6 ms·

Over the weekend a friend of mine pointed out that while nicotine use has dropped, cannabis use has heavily increased. As if, the rise on tobacco prices has dri

by dfee 8y ago

Over the weekend a friend of mine pointed out that while nicotine use has dropped, cannabis use has heavily increased. As if, the rise on tobacco prices has driven folks to alternative drugs. I wonder (and if someone on HN knows how, please share) if you were to track use and abuse of pills, stimulants (including things like 5 hour energy), cannabis and other forms of what’s becoming not-so-recreational drug usage — what would we find?

InclinedPlane 8y ago
I'd like to see the statistics on that. Marijuana used to be illegal, so a lot of use was hidden. Also, 5 hour energy is just caffeine and I highly doubt that caffeine usage in the US has changed significantly (from ubiquitous) over the past few decades.
nkozyra 8y ago
Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. My takeaway is American drug usage has been shaped by a lot of socio economic factors that do not have human or societal health ramifications. There needs to be a total, science-backed overhaul of drug policy for this reason.
- dfee 8y ago
  > Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group. https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/ https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/ And that’s by frequency. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodil-to-purple-drank-the-worlds-10-most-deadly-street-drugs-a6719541.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodi... That’s by potency. Sure. Don’t get me wrong. Nicotine is bad for you, so is Alcohol, but it doesn’t make you do this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    I'm not going to trust an article that says that using ketamine gives you HIV.
    - dfee 8y ago
      You probably shouldn't trust any information thrown at you without critical thinking (including the first three articles that came across my Google search).
  - nkozyra 8y ago
    > I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group. Your article supports my premise. If you need me to post people doing horrible things while drunk or tobacco related death statistics I'm happy to do so as a counterargument.
shpx 8y ago
There's recently been a big uptake of juuling (a mass produced high nicotine concentration vape) with teenagers. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of-vaping-and-the-rise-of-juul https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JUUL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JUUL https://www.reddit.com/r/juul/comments/7xnhzm/juuling_in_school/ https://www.reddit.com/r/juul/comments/7xnhzm/juuling_in_sch... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17427712 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17427712

by dfee 8y ago

InclinedPlane 8y ago

I'd like to see the statistics on that. Marijuana used to be illegal, so a lot of use was hidden. Also, 5 hour energy is just caffeine and I highly doubt that caffeine usage in the US has changed significantly (from ubiquitous) over the past few decades.

nkozyra 8y ago

Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. My takeaway is American drug usage has been shaped by a lot of socio economic factors that do not have human or societal health ramifications. There needs to be a total, science-backed overhaul of drug policy for this reason.

dfee 8y ago
> Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group. https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/ https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/ And that’s by frequency. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodil-to-purple-drank-the-worlds-10-most-deadly-street-drugs-a6719541.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodi... That’s by potency. Sure. Don’t get me wrong. Nicotine is bad for you, so is Alcohol, but it doesn’t make you do this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  I'm not going to trust an article that says that using ketamine gives you HIV.
  - dfee 8y ago
    You probably shouldn't trust any information thrown at you without critical thinking (including the first three articles that came across my Google search).
- nkozyra 8y ago
  > I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group. Your article supports my premise. If you need me to post people doing horrible things while drunk or tobacco related death statistics I'm happy to do so as a counterargument.

shpx 8y ago

There's recently been a big uptake of juuling (a mass produced high nicotine concentration vape) with teenagers. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of-vaping-and-the-rise-of-juul https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JUUL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JUUL https://www.reddit.com/r/juul/comments/7xnhzm/juuling_in_school/ https://www.reddit.com/r/juul/comments/7xnhzm/juuling_in_sch... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17427712 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17427712