4 ms·

What Happens When You Smoke Marijuana, According to the Washington Post in 1905

26 points by smacktoward 8y ago

foolzcrow 8y ago
WP has always been fake news lmao.
zubsorg 8y ago
conversely, people still don’t talk about what can happen if one continues to chronically smoke modern, high thc marijuana. Cannaboid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is a very real thing, it causes incredible stomach pain (ER trip type) and constant GI issues amongst heavy smokers. Loss of appetite, daily nausea and side affects associated with an unhealthy GI are all caused by how THC mixes with other hormones in the gut. Weed has become this untouchable, solve all problems type of drug and no one wants to hear this now.
- Alex3917 8y ago
  If abusing a drug causes extreme physical pain before causing permanent physical harm, that strikes me as being more of a feature than a bug. To the extent that caffeine is safer than cocaine even though they're almost pharmacologically identical then that's the only reason, in terms of caffeine quickly becoming unpleasant after a certain dose.
- sametmax 8y ago
  It will reach balance. We went from all bad to all good, which was necessary to reintroduce the drug into a society that irrationally rejected all aspects of it. Once it has settled, we will be able to talk about its problems again. My personal pet peeve is hearing there is no addiction. I sold pot for years and some of my clients were definitely showing all the signs of addiction. My guess is that as humans, we can get addicted to pretty much anything as long as we can use it to cope with the hard parts of life.
  - hnzix 8y ago
    > My personnal pet peeve is hearing there is no addiction. I sold pot for years and some of my clients were definitly showing all the signs of addiction. Yep, I've had two friends who were heavy smokers and would become horrible fiends if their supply was interrupted. Whereas the rest of my heavy-smoker friends would be annoyed but wouldn't go crazy. It seems to be like alcoholism, it only affects a percentage of users.
    - sametmax 8y ago
      I do notice that as well. Quantity is not even the factor, as I do have friends smoking joints several times a day, every day, but cut their supply and they are still charming. On the other hand, cut sugar from me and I'm an asshole during the first 3 days.
  - hunter2_ 8y ago
    I think many folks tend to mean "highly addictive" and "everything else" when actually saying "addictive" and "not." Stuff in the latter category can, indeed, be addictive to a baseline level or thereabouts (likely to small numbers of people; it would be interesting to see if "addicts" blur the categories more).
  - djakjxnanjak 8y ago
    In response to your last sentence - I completely agree. If you ever notice that there’s some behavior that you often perform in response to some difficult thought or physical pain - carefully consider whether that habit is helping you or hurting you.
    - sametmax 8y ago
      It's tough to notice those, and when you are engaged in a positive feedback loop, you are already very deep in.
  - everdev 8y ago
    Literally anything can be mentally addicting. I think people are referring to the idea that pot is not physically addicting, meaning that your body won't experience withdrawal symptoms when you come down. Tons of people are habitual smokers though bordering on mental addiction.
- devoply 8y ago
  Similarly psychosis is strongly linked with marijuana usage. In a certain portion this becomes chronic. It depends on genetic predisposition to developing it, but for those with certain genetics (and you can't know until it happens to you) you can develop it and in a certain number of cases it's a debilitating life long condition that will ruin your entire life.
  - harshreality 8y ago
    The AKT1 gene variant, but there's a caveat.[1] genotype T/T: roughly equal risk of psychosis (1.0/1.0/1.0) regardless of marijuana use. genotype C/T: roughly 0.8 risk with no marijuana use, 1.0 risk with occasional use, and 0.9 risk with daily marijuana use genotype C/C: roughly 0.5 risk with no marijuana use, 1.0 risk with occasional use, and 7.0* risk with daily use. It's the daily-use C/C case that is emphasized, but note that it requires frequent use; otherwise, the risk is roughly on par or better than other genotypes. Note: numbers and relative risks may change with better studies. It's unclear if the type/severity of psychosis is statistically the same for different genotypes. So, the conclusion I draw is that only frequent marijuana users should be very concerned. Once a week or less isn't too worrying, but if you absolutely want to take advantage of a half-normal risk of psychosis if you have the C/C variant, consider skipping the marijuana and doing advanced meditation instead? I wonder how difficult it would be (and how much it would cost) to have a portable AKT1 genotype assay available in marijuana dispensaries. That and several other genetic variations, and their implications for marijuana users, are described at http://profofpot.com/genetics-thc-psychosis/ http://profofpot.com/genetics-thc-psychosis/ [1] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/there-link-between-marijuana-use-psychiatric-disorders#akt1 https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- 14 8y ago
