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The real danger with cannabis is not that it'll make you sick or have some nasty side effect like this article describes. The danger is simply that you will li
by lacker 4y ago
The real danger with cannabis is not that it'll make you sick or have some nasty side effect like this article describes.
The danger is simply that you will like it, you'll end up using it every day, all different times of the day, and it won't really hurt your health as much as it will make you live your life in a somewhat dopey, detached, less-intelligent way. As time goes on it won't feel "fun" it'll just feel "normal". And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment.
- rs999gti 4y ago> The danger is simply that you will like it I like bourbon and gin, but I don't drink both everyday. As they say, "everything in moderation."
- iamdbtoo 4y agoThis argument always pops up as if there aren't a wealth of very successful daily cannabis users.
- margalabargala 4y agoThat's because the existence of outliers doesn't disprove the existence of a trend. Saying that there are successful daily cannabis users and therefore chronic cannabis use doesn't have negative effects on one's brain, is similar to saying that you're holding a snowball and therefore global warming doesn't exist.
- iamdbtoo 4y ago> That's because the existence of outliers doesn't disprove the existence of a trend. Yeah, exactly. Either way it proves nothing about a person or their life.
- margalabargala 4y agoIt means the person you originally replied to was correct to call it a "danger", because while it doesn't preclude the possibility of success as you noted, it does make it less likely for a given individual.
- iamdbtoo 4y agoNo, it doesn't. It just proves the whole point is meaningless. There are successes and failures in both weed users and non-weed users, so you can't use that as a variable for anything. Interepting it that way just always casts judgement on the user.
- margalabargala 4y ago> There are successes and failures in both weed users and non-weed users, so you can't use that as a variable for anything. That's not how that works. The existence of both successes and failures in weed users does not prevent a comparison of the rates of successes and failures between weed users and non-weed-users. Making the above comparison and noting that successes per capita are lower in weed users of an otherwise identical demographic doesn't cast judgement on anyone.
- tboyd47 4y agoThe scale of human potential is vast. Who's to say that, for a given definition of success, a person who's "very successful" with one lifestyle wouldn't be 10x or 100x more successful in another?
- sandoze 4y agoWho’s to say what my full potential could have been if it wasn’t for all the lead paint in my house as a kid?
- cortesoft 4y agoAre you suggesting we shouldn’t remove lead paint from houses? Yes, we can’t know exactly on an individual level what potential was lost to lead paint, but we know it was some amount. Can we not act if we don’t know the exact loss?
- aaaaaaaaata 4y ago..did you eat it?
- iamdbtoo 4y agoWho's to say anything about anyone? We only get one shot at this. There's no perfect way to live a life.
- darth_avocado 4y agoThere are a wealth of very successful alcoholics and cocaine users too. On an average, alcoholism and cocaine dependence still ruins life. Don’t look at the exceptions to define the average.
- bobkazamakis 4y ago>There are a wealth of very successful alcoholics and cocaine users too. Not for as long of a duration. Apples to oranges.
- adamsmith143 4y agoThere are also a wealth of very unsuccessful people who don't partake in drugs or alcohol. These points prove nothing
- graublau 4y ago2x drinks at a happy hour isn't successful alcoholism, that's just a lack of cultural stigma. I also slightly doubt casual cocaine won't catch up with you eventually, might take years. Stimulants are generally work friendly anyway, see coffee/adderall.
- akhmatova 4y agoSure, we all know a few. But overwhelming personal observation indicates that in the vast majority of cases -- it blunts your game (and if you pick up the habit in your teenage years, and don't manage to put it behind you -- it can derail your chances at completing your education, or maintaining successful relationships entirely). Again, not from the toxicity - but simply from what it does.
- sandworm101 4y agoYes, many successful (ie rich) people smoke pot and do not suffer because of it. Those traits are not related. Rich people do not suffer most of the negative social/financial side effects of drugs use. That's the great thing about being rich. It insulates you against most negative consequences of your actions. Normal (ie poor) people do not have such protections. They suffer massively. A 100$/day habit for a wealthy person is nothing and, unlike cocaine, that addiction will not ramp up into a 1000$/day habit. But for the not-rich that 100$/day is devastating.
- Bud 4y agoThere are certainly consequences to cannabis use, but let's not get carried away. At least for the vast majority of casual users, this isn't anything remotely close to a $100/day habit. Common sense should inform us of that, even if we aren't intimately familiar with how much pot actually costs. $5-10 a day is closer to the reality for most users.
