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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

#71

Post by edgyquant »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #61
edgyquant wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

With the legalization in a lot of states people are consuming ridiculously strong amounts of THC these days and it’s only getting legalized in more places.

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

#72

Post by nebulousthree »

gameman144 wrote: post #58
devwastaken wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IQ statistics is pseudo science. Therefore we can dismiss the study out of hand. Soft sciences need to be able to prove their underlying methodologies, and have so far largely failed to do so. They rely on shifting around numbers and cherry picking data to get specific outcomes.

> IQ statistics is pseudo science. The correlation between IQ and general intelligence is one of the more reproducible results in psychology. Is there a different usage of IQ that you're doubting, or are you doubting that correlation itself?

This doesn't really inspire confidence given the recent reproducibility crises.

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

#73

Post by starkd »

imustbeevil wrote: post #59
starkd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not that hard to believe though. When you have used something for a long while, its difficult to face the fact that you may have been doing something to the detriment of your health. I see it as a coping mechanism. I really don't understand what the allure of cannabis is. For me, an immediate effect was a decline not only in cognitive ability but also short term memory. Like not being able to hold a thought for m…

> I really don't understand what the allure of cannabis is. Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality. > Like not being able to hold a thought for more than 5 seconds. Not really an effect of cannabis. Heuristical…

>> Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality.

Thats a fancy way of saying it gets you stoned. You can intellectualize it all you want, but its just words. I can think of any number of ways to "suspend my disbelief": try holding your breath, or slapping yourself silly. Try putting your finger in an electric socket. Really, there's no shortage of ways.

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

#74

Post by varispeed »

f6v wrote: post #44
varispeed wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author obviously has a conflict of interest. He fails to acknowledge that correlation is not causation and that these studies fail to take into account other variables that could influence the outcomes.

> correlation is not causation True. But then there’s something that makes you stupid and makes you use cannabis at the same time. This is as bad as just cannabis making you stupid.

It's the same situation as observing that people who take pain killers have headache, therefore pain killers are causing headaches.

This is the level where OP's article is at. It's baffling that people upvote that drivel.

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

#75

Post by thefz »

Anecdote time: A couple of late 30 to early 40 year old friends smoke constantly since the '20s. And I mean every day, multiple joints. They claim their life is normal, I claim that... it shows somehow.

From senseless paranoia to being reclusive, and sometimes being very late/slow in grokking things, they are very different from the rest. Even from casual, weekend smokers.

I think that you can't expect to smoke 5 to 8 joints every day and lead a normal life past your '20s.

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

#76

Post by imustbeevil »

starkd wrote: post #73
imustbeevil wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don't understand what the allure of cannabis is. Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality. > Like not being able to hold a thought for more than 5 seconds. Not really an effect of cannabis. Heuristical…

>> Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality. Thats a fancy way of saying it gets you stoned. You can intellectualize it all you want, but its just words. I can think of any number of ways to "suspend my disbelief…

> Thats a fancy way of saying it gets you stoned. You can intellectualize it all you want, but its just words.

This is a forum everything is just words. The reality is that not doing things is X and doing things is X+1, and all of you X people are -1.

> I can think of any number of ways to "suspend my disbelief":

Obviously drugs are better than all of those things. What is the argument there? You can jerk off with a knife too, it doesn't feel as good.

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

#77

Post by kilgnad »

starkd wrote: post #57
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…

this is a good argument for its legalisation. The more you try to ban it, the more the allure is. But legalisation should be coupled with early childhood education warning about the harms. It is particulary bad for the developing brain to use it. I fear this has been overlooked, and we are going to see a generational lapse in achievement.

This is true. Banning does work though when coupled with extreme capital punishment. See Singapore.

There is also the argument of whether usage reduction is the objective goal though.

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

#78

Post by gameman144 »

nebulousthree wrote: post #72
gameman144 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IQ statistics is pseudo science. The correlation between IQ and general intelligence is one of the more reproducible results in psychology. Is there a different usage of IQ that you're doubting, or are you doubting that correlation itself?

This doesn't really inspire confidence given the recent reproducibility crises.

Wait, but the IQ/intelligence link is reproducible.

Are you just saying that "most reproducible" is a low bar? (If so, that makes sense.)

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

#79

Post by nebulousthree »

starkd wrote: post #73
imustbeevil wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don't understand what the allure of cannabis is. Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality. > Like not being able to hold a thought for more than 5 seconds. Not really an effect of cannabis. Heuristical…

>> Everything that exists in reality, from the observable beginning to the projected end, follows a pattern of abstraction that is exact and single. Drugs give you access to "suspension of disbelief" in experiencing fiction that is larger than reality. Thats a fancy way of saying it gets you stoned. You can intellectualize it all you want, but its just words. I can think of any number of ways to "suspend my disbelief…

Your description of your experience with cannabis is telling. If you're frustrated with not being able to hold a thought for more than 5 seconds, then that might mean that you went into it with expectations of how it should go, and then spent your time being high trying to retain the "control" you had sober and bring those expectations to reality. This is a common mistake. The good parts of cannabis come from letting go of expectations of control. It's in letting go that hyper focused states or creative bursts can happen.

Not everyone is able to "let go" at will, but some can do it intuitively while others may have anxieties regarding control that must be worked through.

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

#80

Post by nebulousthree »

gameman144 wrote: post #78
nebulousthree wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't really inspire confidence given the recent reproducibility crises.

Wait, but the IQ/intelligence link is reproducible. Are you just saying that "most reproducible" is a low bar? (If so, that makes sense.)

Yes, sorry for the lack of clarity. I mean in the same way that infinity+1 > infinity is a trivial difference and only technically true.
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