  I have heard of CHS but also know multiple chronic ultra heavy multi decade marijuana smokers and they smoke multiple times each and every singe day. And they have never had any issues. So I think this is like any other drug, a certain percentage of the population just reacts weird. The way you made it sound was as if everyone gets this condition with chronic use. I can assure you this is not the case. I am from British Columbia so we have a reputation for marijuana and a long history of its use. CHS seems like another one of the scare tactics they use.
wsdfsayy 8y ago
I have never had a good experience with weed personally...it just seems to make me paranoid, tired, and I feel like I can't do anything for the rest of the day and at least half the day the next. Conversely, I've had amazing experiences with small doses of lsd and shrooms. They've made me feel more alert, creative, and more optimistic. I'm always surprised when people who are otherwise obsessed with productivity (in tech, finance) tell me they enjoy weed because it seems to enable the exact opposite effect.
- firethief 8y ago
  It sounds like you're taking it to work and they're taking it to wind down
- jolux 8y ago
  I'm largely skeptical of the sativa/indica dichotomy in cannabis but I have found that microdosing a couple of (meaning literally two) small to medium vapor hits in the morning "active" strains can increase my productivity by a lot, increase my ability to experiment by quieting my self-criticism, and even reduce anxiety. It is certainly not magic and lots more studies are needed, but I find it a nice, subtle complement to a cup of coffee on weekends when it is not overused. Note that if you want to try this yourself you should start off super small, as I have a tolerance.
  - kylek 8y ago
    I think I had a comment about this several months ago. But you're somewhat right regarding indica/sativa - most strains these days are hybrids. I don't have any references handy, but there are several types of cannabinoids in marijuana and they all largely get lumped together (unless you end up at a savvy dispensary). Except for CBD anyways, which often gets highlighted more than anything else now. The amounts/ratios of them largely determine what you experience. But in addition to that, the subjective effects are highly modulated by the NON-cannabinoids components as well - the "terpenes". Terpenes are in many (most?) other plants. For example, linalool (the reason for lavender's smell, which can induce relaxation on its own), or pinene (probably the most common terpene, smells like pine trees and can have stimulant-like effects on its own). My armchair-pharmacologist theory is that THC makes you much more sensitive to the effects of the terpenes. A lot of...ahem...testing...might need to happen to dial in what works for you. I'm starting to notice (extracted) products with cannabinoid/terpene profiles printed on the labels - which is a great start. Not sure if it's only in this state, though.
mberning 8y ago
I love the casual suggestion that marijuana prohibition was just another tool in the white man’s belt to hammer down brown people. It’s ridiculous and it permeates so much of what gets written nowadays. It’s not much different than blaming a group like the Jews for all the world’s problems, real or perceived. I fully understand that prohibition laws may disproportionately impact certain groups of people, but let’s not pretend that was the motivation in the first place. Many intoxicants have faced prohibition and or regulation. If this stuff were completely benign nobody would give a shit about it.
- jolux 8y ago
  On the contrary, prohibition of cannabis has a well known racist history. Look up Harry Anslinger and Richard Nixon's views on the war on drugs. It was pretty explicitly racist from the start.
  - mberning 8y ago
    I am aware of that as well as the statistics that the number of people arrested under such laws were many times more likely to have been black or latino. It is also commonly accepted that these were the first populations in the US regularly using. Look, I’m not saying that there weren’t racist people involved with writing the laws, surely that is true to this day, but the suggestion that there was some nefarious conspiracy to do it is just ridiculous. That this stuff is intoxicating is the reason they went after it. The fact that some opportunistic racists put a slant on it is not the same as what is being suggested.
    - mistermann 8y ago
      Do your particular beliefs on the underlying motives rest on some trustworthy evidence that you could share?
    - vajrabum 8y ago
      Only trouble is that the opportunistic racists you mention are in fact the people who put those laws and policies in place in the first place.