- sandworm101 4y agoFlat-out 24/7 high would be 100/day. Pot is a drug that successful people can sustain without any financial issues. Compare cocaine which can quickly ramp into 1000/day and beyond, quickly devastating the finances of even relatively wealthy people.
- sleepdreamy 4y agoThis is simply false. I'm not going to discuss pricing here but, with Dabs and several forms of in-take you do not need to spend 100/day to be stoned all day. I live in a recreational state(Lived here for 13 years while it could ruin your life). In the past this might hold true but no longer.
- _j5l3 4y agoAt the peak of my own usage, I smoked around an ounce every 3 days while (pretending to be) working from home. $40/eighth + taxes a pretty average price in the Bay Area, so that works out to almost exactly $100/day. That's pretty extreme, even for heavy smokers, but far from impossible.
- wazoox 4y agoI don't know any, but I know a whole lot of dope-heads who completely destroyed their lives with daily use of cannabis.
- jejeyyy77 4y agoProbably many more under the radar too.
- akhmatova 4y agoYou nailed it -- that's exactly what makes habitual use of the substance so insidious. Like, why deal with life (which involves risk and rejection, and ick, work) when you can just blast trippy movies through your head all day? (Fun though these movies can be, for a while).
- dhzhzjsbevs 4y agoYes. These days I blast educational YouTube tech talks through my brain instead. Can't exactly tell whether it was better before or now.
- the_only_law 4y agoYeah, tbh I know it's not particularly healthy, but before I was just going to the bar every damn night to stave away boredom.
- adamsmith143 4y agoWait until you find out how many people blast Netflix through their head for hours a day while stone sober...
- alexk307 4y agoHave you ever used cannabis as a medicine or daily for a long period of time? Do you think we all just watch movies and act like morons all day? Why do you care if other people do or don’t want to deal with your version of life?
- akhmatova 4y agoWhy do you care ...? I don't. It's just an observation. That doesn't mean I care.
- gunfighthacksaw 4y agoApologies to mods for low effort reply to low effort post but you obviously care enough to have posted and responded.
- slg 4y agoWhy is this topic always brought up regarding weed, but nothing else? Should we make video games illegal because they can cause some people to live a lethargic and less productive life?
- bko 4y agoNo one said it should be illegal. It's just dangerous.
- jerf 4y agoIt is brought up with other things. Perhaps you are extra sensitive about the weed topic for your own personal reasons. "Video games" is a particularly bad counter example, there's a lot of chatter around video game addictiveness and what it can do to vulnerable minds. There's always been some low-key discussion of it but the increasing prevalence of "loot boxes" and their corresponding mechanics have not just increased the volume of the hand-wringing but actually risen up to the level of being banned in certain countries. It's early days on that and I expect to see more regulation of video games over time. As a parent, I can and do directly control my children's access to video games. (My children for various reasons I'm not sharing on the internet are extra sensitive to the issues.) For example: "The Immoral Design of Diablo Immortal" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o17lBUZgjTs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o17lBUZgjTs
- slg 4y agoYou are debating a different aspect of video games. The complaint against loot boxes is not that they prevent video game players from reaching their true productive potential. They don't do that. The problem with loot boxes is that they are exploitative.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- wincy 4y agoBefore loot boxes existed you had Diablo 2, which instead of your money you were trading your time to get the best items. I wasted thousands of hours of my prime years trying to gamble my way to the “perfect build”. World of Warcraft was the same way, only writ large and perfected with raids. I’ve spent literal years of my life playing Blizzard games and hate myself for wasting so much time.
- iasay 4y agoSo much this. Lost a couple of friends to it. Their entire life is about it. They forgot all the other good things they were and did.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- drost 4y agoI'm struggling with this right now. Using during the day is still an uncommon occurrence, but it's happening more and more. The real issue I'm having with it is that I'm using pretty much every night. I come from the gym, take a shower, and grab the vape pen and sit on the couch. It just makes me so lazy. I stopped cooking and just eat pizza and ice cream nearly every night. Thankfully my weight hasn't taken a hit. But it creates this cycle of not cooking, so I don't buy groceries, so I can't cook, so I just order in.
- lacker 4y agoYeah exactly. Like a lazy night isn't the worst thing in the world... it isn't even all that bad. It's not like you're breaking into cars for meth money or drunkenly assaulting people. But still, do you really want every night of your life to be vape pen, Netflix, order pizza? I don't really know the best way to kick the habit or to reduce it. It seems like different things work for different people. Maybe it would help to pick one week to go no-cannabis and see if you can do it. Good luck with whatever strategy you decide to go with....
