4 ms·

Weed is not a panacea. Some people foolishly think otherwise. It should still be legalized, but we have to be realistic about its negatives

hartator 9y ago
This. I am for legaization, but it feels people start to think it's no drawback drug when it's not.
- stretchwithme 9y ago
  I hear it can affect spelling.
chillwaves 9y ago
Nobody believes weed will make you better at studying. Nobody.
- travisjungroth 9y ago
  Not directly, but many people take weed to relax or relieve anxiety and believe that those things are helpful for their studies.
  - maratd 9y ago
    > many people take weed to relax or relieve anxiety and believe that those things are helpful for their studies They believe it's helpful to their life in general, which this study isn't measuring. Nobody in their right mind smokes weed to improve their GPA.
- sevenfive 9y ago
  Undergrad here. Plenty of people believe this.
- paulcole 9y ago
  You haven't spent much time in /r/trees. If there's a nutty belief about weed, more than a few somebodies there buy into it.
- Govindae 9y ago
  There can be no opinion so wrong that no one will hold on to it. https://www.quora.com/Does-smoking-weed-help-studying https://www.quora.com/Does-smoking-weed-help-studying
- emmab 9y ago
  But anti-weed will make you better at studying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimonabant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimonabant (nootropic but can cause suicide, CB1 inverse agonist)
- bigspider421 9y ago
  Nothing is absolute - I'm a medical user (with anxiety/ADHD/depression) and it's been a complete lifesaver for me, working where pharmaceuticals did not. I did not respond well to traditional stimulants (they only made me more anxious and racy) but medical cannabis is literally the only reason why I was able to function through my PhD program which I had completed two years ago at a top-tier U.S. institution. FWIW, I am very selective with my strains - only certain types actually help, and my dosage is mild enough to not have strong psychoactive effects (higher CBD-strains). Medical cannabis has truly had a significant impact on the trajectory of my life.
  - wyclif 9y ago
    only certain types actually help Out of curiosity, what are those? I'm not an expert and I'm really only aware of the sativa/indica divide.
    - aaronbrethorst 9y ago
      From the GP: "higher CBD-strains" Here's a description of how CBD differs from THC: https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/whats-the-deal-with-these-high-cbd-strains https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/whats-the-deal-with... and I can attest to what it says. I don't like feeling high, but I do like feeling mellow. It's sort of like the difference between having a glass of wine and pounding shots to me.
  - heurist 9y ago
    Same here. Anxiety + ADHD + depression made college extremely difficult for me. It wasn't until I began smoking regularly after college that I began to gain perspective and control over my life and surrounding environment. Had I started a little sooner college could have been a much more positive experience for me. Agreed that only certain strains have a positive impact, still trying to figure out what works for me but it's difficult when local options are so limited...
- southphillyman 9y ago
  Due to it's impact on short term memory I'm not sure it's the best thing for "studying"...but I knew of some med students who would smoke then write R code on datasets until the wee hours of the morning. I guess they were using it as an Adderall substitute of sorts
- owebmaster 9y ago
  I do, by personal experience.
- prostoalex 9y ago
  I believe what's currently known is that some amounts of THC lead to lower "default mode network" activity in the frontal core. The default mode network - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lsd-may-chip-away-at-the-brain-s-sense-of-self-network/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lsd-may-chip-away... - is associated with daily activities we think of as distracting - anxiety, worrying about the future, going over the past failures, incessant needs to check e-mail, Instagram or respond to a push notification. Subduing default mode network provides a pathway to concentration, if one's mind is set on it, like reading the book or going over the test question bank. But it could also be squandered on other activities unrelated to learning.
_jal 9y ago
Humans: still acting like humans, film at 11. It also shouldn't need saying that this is hardly unique to pot. Also, it won't change. How many millennia have been spent since someone figured out fruit ferments into something that makes you feel good? And yet people continue to slide into alcoholism every day, in every culture. Even the ones where it is illegal. That said, sure, I can see a temporary effect where legal pot is "new" (really, very old, but that's a different discussion), and so trendy, and the media feedback-loop kicks in so certain kinds of parents have something vaguely novel to upset themselves with. We'll be past that in a generation.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  > And yet people continue to slide into alcoholism every day, in every culture. Even the ones where it is illegal. This is a strange thing to "even". You'd expect alcohol to be illegal where it was more of a problem, not where it was less of a problem. In cultures where nobody succumbs to alcoholism, why would alcohol be prohibited?
  - _jal 9y ago
    You know, this isn't a question of philosophy. We're not reasoning from first-principles. You might consider looking to the googles for an answer as to which nation-states currently ban alcohol, and then consider what commonalities they might share. I'll save you the first half of that effort: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_alcohol_prohibition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_alcohol...
    - thaumasiotes 9y ago
      Those are Islamic countries. Do you think there's a reason the prohibition was made? Do you think there might be a reason it stuck? Alcohol is also frequently prohibited on Indian reservations. Why do you think that is?
      - AstralStorm 9y ago

hartator 9y ago

This. I am for legaization, but it feels people start to think it's no drawback drug when it's not.

