4 ms·

Excessive consumption of cannabis is probably not good for your health. Like alcohol. Or sugar, coffee, social media, or watching TV. Granted, people probably h

by aethr 10y ago

Excessive consumption of cannabis is probably not good for your health. Like alcohol. Or sugar, coffee, social media, or watching TV. Granted, people probably have different opinions on the definition of "excessive" in each of these cases. Taken occasionally for recreation it becomes just another form of entertainment, and the health and societal impact is probably similar to alcohol or coffee. Calling cannabis a "public evil" seems a bit over the top. There are plenty of other pastimes with potential health and societal risks that outweigh occasional use of cannabis. Should we stigmatise every activity that isn't work, exercise or healthy eating? I think adults should be given room to make informed choices about their recreational activities without being judged, as long as their choices don't negatively impact others.

mynegation 10y ago
I agree that calling it "public evil" was over the top. My understanding is that most of cannabis is consumed through smoke inhalation which is about the worst possible form of delivery with all that tar in the lungs and carcinogenic effects.
- aethr 10y ago
  From my anecdotal experience, I would agree that most cannabis is consumed by smoking. For casual recreational users though, this might amount to as little as the equivalent of one cigarette a month. Still not good for you, but probably not in the same league as tobacco smoking which is much more likely to be habitual. Habitual cannabis users on the other side of the spectrum seem to be acknowledging the health risks of smoking, and (again anecdotally) I'm seeing a lot of habitual users switch to vaporising or other delivery methods. Certainly there are people making poor decisions about cannabis use, but on a whole it doesn't seem much worse than plenty of other things that people do regularly without being stigmatised. Certainly not bad enough to become a moral issue in my opinion.
- dekhn 10y ago
  Your understanding is almost certainly wrong. If you want to learn a bit more about the difference between cannabis and nicotine in terms of smoking health, I suggest buying Glantz's Primer on Biostatistics; the problem sets are filled with citations to papers showing an almost complete lack of evidence that smoking cannabis has the negative effects associated with smoking nicotine products. This research has held up (NIDA attempts notwithstanding) and the primary issue with long-term heavy cannabis use appears to be gum problems (hoping to see more studies with better methodology in the future).

by aethr 10y ago

mynegation 10y ago

I agree that calling it "public evil" was over the top. My understanding is that most of cannabis is consumed through smoke inhalation which is about the worst possible form of delivery with all that tar in the lungs and carcinogenic effects.

aethr 10y ago
From my anecdotal experience, I would agree that most cannabis is consumed by smoking. For casual recreational users though, this might amount to as little as the equivalent of one cigarette a month. Still not good for you, but probably not in the same league as tobacco smoking which is much more likely to be habitual. Habitual cannabis users on the other side of the spectrum seem to be acknowledging the health risks of smoking, and (again anecdotally) I'm seeing a lot of habitual users switch to vaporising or other delivery methods. Certainly there are people making poor decisions about cannabis use, but on a whole it doesn't seem much worse than plenty of other things that people do regularly without being stigmatised. Certainly not bad enough to become a moral issue in my opinion.
dekhn 10y ago
Your understanding is almost certainly wrong. If you want to learn a bit more about the difference between cannabis and nicotine in terms of smoking health, I suggest buying Glantz's Primer on Biostatistics; the problem sets are filled with citations to papers showing an almost complete lack of evidence that smoking cannabis has the negative effects associated with smoking nicotine products. This research has held up (NIDA attempts notwithstanding) and the primary issue with long-term heavy cannabis use appears to be gum problems (hoping to see more studies with better methodology in the future).