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Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

psychologytoday.com

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Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#61

Post by jamal-kumar »

edgyquant wrote: post #29
jamal-kumar wrote: post #15

This is pretty important kind of research. Tons of people are using this stuff medically and while it's obviously a better solution for pain management than long-term use of things that can kill you if they're suddenly unavailable, like opiates, we should still be highly aware of mitigating whatever harms could come from the widely used alternatives. It would also be more interesting to see harm in aspects of things…

Lots of people use it recreationally with the belief it’s not bad for you at all. This kind of research will help to show them that’s not the case.

I doubt most recreational users are using it at anywhere near the same strength or with the same frequency, however.

We're talking the difference between 2 and 200 milligram doses of THC here in terms of how it affects people on these levels. One comes in a soda at the store down the street from me. The other you can't get like that and might send your average recreational user to the hospital with a panic attack.

I'm wondering also if one of the big factors here is oxygen deprivation. These sound kind of like the same kind of numbers of cognitive decline that you see in air pollution, maybe just generally clogging your lungs with smoke could be comparable.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#62

Post by starkd »

varispeed wrote: post #49
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think you’re using conflict of interest correctly. You’re saying here the author has secondary motives, such as being sponsored by an anti-weed org or something, which they would have to disclose in their own section (as per basic academic standards). You might want to instead if you want to criticize the research say the authors clearly have a personal agenda or bias.

It is common for people working with addiction to demonise drugs, so that they can have stream of scared patients lined up.

I don't think they have any shortage of patients in rehab. There is already a steady stream of them. Rehab counselors are often former addicts just trying to help others live through what they did. It is not exactly a way to get rich.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#63

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #54
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This associative effect is interesting in that there’s not a causal proven relationship albeit many common alternatives have been ruled out. It could very well be the kind of people who partake in weed were already predisposed to losing iq and developing dementia risk factors for some other abstract reason, and we can use weed smoking as a signal of something else being wrong. Fascinating stuff tho

People will really try anything to make it seem like Cannabis is perfectly harmless even in the face of cold hard evidence, it's laughable.

Sorry I didn’t make myself clear. I think it’s entirely possible cannabis causes problems. I’m saying this study has successfully narrowed down reasonable associations to make direct cause more likely. But this also means if it is caused by another factor, we can use weed use as a signal for whatever that other factor is with high confidence. It’s multi use in that way which is helpful to establish. It shows evidence that people who are smokers of weed now either are doing damage to themselves or have potentially significant issues they need to address because something is doing damage.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#64

Post by LeSaucy »

rocketbop wrote: post #39
harveywi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might say that article is, in many ways, a puff piece.

Maybe, but there’s no smoke without fire.

It can be difficult to weed out the useless information on the subject.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#65

Post by gameman144 »

Felminor wrote: post #8

What's that? '. Their cognitive decline may have altered employment opportunities for which they were qualified, but they were in no way demented. Yet.' Who writes like that? Also I have insomnia and ADHD and I'm pretty sure weed does help and allowed me to do more not less. Without it I'm super tired already at Thursday. And yes I lived long enough without it and it was like this before my weed use not after.

I have shaky hands, and a shot of alcohol is one of the recommended ways to treat them. This doesn't mean that alcohol has no downsides though.

Acknowledging that something has negative long term effects doesn't mean that you have to stop using it, it just means that you should weigh those effects into your mental cost-benefit analysis.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#66

Post by clbrmbr »

legitster wrote: post #48
kilgnad wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before legalization in many states, even on HN even the suggestion that cannabis was unhealthy could get you voted down. People refused to believe it. Now that it's legal peoples' objectives have shifted and it's now ok to talk about it. It's a literal example of the stupidity in human psychology. People don't use logic to make conclusions about the world, they use logic to justify their conclusions so they can fulfi…

*Very hard to find a young person. But you find enough people after 10-15 years of using who will tell you they have noticed some effects. I think it's important to point out that marijuana is certainly less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes. But it's weird how people try to argue that there shouldn't be any sort of moderation when it comes to weed. Like, even alcoholics won't argue that they shouldn't be drunk a…

The longer duration and fat solubility of canabinoids makes the alcohol comparison difficult. Many people have a glass of red wine with dinner daily, and are not drunk in the daytime, but even very light cannabis consumption nightly seems to result in a permanent low-level stonnedness.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#67

Post by [deleted] »

legitster wrote: post #48
kilgnad wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before legalization in many states, even on HN even the suggestion that cannabis was unhealthy could get you voted down. People refused to believe it. Now that it's legal peoples' objectives have shifted and it's now ok to talk about it. It's a literal example of the stupidity in human psychology. People don't use logic to make conclusions about the world, they use logic to justify their conclusions so they can fulfi…

*Very hard to find a young person. But you find enough people after 10-15 years of using who will tell you they have noticed some effects. I think it's important to point out that marijuana is certainly less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes. But it's weird how people try to argue that there shouldn't be any sort of moderation when it comes to weed. Like, even alcoholics won't argue that they shouldn't be drunk a…

[deleted]

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#68

Post by starkd »

AnEro wrote: post #13

I also wonder what their lifestyles are in general, and if it would have an effect. I feel like weed puts my brain into autopilot to a degree and makes me 'okay' with w/e I am doing. So recreational usage I could see making you 'dumber' cause weed lets you feel okay doing nothing and doing nothing is a good way to be dumber My anecdotal opinion for someone that smokes a lot compared to their long-term cannabis users,…

Physical excercise can give you many of those benefits too. A good strenuous workout or run will give you a high without any of the harms.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#69

Post by starkd »

Felminor wrote: post #8

What's that? '. Their cognitive decline may have altered employment opportunities for which they were qualified, but they were in no way demented. Yet.' Who writes like that? Also I have insomnia and ADHD and I'm pretty sure weed does help and allowed me to do more not less. Without it I'm super tired already at Thursday. And yes I lived long enough without it and it was like this before my weed use not after.

Excercise is also great for ADHD. Even a 2-mile vigorous walk every day. And it actually improves your health.

Re: Long-Term Cannabis Use, Cognitive Decline, and the Hippocampus

#70

Post by starkd »

mrtranscendence wrote: post #38
Felminor wrote: post #8

What's that? '. Their cognitive decline may have altered employment opportunities for which they were qualified, but they were in no way demented. Yet.' Who writes like that? Also I have insomnia and ADHD and I'm pretty sure weed does help and allowed me to do more not less. Without it I'm super tired already at Thursday. And yes I lived long enough without it and it was like this before my weed use not after.

Interesting. I have ADHD and find that smoking weed makes my symptoms noticeably worse. Depending on how high I get, I find myself largely unable to focus, or even to complete thoughts without becoming distracted. This seems to persist after I'm no longer high -- even many hours after smoking I still find myself less able to stay on task. If you're of the hyperactive type I could possibly see some benefits? As an ina…

I find the same thing. Cannabis just makes me lose my train of thought within 5 seconds. It is very irritating.

The one thing I found to help the most is excercise. Even moderate daily walking, but the more you do it, the more benefits you get. There are actually endorphins released that mimic a high the natural way.

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