- adampk 4y agohonestly sounds like you're having a great time lol
- drost 4y agoIt's not a bad time. But I'm doing nothing. I spend each night channel surfing between YouTube, AppleTV, Hulu, and Netflix. It would be so boring if I were doing it sober.
- 999900000999 4y agoAs someone who used to be morbidly obese, I can make a better argument for banning Mc Donald's. >And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment. This applies to being 100 pounds overweight too. Hell, it can be argued if you cut out beer and switch to cannabis your health will improve.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoCounter point: I am 37 years old. I quit marijuana three or four months ago, but before that I was vaping marijuana nearly every day for four years. During that time I’ve achieved more success in my career than any other time. I think it was good for me to quit. I feel more alert and more productive now. More level and less tired. Maybe I would have been more successful without it, so perhaps you are right. But then, life shouldn’t be just about success. And then, I still got where I am today, with the best career I’ve ever had. So it doesn’t feel like it held me back at all. Crucially, I used relatively small amounts of pure sativa. I wasn’t stuck on the couch while I used it. Still, this to me suggests self control is more important than abstinence.
- wooque 4y agoI would guess there are people who do cocaine every day without trouble. That doesn't mean everyone should do drugs. Most people can't handle it.
- spywaregorilla 4y agoMost people can handle it. But that still doesn't mean everyone should do drugs.
- coding123 4y agoYou're saying that if everyone in the world started to take cocaine daily, a high percentage of people, say 80-90% can handle it.
- jazzyjackson 4y agothe poison is in the dose
- spywaregorilla 4y agoWhat does handling it mean if you're taking cocaine daily? Taking drugs daily is already likely beyond the point of dependence. Regardless of will power, you will almost certainly develop some level of chemical addiction and tolerance trying to use cocaine, recreational-y, daily. I would say the question is invalid. I meant most people can do cocaine once, or at an infrequent irregular frequency without getting addicted to it and becoming dependent. FWIW most means > 50%
- mesofile 4y agoI thought the way that South Park put it (in the voice of Randy Marsh) many years ago was just about perfect: “Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and ...it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorists, but... Well son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored and... It's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or... being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything.” [0] To be clear, I don’t wholly agree, I know too many talented and hard-working stoners, but it does sum up the passive danger of cannabis rather nicely I think. [0] https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/My_Future_Self_n%27_Me/Script https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/My_Future_Self_n%27_Me/Scr...
- daveslash 4y agoYeah. I used the same schpeel (or something similar), with my kid when we found out she was smoking at 15. You know ~ it's not heroine or cocaine, but it can make you content to just do nothing, when you'd be happier doing something. Sometimes "do nothing" is exactly what we need in this crazy, hectic, busy world. Sometimes it's good to be bored. But keep it in check. Also, I have no problem with adults partaking, but kids with their developing brains ~ that's another story in my mind.
- monktastic1 4y agoFYI, spiel :)
- jayd16 4y agoIf this is "the real danger" then is the potency issue irrelevant? Are we already experiencing peak danger?
- nisegami 4y agoI know this wasn't your intention, but this is the most compelling argument to try it that I've ever heard.
- lacker 4y agoIf you are ever going to try any illegal drug in your life, a vape pen with cannabis is probably the way to do it. It's pretty safe and the effect is really not crazy, it's sort of on the order of magnitude of alcohol. And soon it probably won't even be an "illegal drug" any more - where I live in California it's legal enough that you can simply walk into a store and buy some.
- murat124 4y agoThe thing with cannabis (with THC) is that it makes doing nothing OK so you may realize after some time of daily use that you have accepted doing nothing as a legit activity, contrarily when not high you'd either do something to utilize that time or may feel bad that you have nothing to do (bored). Cannabis has not much of physical addiction properties which is great yet one day you may find 10 years have got behind you and you have done not much. Perhaps no one told you to stop consuming it daily or you have just drifted upon losing the handles on your life. If you want to be a daily user, or already are, do try to still feel the need to do something when there's nothing to do and consume it responsibly. You probably will be fine health-wise but remember that doing-nothing-is-ok is not ok especially when it's become routine.
- barbazoo 4y agoI can't really relate to this. There is a spectrum of how high you get. Maybe we should distinguish between getting super stoned, just sitting on the couch watching TV and smoking half a joint, going for a walk in nature and listen to music or cook or bake.
- aerostable_slug 4y agoWith psychedelics some refer to a "museum dose" — that amount you can use that would allow a person to visit an art museum and enjoy the experience. There are similarities with cannabis and other drugs (including alcohol of course). That said, sometimes a little dab is enough to throw things off — fun story: I was practicing the Filipino Martial Arts and my teacher had a hit off a blunt some fellows practicing kinda-wushu in the same park were passing around. His ability to count out our drills went to hell, but in generally all other ways he was fine. It was very humorous at the time.