26 points by smacktoward 8y ago

WP has always been fake news lmao.

conversely, people still don’t talk about what can happen if one continues to chronically smoke modern, high thc marijuana. Cannaboid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is a very real thing, it causes incredible stomach pain (ER trip type) and constant GI issues amongst heavy smokers. Loss of appetite, daily nausea and side affects associated with an unhealthy GI are all caused by how THC mixes with other hormones in the gut. Weed has become this untouchable, solve all problems type of drug and no one wants to hear this now.

Alex3917 8y ago
If abusing a drug causes extreme physical pain before causing permanent physical harm, that strikes me as being more of a feature than a bug. To the extent that caffeine is safer than cocaine even though they're almost pharmacologically identical then that's the only reason, in terms of caffeine quickly becoming unpleasant after a certain dose.
sametmax 8y ago
It will reach balance. We went from all bad to all good, which was necessary to reintroduce the drug into a society that irrationally rejected all aspects of it. Once it has settled, we will be able to talk about its problems again. My personal pet peeve is hearing there is no addiction. I sold pot for years and some of my clients were definitely showing all the signs of addiction. My guess is that as humans, we can get addicted to pretty much anything as long as we can use it to cope with the hard parts of life.
- hnzix 8y ago
  > My personnal pet peeve is hearing there is no addiction. I sold pot for years and some of my clients were definitly showing all the signs of addiction. Yep, I've had two friends who were heavy smokers and would become horrible fiends if their supply was interrupted. Whereas the rest of my heavy-smoker friends would be annoyed but wouldn't go crazy. It seems to be like alcoholism, it only affects a percentage of users.
  - sametmax 8y ago
    I do notice that as well. Quantity is not even the factor, as I do have friends smoking joints several times a day, every day, but cut their supply and they are still charming. On the other hand, cut sugar from me and I'm an asshole during the first 3 days.
- hunter2_ 8y ago
  I think many folks tend to mean "highly addictive" and "everything else" when actually saying "addictive" and "not." Stuff in the latter category can, indeed, be addictive to a baseline level or thereabouts (likely to small numbers of people; it would be interesting to see if "addicts" blur the categories more).
- djakjxnanjak 8y ago
  In response to your last sentence - I completely agree. If you ever notice that there’s some behavior that you often perform in response to some difficult thought or physical pain - carefully consider whether that habit is helping you or hurting you.
  - sametmax 8y ago
    It's tough to notice those, and when you are engaged in a positive feedback loop, you are already very deep in.
- everdev 8y ago
  Literally anything can be mentally addicting. I think people are referring to the idea that pot is not physically addicting, meaning that your body won't experience withdrawal symptoms when you come down. Tons of people are habitual smokers though bordering on mental addiction.
devoply 8y ago
Similarly psychosis is strongly linked with marijuana usage. In a certain portion this becomes chronic. It depends on genetic predisposition to developing it, but for those with certain genetics (and you can't know until it happens to you) you can develop it and in a certain number of cases it's a debilitating life long condition that will ruin your entire life.
- harshreality 8y ago
  The AKT1 gene variant, but there's a caveat.[1] genotype T/T: roughly equal risk of psychosis (1.0/1.0/1.0) regardless of marijuana use. genotype C/T: roughly 0.8 risk with no marijuana use, 1.0 risk with occasional use, and 0.9 risk with daily marijuana use genotype C/C: roughly 0.5 risk with no marijuana use, 1.0 risk with occasional use, and 7.0* risk with daily use. It's the daily-use C/C case that is emphasized, but note that it requires frequent use; otherwise, the risk is roughly on par or better than other genotypes. Note: numbers and relative risks may change with better studies. It's unclear if the type/severity of psychosis is statistically the same for different genotypes. So, the conclusion I draw is that only frequent marijuana users should be very concerned. Once a week or less isn't too worrying, but if you absolutely want to take advantage of a half-normal risk of psychosis if you have the C/C variant, consider skipping the marijuana and doing advanced meditation instead? I wonder how difficult it would be (and how much it would cost) to have a portable AKT1 genotype assay available in marijuana dispensaries. That and several other genetic variations, and their implications for marijuana users, are described at http://profofpot.com/genetics-thc-psychosis/ http://profofpot.com/genetics-thc-psychosis/ [1] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/there-link-between-marijuana-use-psychiatric-disorders#akt1 https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
14 8y ago
I have heard of CHS but also know multiple chronic ultra heavy multi decade marijuana smokers and they smoke multiple times each and every singe day. And they have never had any issues. So I think this is like any other drug, a certain percentage of the population just reacts weird. The way you made it sound was as if everyone gets this condition with chronic use. I can assure you this is not the case. I am from British Columbia so we have a reputation for marijuana and a long history of its use. CHS seems like another one of the scare tactics they use.

