> "Cannabis is the third most consumed psychoactive substance in the world (after alcohol and nicotine)" Where did caffeine go?
and sugar
Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
461–470 of 568 posts
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
Caffeine is one of the few stimulants that seems to be beneficial to the human health. Moderate use is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson’s disease... Certainly more beneficial than smoking cannabis (in most cases together with tobacco). Damage to the lungs is one of the first thing that comes to my mind.
> smoking cannabis (in most cases together with tobacco) In most cases? Where in the world? In Canada at least, frequent cannabis smokers and frequent cigarette smokers are nearly disjoint groups.
Yes, this is a big difference between North America and Europe. I've never understood why (and consider it to be a big mistake), but for some reason most potheads in Europe mix their weed and hash with tobacco.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#463Earlier quoted context omitted.
A persistent high can be achieved by living mindfully with kindness and regular meditation (speaking from direct experience). Hence, I'm not surprised that any high induced with a substance instead, impairs the brain as brain starts depending on the induced experience, without having developed its own mechanism to have such an experience.
Many people, especially the young, can not find a peaceful time or place for meditation. The demands placed on them by western society take up too much of their energy. For them, drugs are a must because otherwise they will grow up without any spiritual life at all.
Meditation/self-reflection will take less of your time than drugs. Much less. Plus most "spiritual growth" stemming from drugs is all an illusion.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#464Since 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…
I'm sure that persistence lasts about 2-3 months.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#465Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also went really hard this last year and am currently pulling back on my usage. I don't regret it. Now I know what all the danger signs are and I can recognize them in the future.
Thats awesom, i wish i had just kept smoking for pleasure instead of work. I think the daytime smoking messed me up...just felt really stupid and unmotivated in the end. The last straw was when I waked and baked and went to a meeting with leadership.
Yeah, but don't beat yourself up. That line can be really hard to find depending on your circumstances. For instance, I WFH and make my own hours, so there's not really a time of day I CAN'T be fucked up. This is also the first time in my life I had the money for a drug habit lol.
But yeah, my rule for meetings is that unless it's a meeting I'm running, complete sobriety is a must. The idea of being high around leadership is terrifying (same reason I don't drink when we have work conferences).
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#466Before 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.
This matches my experience perfectly. I used to smoke weed about once a month when when I was a teenager, and I noticed that I could observe mild cognitive impairments for about a week after smoking. They were fading gradually during those days. To illustrate, the next day after smoking I would occasionally notice that it takes me two times longer than usual to understand the task in school textbook and sometimes I c…
> I also would catch my mind "frozen" in some thought, like "why can't the government just print all the money it needs?". Usually the next second you'd move to "ah, because inflation", but in that case it'd just "stand" at place.
Painfully relevant given the current fiscal policies.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disclaimer: I'm an almost daily smoker of cannabis. There is definitely some impairment long term. I think we can assume that even without this huge study. I don't think knowing that matters unless we have some scale that tells us how dramatic that impairment is. If I compare someone who smoked all the time, but also had a rich and engaging social life with a lifelong abstainer who live a mostly isolated existence, w…
I wonder, if you hold other psychoactive substances - say coffee, alcohol, or nicotine to the same standard? That is, we should assume they cause long term impairment without the need for any kind of study?
I don’t think assumption is the correct stance, but a healthy skepticism sounds in order.
Alcohol is clearly capable of long term impairment, the debate seems to be about dose response. Nicotine is more questionable, but clearly leaves long term changes in the mind. People abstaining after long term nicotine usage will spend the rest of their lives experiencing cravings. Hell, it seems plausible long term consumption of food types has long term cognitive effects.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#468The issue with studies like this – is that it applies to the every-man. For most people, a lot of these points are probably true. For others, however, those same detriments show up as positives. For example, maybe cannabis does prolong decision making - but if you have anxiety, and cannabis alleviates that anxiety - your decision making processes are quicker. Studies like this are necessary, I just wish there was a way to footnote those neurodivergent examples.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#469Since 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…
Wow, impairment is not my intention at all. But, to not impair myself takes careful moderation and preparation. For cognitive benefits or "virtuous pot smoking", I need to have exercise, sleep, right intentions, a clean room and music. If I do it right, I have transformational ideas. If I don't write them down, they are gone. The first hour is often a wash. I expect little. I often combine with coffee. Then, after an…
Sounds similar to me! Cannabis makes me think in a significantly different way, often going down rabbit holes. When something in my life isn't ideal (overweight, disorganized, sleep deprived, etc.), my high mind will go down negative rabbit holes. But if everything's going well, my high mind will come up with fantastic solutions to work problems or give me insight into how I can be a better person.
Re: Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments: meta review
#470Since 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…
Wow, impairment is not my intention at all. But, to not impair myself takes careful moderation and preparation. For cognitive benefits or "virtuous pot smoking", I need to have exercise, sleep, right intentions, a clean room and music. If I do it right, I have transformational ideas. If I don't write them down, they are gone. The first hour is often a wash. I expect little. I often combine with coffee. Then, after an…
Music being key is what kills it for me. Music does absolutely nothing for me. High or not. I have no emotional response to any music.