- Planktonne 4y ago> a "museum dose" — that amount you can use that would allow a person to visit an art museum and enjoy the experience This feels sad to me, and sounds like another angle on the same issue raised above. You should be able to enjoy/engage with culture while sober; I'd describe needing to be high to connect with art as a dependency and a problem.
- dividefuel 4y agoCannabis is the only drug where I struggle to find a healthy balance. Other ubiquitous drugs like caffeine or alcohol are easier for me to balance because their drawbacks (dependence, hangovers, weight gain) are more obvious. But cannabis doesn't have those to nearly the same extent, so it's easy to rationalize frequent use: on an average night without anything planned, it always sounds enjoyable without any downsides. But then frequent use eventually adds up and starts to cause small issues, like being a little lazier and having a slightly worse memory.
- vladsanchez 4y agoSame message I told my kids! The danger is that you'll like it and you'll end up in a life of misery. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
- RichardCA 4y agoThe difficulty is how do you separate that issue from the other connected issue: Lots of people use weed to self-medicate for anxiety. How much anxiety is needed to create a sense of motivation and "stakes" in the day-to-day operation of your life? Anecdotally, I've known people who were prescribed pharmaceutical anti-anxiety meds and done far worse with that feeling of weightlessness and removal of stakes, like you're just wandering around in the Matrix until something bad happens like a car accident. I mean yes that happens on weed (again, anecdotally) but we have no controlled studies about it, and it absolutely should be studied. So yes, valid point, but it's the tip of a much deeper iceberg.
- LazyMans 4y agoMany years ago I was sitting at my computer smoking after work like I normally did, and I asked myself, "What would I be doing if I wasn't smoking right now" and I couldn't answer it. I tapered off pretty easily and began to fill my time with other hobbies. I was never the type of smoker which was "active". I would smoke socially and began to hate that I could never remember people's names or conversations. It made me fairly quiet and anti-social compared to without. Now I really can't enjoy marijuana, even when buying low THC high CBD bud and vaping it, it's still very easy for me to overshoot and get into a state I hate. Marijuana turns me into a complete idiot and creates a sort of cerebral haze I can't stand. I really dislike the lack of education surrounding marijuana. People, especially young people, seem to disregard the impact of excessive consumption. You can argue with me all day it's safer than alcohol or tobacco, and I agree if we're talking equivalent amounts, but I'm not saying you should drink daily or multiple times a day for years. Everybody is different, my experience isn't necessarily everyone else's. For those that do fall into the trap of spending too much money, time, and failing to understand how weed might be holding them back, better education, regulation, and support should net society a bunch of happy well informed people living their best lives.
- R0b0t1 4y agoIndica or sativa? Most people with complaints as you describe are smoking indica, sativa is more appropriate for social situations, but can still make you get stuck in your head. Most people I know who use sativa find it helps their creativity.
- LazyMans 4y agoIf one more person tries to tell me it's strain... Both, any mixture, any strain. Edibles, vaping, smoking, all of it. Some of the more pleasant times are when I mix up ABV (already vaped weed) into edibles. Those I can get weak enough and with only the more stony compounds remaining where it can be pleasant, but it still turns me into a drooling idiot with absolutely horrific munchies.
- _j5l3 4y ago
- honkycat 4y ago> As time goes on it won't feel "fun" it'll just feel "normal". And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment. You can form a bad relationship with literally anything. Social media, television, video games. The smartest and most passionate developer I have ever known smoked weed literally every day. There are many musicians who use marijuana regularly. They perform, practice, and achieve at a level I can only IMAGINE. What you are really talking about here is something nefarious: Self medication. Personally, I self medicate because I have a very busy mind and I need something to slow my brain down at the end of the day. Other people self medicate due to depression. This IS bad. It is a way to escape reality because you are unhappy. Anecdote: I smoked weed in high school pretty frequently. Then, I left for college, was super busy, didn't have any money, so I didn't smoke weed for almost a decade. Eventually I moved to a state that has legal weed, and I bought a joint, and I smoked it. And I found something: It wasn't just youthful rebellion, I enjoy being a little stoned! So now I do it occasionally.