wsdfsayy 8y ago

I have never had a good experience with weed personally...it just seems to make me paranoid, tired, and I feel like I can't do anything for the rest of the day and at least half the day the next. Conversely, I've had amazing experiences with small doses of lsd and shrooms. They've made me feel more alert, creative, and more optimistic. I'm always surprised when people who are otherwise obsessed with productivity (in tech, finance) tell me they enjoy weed because it seems to enable the exact opposite effect.

firethief 8y ago
It sounds like you're taking it to work and they're taking it to wind down
jolux 8y ago
I'm largely skeptical of the sativa/indica dichotomy in cannabis but I have found that microdosing a couple of (meaning literally two) small to medium vapor hits in the morning "active" strains can increase my productivity by a lot, increase my ability to experiment by quieting my self-criticism, and even reduce anxiety. It is certainly not magic and lots more studies are needed, but I find it a nice, subtle complement to a cup of coffee on weekends when it is not overused. Note that if you want to try this yourself you should start off super small, as I have a tolerance.
- kylek 8y ago
  I think I had a comment about this several months ago. But you're somewhat right regarding indica/sativa - most strains these days are hybrids. I don't have any references handy, but there are several types of cannabinoids in marijuana and they all largely get lumped together (unless you end up at a savvy dispensary). Except for CBD anyways, which often gets highlighted more than anything else now. The amounts/ratios of them largely determine what you experience. But in addition to that, the subjective effects are highly modulated by the NON-cannabinoids components as well - the "terpenes". Terpenes are in many (most?) other plants. For example, linalool (the reason for lavender's smell, which can induce relaxation on its own), or pinene (probably the most common terpene, smells like pine trees and can have stimulant-like effects on its own). My armchair-pharmacologist theory is that THC makes you much more sensitive to the effects of the terpenes. A lot of...ahem...testing...might need to happen to dial in what works for you. I'm starting to notice (extracted) products with cannabinoid/terpene profiles printed on the labels - which is a great start. Not sure if it's only in this state, though.

mberning 8y ago

I love the casual suggestion that marijuana prohibition was just another tool in the white man’s belt to hammer down brown people. It’s ridiculous and it permeates so much of what gets written nowadays. It’s not much different than blaming a group like the Jews for all the world’s problems, real or perceived. I fully understand that prohibition laws may disproportionately impact certain groups of people, but let’s not pretend that was the motivation in the first place. Many intoxicants have faced prohibition and or regulation. If this stuff were completely benign nobody would give a shit about it.

jolux 8y ago
On the contrary, prohibition of cannabis has a well known racist history. Look up Harry Anslinger and Richard Nixon's views on the war on drugs. It was pretty explicitly racist from the start.
- mberning 8y ago
  I am aware of that as well as the statistics that the number of people arrested under such laws were many times more likely to have been black or latino. It is also commonly accepted that these were the first populations in the US regularly using. Look, I’m not saying that there weren’t racist people involved with writing the laws, surely that is true to this day, but the suggestion that there was some nefarious conspiracy to do it is just ridiculous. That this stuff is intoxicating is the reason they went after it. The fact that some opportunistic racists put a slant on it is not the same as what is being suggested.
  - mistermann 8y ago
    Do your particular beliefs on the underlying motives rest on some trustworthy evidence that you could share?
  - vajrabum 8y ago
    Only trouble is that the opportunistic racists you mention are in fact the people who put those laws and policies in place in the first place.