11 ms·

Subjective cognitive decline is a 'subjective' because it is perceived by the individual themselves. This means one of: 1) Weed dramatically reduces cognitive

Subjective cognitive decline is a 'subjective' because it is perceived by the individual themselves. This means one of: 1) Weed dramatically reduces cognitive impairment. 2) Weed dramatically reduces an individual's ability to accurately asses their cognitive ability. 3) People who use weed are, for some other reason, dramatically less likely to suffer from cognitive impairment, or dramatically less able to accurately evaluate their own cognitive state. 4) The study itself is biased or flawed somehow.

Handprint4469 3y ago
From my personal experience, having several friends that have been smoking since high school up to now (mid 30s), it's definitely 2).
- jstanley 3y ago
  But maybe having friends who smoke weed dramatically reduces your ability to assess your friends' assessment of their own cognitive ability.
  - Handprint4469 3y ago
    Indeed, touché
- rvnx 3y ago
  The study is really broken from the beginning: ask someone who take drugs to assess their own capacities, instead of measuring those from an objective perspective. Obviously, "yes cannabis affects your ability to self-report your cognitive abilities"; it's a psychoactive drug that is mainly used for its cognitive effects, it's the main use/"advantage" of it ! (more rarely for pain management) It's like if you ask alkaloidal cocaine (crack) users how they feel about their abilities. They may report amazing bodily control enhancement, and seen from the outside it may be very different. Even alcohol users, at the exit of night clubs, you sometimes see them report self-report increased abilities and decide to drive. In that case, asking them to self-report doesn't give you much info on their actual abilities.
- jajko 3y ago
  [flagged]
- InSteady 3y ago
  It's pretty well established that using cannabis while the brain is still developing has a negative impact on brain development. Additionally, from what I've observed among a few dozen people I've known over the years, people who start smoking in high school and continue without any substantial breaks through to adulthood tend to have a less healthy relationship with cannabis. They have a stronger tendency to fall into the pattern of using all day every day, and tend use much larger amounts than people who started using as adults or have taken substantial breaks (year +) from cannabis consumption as adults.
rasengan 3y ago
It’s likely 1. Most adults are busy reducing brain cell count thru use of alcohol and other poisons. Marijuana on the other hand is proven to increase brain cell count thru neurogenesis in the hippocampus [1]. This is not possible for adults without marijuana [2]. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16224541/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16224541/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/1588/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/1588/
- Retric 3y ago
  Your [2] is outdated information. 2018 my not seem like that long ago, but science doesn't stop. EX: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/2/zsaa173/5986548 https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/2/zsaa173/5986548 However, growing evidence suggests that new cells are not only “born” constitutively in the adult hypothalamus, but many of these cells also differentiate into neurons and glia and serve specific functions.
- specproc 3y ago
  Checking the paper, alcohol is a covariate.
beebmam 3y ago
I go with 4 for basically any study until it is verified independently. One big reason I tend to avoid science "news"
- drooby 3y ago
  Is there a journal or news site that exclusively publishes on studies that have been replicated?
  - FredPret 3y ago
    There should be a whole library of such studies, perhaps even with more than one successful replication. All signal, no noise. Entire disciplines would be absent from it
    - jeremyjh 3y ago
      Imagine if academic success were measured by having studies in such a library. Not just the original, but also the replications! Somehow we'd also need to incentivize publications of non-successful replications just as much though.
      - FredPret 3y ago
        I wonder what an action plan to make this happen would look like. It would appear that many researchers are aware the system is suboptimal but are resigned to it, or even benefit from it. Maybe we should pitch a tech billionaire to fund a journal like this.
- moffkalast 3y ago
  96% seems a bit high to not be mildly suspicious.
bjornsing 3y ago
Another explanation is that weed smokers are less likely to self-report cognitive impairment, as that suggests it’s self-inflicted, which would cause feelings of regret and shame in many I suppose.
- jeremyjh 3y ago
  Yes, cognitive dissonance. This is my hunch.
im3w1l 3y ago
I have a sort of alternative explanation to your four. One thing I've noticed with pot smokers is that many seem to be almost in love with the drug. I have had people try to explain to me the manifold benefits of hemp fibers or CBD or how cannabis kills cancers. I think this could quite plausibly extend to survey answers, where saying they suffer from cognitive decline would be a kind of admission of defeat and go against their core beliefs of cannabis as purely positive godly thing. So basically some kind of psycho-cultural defense mechanism?
- rvnx 3y ago
  It's really a culture. People smoke cannabis to feel part of a clan or a cult, and then get hooked to the psychoactive effects. It's always a game of social influence at the beginning, and sometimes later on. Eventually, you may be pushed to smoke if you want to feel part of a social group and culture, and then, once inside, you have to follow the codes of it. A large part of the cannabis cult(ure) is to preach the substance to everybody around you, to get it depenalized, legalized, and want everybody to have good views on it so they can take it more in public, and be socially more accepted, not considered like a junkie. The end-game of it, is to do everything to get more of it, consciously or not. Then, from that perspective, now you have someone that asks you: "is cannabis good for you ?" (just in other words). Your goal to consume cheaper and higher quality of the substance, without legal risks, and to have approval of your friends, then what do you say ? Of course "yes it's great". There is also a survivorship bias in the study: once you feel that your cognitive abilities decline, you typically stop smoking cannabis. The extreme case: people with dementia are automatically excluded because they cannot even smoke or purchase the product.
neveradmitmyid 3y ago
Marijuana tends to affect people in one of two ways: they either get subdued or they get infatuated. Many people appear to get calmed and relaxed, they could just go to sleep, with pot affects them. Those that marijuana infatuate tend towards creative, intellectual, and creative intellectual pursuits. I am one such infatuated pot smoker, which I keep pretty much secret, because due to my pot smoking infatuations I've gradually made my way into uber secure work environments simply because I'm competent and fascinated by the work; while my counterparts are constantly burning out. It's a job to them. To me, it's fascinating play.
- ProllyInfamous 3y ago
  This sounds like classic indica verse sativa descriptions; the former being "couch lock" while the latter is "mental input seeking." As a daily smoker (for over two decades), I definitely seek BOTH states of mind. Regardless, glad to see you've remained fascinated with your career.
  - dzhiurgis 3y ago
    Kinda, with couch lock I can work (nothing too analytical tho), whereas sativa is so intense and panic inducing that I can’t even focus on a movie. Afaik CBD counteracts the mind infatuation but leaves the body high on.
2devnull 3y ago
Strong likelihood of 4. “The reason for cannabis use, but not frequency and method, is associated with SCD.” The finding is clearly an artifact of the methodology. BRFSS is probably not the right way to study this.