- effingwewt 4y agoThis is how I cope. My brain runs away with me, coupled with OCD (people love to romanticize it byt forget about the obsessive/compulsive part). With that and depression and anxiety, the meds prescribed to me were insane, as were the side effects (many permanent too- fuck that). Weed was the lesser of the evils. I don't drink because aside from the fact that I hate the taste of alcohol, what I really detest is the loss of self control. I spend most of my waking and much of my sleeping time trying to keep one thing or another under control. I don't have to fight them nearly so much with weed. I know it's an imperfect solution to myriad problems, but it helps me greatly,but I very much realize I am self medicating. When I quit smoking weed it takes me about a year to get back to full 'normal'. But I'm also miserable. I can't sleep, I wake in the night in the middle of thoughts that are making me anxious or whatever. I eat too much, I have less energy. I simply become better at hiding my issues.
- honkycat 4y agoYou should look into Zoloft. A lot of my friends and family take it for anxiety. It is a pretty safe, minor, and not intense anxiety medication that I hear has a bit of a funky/fun edge to it. I was gonna start on it next month to try it out.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tresqotheq 4y ago>And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment. So, like being addicted to an Internet connected, social media infested smartphone?
- naravara 4y agoI can't help but wonder if normalizing regular use of increasingly potent weed correlating with dramatic increases in anxiety disorders among young people are related. Yeah there's the general state of the world, economic precarity among families, the effects of social media, the education system and society in general deprioritizing developing resilience and coping skills as part of children's upbringings, etc. I'm sure they all contribute, but I have a hard time believing the weed is helping. In most cultural practices that revolve around psychoactive substances it's typical to embed them in sort of a ritual context. Alcohol is pretty obvious, but even things like tea ceremonies or ritual practices around use of hallucinogens match. The modern "clinical" approach of just focusing on consuming the substance without any social or cultural thing around it is probably the wrong way to go about things. We do this with alcohol, for example, where we have some socially understood norms about healthy and unhealthy ways of using it, in particular not drinking alone as a habit.
- krnlpnc 4y agoLike anything it's about balance. The same could be said about working every day, at all different times of the day. There is something to be said for turning off the part of the brain that worries about being productive all the time. Claiming a few 4 hour blocks over the course of a week as your own time to "zone out" and do whatever activity you like is not a bad thing. For some people cannabis helps them get in that zone.
- geekbird 4y agoThis. I know a lot of people who need to just ... stop. They always have to be busy, doing something "productive" or "beneficial". They don't take time to just be, to stop and smell the roses. My problem with sleeping was trying to turn off my geek brain long enough to get to sleep and stay 5that way. Weed helps with that.
- BobbyJo 4y agoThis isn't really a danger of weed so much as a danger of the modern world. I have given up smoking for long periods at several points in my life. Sometimes I filled the time productively, sometimes I filled it with TV, video games, the internet, etc. The modern world afford people many ways to be happy doing nothing, weed just happens to be one of several that are very good at the job.
- acchow 4y agoI've found the secret to marijuana not taking away from your personal fulfillment is to limit it to the end of the day before sleeping which would already be spent consuming passively (such as watching TV).
- eurasiantiger 4y agoFrom experience, getting high every night like that is a more problematic usage pattern than dosing steadily throughout the day and not getting especially high.
- eurasiantiger 4y agoAs a person living with complex PTSD, my experience is the polar opposite of what is described in the parent comment. I could not have relationships or work at all without medicinal cannabis, and there is really no difference between it and recreational cannabis in terms of efficacy, as long as the strain matches somewhat closely.
- maxbond 4y agoOn and off daily marijuana user. I don't feel "dopey and less intelligent" when I smoke weed at all times of the day. It actually has very little impact on me. But it does help me deal with my chronic anxiety issues. I take breaks regularly. Sometimes I get into a place where I can't operate in my day to day life because of intrusive thoughts. When I smoke I'm able to break out of cycles of repetitive thought and make real progress in my life. I achieve so much more and get so much more out of life. I'm able to engage with the people in my life better and improve my relationships. You speak with false authority on a matter you cannot possibly understand, because you do not share the life experience of myself or people like me. It's irresponsible and you should desist. If you have relevant experiences, share them and explain that this is your conclusion. If you don't have relevant experiences, don't include yourself in the conversation. Don't speak in generalizations about other people's lives.
- mountainriver 4y agoAgree, also a nightly user and I feel way better doing it. I feel more intelligent and better rested. Also agree that the op shouldn’t speak in generalizations around this.
- globular-toast 4y agoThis is exactly what happened to me. Luckily it was only a few months and I identified it quickly enough and stopped using it. But having said that, I know a lot of people who have lives I consider dull but never use cannabis. So it might be nothing to do with the drug at all. After all, I was still able to quit easily. It wasn't like a heroin addiction or something.
