I simply can not absorb any new technical information that is above my current knowledge and skill level. I am however more creative in coming up with solutions or new ideas with the information that I already m…

Concur, I found it can be sometimes an extremely frustrating, if not impossible experience trying to understand new technical concepts, however, when working over well trodden ground, it can show new subtle, mostly positive twists of creativity.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by the_cat_kittles » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 5:57 AM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #271

dgzl wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's tough.. Not only was I a pothead, I was an advocate. I grew and supplied dispensaries with flowers and edibles. I'm not saying weed should be banned but I think we need a rational discussion on it. I understand your feelings. My salary peaked in the midst of my binge. I was a (in my circle) somewhat of a rockstar, making tons of money, working an easy job. It's the classic story of the tortoise and the hare thou…

the hard won wisdom and honest self asessment here are inspiring, and im not sure why. but i think its very good you wrote this, and im almost positive the guy you are responding to is going to benefit from what you are saying, not to mention all the other readers

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by the_cat_kittles » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 6:04 AM UTC

dgzl wrote: post #235

froogie wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: If this sounds like a off-place rant, it was not my intent. :) If you haven't smoked from dawn till dusk day in day out, you can't really say people can achieve responsibility with it. What I am saying is not to disagree, but to state that if you're a person who ends up smoking 12-16 times a day, there isn't much willpower left to handle anything but immediate responsibilities. You may not use much, and you may…

Your message did seem off-putting at first, but I appreciate the clarification. > If you haven't smoked from dawn till dusk day in day out There have been several times in my life where this was exactly my behavior, and truthfully, they weren't my best times. In fact I'm not at all proposing that endless and mindless medication, or even limited and conscious medication doesn't have adverse side-effects. That would be…

i think the amount of energy youve spent defending yourself on this thread is probably a sign that you are internally conflicted, and you may just be trying to convince yourself. if thats true, then i apologise for how much a comment like this will piss you off. but maybe it’ll be a net positive

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by nostrebored » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 6:06 AM UTC

some1else wrote: post #229

handsomechad wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people seem to be willing to kowtow to the current dogma of the medical / psychiatric community with regards to mental illnesses (depression, ADHD, etc.) Once you categorize these things as objective "chemical imbalances / medical issues", the next logical step is to treat these with "medicine", like Prozac or other SSRIs, or amphetamines in the case of ADD. Many people don't seem to have the same respect fo…

I wouldn't describe those as "slavish". Unless we're in a negative feedback loop, we should probably follow established principles and improve them constructively. I have seen some conspiracy videos where authors refer to psychiatry as an educated guess. I have never seen a lucid individual diminish science like that. Can you elaborate on what you see as "dogma" in this respect? Disclosure: I smoke more than most.

Psychiatry is not robust. We don't know how the brain works. We're not even close to understanding how parts of the brain interact, we rely on coarse tools and irreplicable neuroscience to try to guess out the intersection of biology, chemistry, neuroscience, etc.

When we consistently see that studies are designed poorly (in many cases by selecting poor metrics, think self-assessed productivity on adderall or amortizing results of SSRIs over multiple severity levels of depression) and mechanisms are poorly understood, what do you think that it is?

Science is in many cases filled with perverse incentives that only complicate this relationship -- do you want citations, a popular publication, tenure, influence on policy decisions? Does your hypothesis align with the ideas which are popular enough to get funding?

The fact of the matter is that science is political, psychiatry is in its infancy, and results are not great in a lot of cases. We treat everything like we couldn't possibly be developing our generations' version of phrenology and it's hubris.

Re: More Americans report near-constant cannabis use

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Post by reducesuffering » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 6:25 AM UTC

awaythrow69 wrote: post #320

Is there anyone else here for whom cannabis does zilch? I have tried smoking pot on two different occasions and it did not have any effect on me aside from disgusting smell. To answer usual questions: it was real pot - everyone else was high as a kite, and I followed the advice on proper inhaling technique. Similar things with opioids. I have been prescribed percocet and hydromorphone for strong (but non-chronic) pai…

Usually it's temporary to a users first few times. Very common. Keep taking a few hits on different occasions. If you don't feel anything past the 8th attempt I would be very surprised.