Handprint4469 3y ago

From my personal experience, having several friends that have been smoking since high school up to now (mid 30s), it's definitely 2).

jstanley 3y ago
But maybe having friends who smoke weed dramatically reduces your ability to assess your friends' assessment of their own cognitive ability.
- Handprint4469 3y ago
  Indeed, touché
rvnx 3y ago
The study is really broken from the beginning: ask someone who take drugs to assess their own capacities, instead of measuring those from an objective perspective. Obviously, "yes cannabis affects your ability to self-report your cognitive abilities"; it's a psychoactive drug that is mainly used for its cognitive effects, it's the main use/"advantage" of it ! (more rarely for pain management) It's like if you ask alkaloidal cocaine (crack) users how they feel about their abilities. They may report amazing bodily control enhancement, and seen from the outside it may be very different. Even alcohol users, at the exit of night clubs, you sometimes see them report self-report increased abilities and decide to drive. In that case, asking them to self-report doesn't give you much info on their actual abilities.
jajko 3y ago
[flagged]
InSteady 3y ago
It's pretty well established that using cannabis while the brain is still developing has a negative impact on brain development. Additionally, from what I've observed among a few dozen people I've known over the years, people who start smoking in high school and continue without any substantial breaks through to adulthood tend to have a less healthy relationship with cannabis. They have a stronger tendency to fall into the pattern of using all day every day, and tend use much larger amounts than people who started using as adults or have taken substantial breaks (year +) from cannabis consumption as adults.

rasengan 3y ago

It’s likely 1. Most adults are busy reducing brain cell count thru use of alcohol and other poisons. Marijuana on the other hand is proven to increase brain cell count thru neurogenesis in the hippocampus [1]. This is not possible for adults without marijuana [2]. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16224541/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16224541/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/1588/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/1588/