- m0llusk 4y agorefer madness 2.0; better let starbucks distribute the psychoactives
- codebolt 4y agoFor a few unlucky people, it really can have disastrous side effects as described in this article. At the risk of stigmatising myself, I suffered through cannabis induced psychosis and lived to tell the tale. And I can promise that it's absolutely a real phenomenon, and one that's not adequately recognised in 'stoner culture'.
- drekipus 4y agoI am too! Had a really large 3 day psychosis (including blabbering on Facebook for all to see), and ended up being locked into "involuntary mental health" ward in hospital for 2 weeks, 6 months of recovery with a nurse and 6 years of putting my life back together. Started smoking when I was 18 and had the breakdown just after 21st birthday. I feel like weed did help me get me out of my shell at the start, but looking back now, I was in a bad place and what I needed was a bigger perspective on life. Being high and browsing the internet / playing games with friends helped that perspective, but it could've came gently. Now I've got a degree, a good job, a wife and kid :) - not many people I knew from the era still talk to me though, me going nuts was the last impression they got.
- codebolt 4y agoI see some parallels but my own problems spiralled a bit further than yours. I was struggling with hallucinations and paranoia on and off for a period of a few years in my early twenties (but luckily didn't leave a trace on social media). It started after a period of habitual smoking and got progressively worse anytime I smoked. Mental health ward twice (once in a country where I didn't speak the language, but that's another story). Haven't had any problems since I cleaned up my lifestyle and fully ditched weed many years ago. These days I'm also happily married with kids (three), a house and a decent career.
- rayiner 4y agoSaw exactly this happen to a very bright friend of mine from high school.
- ativzzz 4y agoThe article is opposite of your point- that modern cannabis products are much more potent than ever before and that young people who consume them regularly are prone to severe psychiatric repercussions beyond just "being a stoner"
- jejeyyy77 4y agoSounds like reefer madness type claims to me. You can give someone a hamburger and some people will abuse it til they are obese. It's a personality thing. To me, the most alarming trend I see among people nowadays is cell phones - people are checking notifications all day like its crack.
- rgbrgb 4y agoI agree being stoned all the time can have bad effects. Similar to video games, TV, instagram, or going out, if you do it too much then you might look up after a while and realize that you haven't developed as many deep skills or relationships as your peers. However, I've gotten stoned almost every night for the past ~15 years and I think it's been pretty positive. I actually get a low-level pleasant and productive anxiety to create shit. Like don't get me wrong I can get stoned and play a game or watch TV, but usually it just makes me want to go harder on something I'm working on and makes the work more fun. For certain types of work (writing product stuff, making music, css polish) I find it correlates with small creative bursts or insights. My current rule of thumb... only vape [0] in situations where I don't have to deal with strangers or kids (only at night these days). Like food, alcohol, coffee, being alone, or being social, moderation is key. My point is just that it depends on the person and setting. It's not necessarily good or bad, more like a power tool for your mind. No panacea. [0]: https://www.puffco.com https://www.puffco.com
- Synaesthesia 4y agoIt actually can make you feel sick if you smoke too much, there is a rare syndrome called Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, and it's agonizing.
- wilsonnb3 4y agoThe article specifically mentions Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome so I assume this is the "nasty side effect like this article describes." that they are referring to.
- yourgranny 4y agoI did this with video games.
- xbar 4y agoThis is an old 4% strength THC I-used-to-be-a-stoner argument that is completely irrelevant to the "real" dangers (multiple) to teenagers, which include: concentrated THC in teenagers causes psychosis; moderate THC in teenagers makes them permanently less intelligent. THC users like to downplay them.
- solitus 4y agoCan you provide sources for "moderate THC in teenagers makes them permanently less intelligent". This study implies that it's not really true: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516648113#sec-5 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516648113#sec-5
- xbar 4y agoThis one comes to the top: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1206820109 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1206820109
- nobody9999 4y ago> This is an old 4% strength THC I-used-to-be-a-stoner argument that is completely irrelevant to the "real" dangers (multiple) to teenagers, which include: concentrated THC in teenagers causes psychosis; moderate THC in teenagers makes them permanently less intelligent. >THC users like to downplay them. What would you have us do then? There are minimum legal ages for using legal cannabis as well as alcohol and tobacco. That doesn't stop teens from trying it out, nor has it ever done so. Archaeologists have documented the use of mind altering substances by humans going back at least 8-10,000 years, and it's very likely that such usage goes back much, much farther (e.g., our distant ancestors getting drunk from eating fermenting fruit millions of years ago). The issue isn't whether or not people should use mind alterng substances, we have done so and we will continue to do so. The advice I gave to those in the younger generation of my family is that "we've been using mind altering substances pretty much forever. And most people handle it just fine. But if using such substances interferes with your goals and/or functioning as a person in society, there's likely a problem." Which is why I believe all "drugs" should be legal, with purity and dosages regulated. From an economic standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. We could spend a fraction of what we spend on "interdiction," "enforcement," incarceration and lost economic output (the result of incarceration and bias against those who have been incarcerated) on treatment programs for the tiny proportion of us for whom using mind altering substances keep us from functioning normally in society. That makes much more sense to me. Trying to stop folks from doing stuff we've been doing since before we were us (humans), is a fool's errand. Let's help those who have issues and leave everyone else the hell alone.