stretchwithme 9y ago
I hear it can affect spelling.

chillwaves 9y ago

Nobody believes weed will make you better at studying. Nobody.

travisjungroth 9y ago
Not directly, but many people take weed to relax or relieve anxiety and believe that those things are helpful for their studies.
- maratd 9y ago
  > many people take weed to relax or relieve anxiety and believe that those things are helpful for their studies They believe it's helpful to their life in general, which this study isn't measuring. Nobody in their right mind smokes weed to improve their GPA.
sevenfive 9y ago
Undergrad here. Plenty of people believe this.
paulcole 9y ago
You haven't spent much time in /r/trees. If there's a nutty belief about weed, more than a few somebodies there buy into it.
Govindae 9y ago
There can be no opinion so wrong that no one will hold on to it. https://www.quora.com/Does-smoking-weed-help-studying https://www.quora.com/Does-smoking-weed-help-studying
emmab 9y ago
But anti-weed will make you better at studying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimonabant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimonabant (nootropic but can cause suicide, CB1 inverse agonist)
bigspider421 9y ago
Nothing is absolute - I'm a medical user (with anxiety/ADHD/depression) and it's been a complete lifesaver for me, working where pharmaceuticals did not. I did not respond well to traditional stimulants (they only made me more anxious and racy) but medical cannabis is literally the only reason why I was able to function through my PhD program which I had completed two years ago at a top-tier U.S. institution. FWIW, I am very selective with my strains - only certain types actually help, and my dosage is mild enough to not have strong psychoactive effects (higher CBD-strains). Medical cannabis has truly had a significant impact on the trajectory of my life.
- wyclif 9y ago
  only certain types actually help Out of curiosity, what are those? I'm not an expert and I'm really only aware of the sativa/indica divide.
  - aaronbrethorst 9y ago
    From the GP: "higher CBD-strains" Here's a description of how CBD differs from THC: https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/whats-the-deal-with-these-high-cbd-strains https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/whats-the-deal-with... and I can attest to what it says. I don't like feeling high, but I do like feeling mellow. It's sort of like the difference between having a glass of wine and pounding shots to me.
- heurist 9y ago
  Same here. Anxiety + ADHD + depression made college extremely difficult for me. It wasn't until I began smoking regularly after college that I began to gain perspective and control over my life and surrounding environment. Had I started a little sooner college could have been a much more positive experience for me. Agreed that only certain strains have a positive impact, still trying to figure out what works for me but it's difficult when local options are so limited...
southphillyman 9y ago
Due to it's impact on short term memory I'm not sure it's the best thing for "studying"...but I knew of some med students who would smoke then write R code on datasets until the wee hours of the morning. I guess they were using it as an Adderall substitute of sorts
owebmaster 9y ago
I do, by personal experience.
prostoalex 9y ago
I believe what's currently known is that some amounts of THC lead to lower "default mode network" activity in the frontal core. The default mode network - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lsd-may-chip-away-at-the-brain-s-sense-of-self-network/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lsd-may-chip-away... - is associated with daily activities we think of as distracting - anxiety, worrying about the future, going over the past failures, incessant needs to check e-mail, Instagram or respond to a push notification. Subduing default mode network provides a pathway to concentration, if one's mind is set on it, like reading the book or going over the test question bank. But it could also be squandered on other activities unrelated to learning.

_jal 9y ago

Humans: still acting like humans, film at 11. It also shouldn't need saying that this is hardly unique to pot. Also, it won't change. How many millennia have been spent since someone figured out fruit ferments into something that makes you feel good? And yet people continue to slide into alcoholism every day, in every culture. Even the ones where it is illegal. That said, sure, I can see a temporary effect where legal pot is "new" (really, very old, but that's a different discussion), and so trendy, and the media feedback-loop kicks in so certain kinds of parents have something vaguely novel to upset themselves with. We'll be past that in a generation.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
> And yet people continue to slide into alcoholism every day, in every culture. Even the ones where it is illegal. This is a strange thing to "even". You'd expect alcohol to be illegal where it was more of a problem, not where it was less of a problem. In cultures where nobody succumbs to alcoholism, why would alcohol be prohibited?
- _jal 9y ago
  You know, this isn't a question of philosophy. We're not reasoning from first-principles. You might consider looking to the googles for an answer as to which nation-states currently ban alcohol, and then consider what commonalities they might share. I'll save you the first half of that effort: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_alcohol_prohibition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_alcohol...
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    Those are Islamic countries. Do you think there's a reason the prohibition was made? Do you think there might be a reason it stuck? Alcohol is also frequently prohibited on Indian reservations. Why do you think that is?
    - AstralStorm 9y ago