Retric 3y ago
Your [2] is outdated information. 2018 my not seem like that long ago, but science doesn't stop. EX: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/2/zsaa173/5986548 https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/2/zsaa173/5986548 However, growing evidence suggests that new cells are not only “born” constitutively in the adult hypothalamus, but many of these cells also differentiate into neurons and glia and serve specific functions.
specproc 3y ago
Checking the paper, alcohol is a covariate.

beebmam 3y ago

I go with 4 for basically any study until it is verified independently. One big reason I tend to avoid science "news"

drooby 3y ago
Is there a journal or news site that exclusively publishes on studies that have been replicated?
- FredPret 3y ago
  There should be a whole library of such studies, perhaps even with more than one successful replication. All signal, no noise. Entire disciplines would be absent from it
  - jeremyjh 3y ago
    Imagine if academic success were measured by having studies in such a library. Not just the original, but also the replications! Somehow we'd also need to incentivize publications of non-successful replications just as much though.
    - FredPret 3y ago
      I wonder what an action plan to make this happen would look like. It would appear that many researchers are aware the system is suboptimal but are resigned to it, or even benefit from it. Maybe we should pitch a tech billionaire to fund a journal like this.
moffkalast 3y ago
96% seems a bit high to not be mildly suspicious.

bjornsing 3y ago

Another explanation is that weed smokers are less likely to self-report cognitive impairment, as that suggests it’s self-inflicted, which would cause feelings of regret and shame in many I suppose.

jeremyjh 3y ago
Yes, cognitive dissonance. This is my hunch.

im3w1l 3y ago

I have a sort of alternative explanation to your four. One thing I've noticed with pot smokers is that many seem to be almost in love with the drug. I have had people try to explain to me the manifold benefits of hemp fibers or CBD or how cannabis kills cancers. I think this could quite plausibly extend to survey answers, where saying they suffer from cognitive decline would be a kind of admission of defeat and go against their core beliefs of cannabis as purely positive godly thing. So basically some kind of psycho-cultural defense mechanism?

rvnx 3y ago
It's really a culture. People smoke cannabis to feel part of a clan or a cult, and then get hooked to the psychoactive effects. It's always a game of social influence at the beginning, and sometimes later on. Eventually, you may be pushed to smoke if you want to feel part of a social group and culture, and then, once inside, you have to follow the codes of it. A large part of the cannabis cult(ure) is to preach the substance to everybody around you, to get it depenalized, legalized, and want everybody to have good views on it so they can take it more in public, and be socially more accepted, not considered like a junkie. The end-game of it, is to do everything to get more of it, consciously or not. Then, from that perspective, now you have someone that asks you: "is cannabis good for you ?" (just in other words). Your goal to consume cheaper and higher quality of the substance, without legal risks, and to have approval of your friends, then what do you say ? Of course "yes it's great". There is also a survivorship bias in the study: once you feel that your cognitive abilities decline, you typically stop smoking cannabis. The extreme case: people with dementia are automatically excluded because they cannot even smoke or purchase the product.

neveradmitmyid 3y ago

Marijuana tends to affect people in one of two ways: they either get subdued or they get infatuated. Many people appear to get calmed and relaxed, they could just go to sleep, with pot affects them. Those that marijuana infatuate tend towards creative, intellectual, and creative intellectual pursuits. I am one such infatuated pot smoker, which I keep pretty much secret, because due to my pot smoking infatuations I've gradually made my way into uber secure work environments simply because I'm competent and fascinated by the work; while my counterparts are constantly burning out. It's a job to them. To me, it's fascinating play.

ProllyInfamous 3y ago
This sounds like classic indica verse sativa descriptions; the former being "couch lock" while the latter is "mental input seeking." As a daily smoker (for over two decades), I definitely seek BOTH states of mind. Regardless, glad to see you've remained fascinated with your career.
- dzhiurgis 3y ago
  Kinda, with couch lock I can work (nothing too analytical tho), whereas sativa is so intense and panic inducing that I can’t even focus on a movie. Afaik CBD counteracts the mind infatuation but leaves the body high on.

2devnull 3y ago

Strong likelihood of 4. “The reason for cannabis use, but not frequency and method, is associated with SCD.” The finding is clearly an artifact of the methodology. BRFSS is probably not the right way to study this.