- PragmaticPulp 4y ago> The real danger with cannabis is not that it'll make you sick or have some nasty side effect like this article describes. That may be true for the majority of users, but the increase in people having significant negative reactions to high-dose THC is a real phenomenon. This new era of extremely potent THC concentrates and other high-dose products has opened the door to some people using far more THC than previous generations could easily consume. Many of these high-dose users are discovering that the old narrative that weed isn’t “physically addictive” isn’t actually true and prolonged high-dose usage can produce significant physical and mental withdrawal effects. It won’t kill you like extreme alcohol withdrawal can, but the deep impulse to redose and inability to quit easily catches a lot of these high-dose users unprepared after they’ve been told that weed is harmless for so long. Psychosis among high-dose users is also on the rise, though harder to pinpoint because the connection is very hard to make and quantify in studies. Again, this isn’t something people were taught to watch out for so you see some of these users believing that marijuana is a treatment for their psychosis rather than a cause and they spiral further and further until quitting. The old street knowledge about marijuana’s biggest downside being laziness doesn’t really apply to people engaging in the more extreme doses and uses heavily processed and concentrated products.
- mistermann 4y ago> The danger is simply that you will like it, you'll end up using it every day, all different times of the day, and it won't really hurt your health as much as it will make you live your life in a somewhat dopey, detached, less-intelligent way. As time goes on it won't feel "fun" it'll just feel "normal". And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment. As a general rule, I don't disagree, although there could be other important variables in place here as well. An alternative outcome is that one spends their time thinking about intelligent and important things (that few other people think about), except they may not have an easy route to monetization (professional success) for various reasons that are not the fault of drugs, and in some cases arguably due to a lack of more widespread drug usage, or simple diversity in thinking and discussion.
- solitus 4y agoWas a stoner from age 15 to 25 (first joint at 12-13), I started smoking less and less at 25 and have recently just totally stopped in my early 30s (I might take a puff here and there once in while socially, but even then). Most of my friends were also stoners, some still are. I cannot stress this enough, if you get high EVERY day or EVERY other day from 15 to 25 it really does something to your motivation in life. I still struggle with motivational problems (ADHDish issues), but I think I've been lucky. I have friends that will probably never achieve anything meaningful in life and that is despite having had access to the best education available (private schools), parents that were MORE than okay, welp being privileged you know... Now some of them cannot stand normalcy (i.e.: working). There is a world of difference between starting weed when you're 25 and smoking a little bit VS getting HIGH almost everyday from 13-15 onwards. When we were young we convinced ourselves that weed was not dangerous at all...fools. I'm about to be a dad, I'll make sure my kids know what's up.
- cupofpython 4y agoWeed is a tool. it makes you high. that's about it as far as generalizations go. if weed makes someone feel fulfilled, then they can farm a lot more feelings of fulfillment by using it than the old fashioned way of actually accomplishing things. I think trying to shame people away from it is silly. People who use it will very quickly realize it isnt bad, and then they dismiss everything they heard about it. There is a monkey paw warning in that it wears off. It wears off in short and long terms; it is less effective the more you use it over time. So be aware that the spectrum for its effects is along the lines of "kind of cool for a little bit" to "everything you love slowly being ripped from your hands". the latter extreme probably being pretty rare and more applicable to heroin. Otherwise you could make the same 'danger' argument about video games, porn, social media, reading books, painting, co-dependent relationships, etc. Anything that people use to dump their attention / time into rather than deal with anything uncomfortable in their life. The vessels people use are a matter of preference, and tangential to the underlying problem. There is always an issue with trying to use 1 tool to fix every problem. obsession. Weed usage requires nuance and an understanding of what it is you are trying to accomplish with it. same as any other drug, same as any other tool. Honestly, if someone wants to do nothing with their life than smoke weed.. who cares? I certainly dont. They might be one of the last people I offer any sort of charity to, but that's about me not them.
- worker_person 4y agoYep my daughter had a friend introduce her. She spent 5 years on it. 100% dependent on it. Entire time swearing up and down it didn't affect her. Of course we could all tell. Only when her finance had a psychotic breakdown and tried to kill everyone from it did she finally get off of it. Was 2 months before he didn't sound like an anime villain who was going to take over the world. She keeps commenting at much more energy and less depressed she is, how she isn't always irritated at everything. She had no idea it was affecting her like that. For us we have our sweet loving and caring daughter back.
- soared 4y agoYou are definitely not talking about weed
- worker_person 4y agoYes. I actually am. They both smoked it. She said it seemed fine. He went insane. They tested him. Weed was only thing in system. Full blown psychosis. He had God talking to him. He was God. He was going to have hurt my daughter in divine punishment. He crapped in the tub. His computer was all powerful and was controlling the world. He showed up at his work to hurt them. That's when we found out about it. He got hauled off to a mental facility where they had to keep him tied down for multiple days. Kept trying to hurt the staff. When he stopped being violent, he was still highly delusional for a solid month. https://www.brightquest.com/cannabis-induced-psychosis/psychotic-symptoms-in-marijuana-smokers/#:~:text=Common%20marijuana%20psychosis%20symptoms%20are,and%20unusual%20changes%20in%20behavior https://www.brightquest.com/cannabis-induced-psychosis/psych.... Bottom line, he can never touch weed again. They can't be around people that do. They've lost most of their friends. Friends didn't agree about them giving up weed. They are starting to make new friends. They are doing far better now.
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- s5300 4y agoSounds like something people should be free to choose
- INTPenis 4y agoAs a wise person once said; Drugs are amazing, drugs are so good they will literally ruin your life.
- Overtonwindow 4y agoThis has been a serious issue of mine. I have serious PTSD and anxiety, and nothing has ever worked like cannabis. Not even close. However it has a detrimental effect on my work output.
- semitones 4y agoI think you are absolutely correct. This is my experience and viewpoint as well.
- hirvi74 4y ago> And you just won't get as much out of your life as you could get, won't achieve as much relationship success, professional success, or personal fulfillment. Chicken vs. the Egg. Perhaps many are drawn to cannabis due to the inability to achieve such goals due to whatever individual or societal issues/reasons one may have.
- pojzon 4y agoBut! You will be more likely to accept the world as it is - thus making it legal everywhere has great benefits. Mostly for ruling bodies.
- sydthrowaway 4y agoThe solution is simple. Hate what you like.
- yeahNo88 4y agoHuh as a daily smoker who has held titles like “head of infosec” and currently am self employed (self motivated) as a freelancer, I can confidently say this is BS It’s like anything else; confusing and obtuse then you learn to live with it No one learns to code before writing bad code. Some of my best and simplest ideas came to me while high af simply because other routine daily thoughts were out of the way Kindly stop peddling tropes from a place of ignorance and actually figure it out subjectively for yourself. Other peoples tolerances are not the same as yours. Like everything else it’s gradients, ranges, and distributions Edit: my only non-typical stoner trope is I did not smoke until I was 27. I had life experience behind me. A non-trivial detail. I am 43 now
- GrumpyNl 4y agoI did most and best creative programming under influence, it also made me suicidal. I have stopped completely. Do i miss it, yes. Will i get back to it, i doubt it but its hard.
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- tempestn 4y agoWatched my dad struggle with this for much of his life. Smoked (cigarettes) from 12 until his early 50s, and pot from some point early in life until late 50s. Struggled for years to quit both, but he says the pot was harder to give up. It may not be a physiological addiction, but you can sure develop a strong habitual/emotional dependency. Certainly watching him struggle with it was enough to make me never want to go down that road.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoDid he "need something" before he started trying things? Or only after? PS Love your work on AutoTempest; the top ten lists I found with some clicking (maybe a partner thing) were really enjoyable.
- tempestn 4y agoI think it started as a teenage rebellion sort of thing. Certainly the smoking did. Then later on the culture of the 60s-70s probably played into it. But then as the original comment talked about it definitely developed into a psychological dependency. Thankfully he's been happy done with all that for good for quite a while now. (Must be 15-20 years or so now.) And thanks, I definitely got lucky kind of accidentally finding a viable business niche with searchtempest and then autotempest, and building on that. It's a fun way to earn a living for sure.
- dubeye 4y agoYes definitely. I love weed and everytime i buy some, I always really enjoy it for a couple of days, without any immediate negative impacton life. but routine sets in, and I just turn into a shadow of myself until i run out. I try to just use it rarely but daily use is too tempting.