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Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, a new study says
- anovikov 2y agoThat's a good thing. Will also probably help move the needle of politics to the left a bit.
- influx 2y agoYou need to do drugs to think politically left? Why?
- Quimoniz 2y agoPsychological trait: Openness. It's associated with Liberalism and the political left. Also see [Big Five personality traits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits).
- margalabargala 2y agoYou've got it backwards.
- groestl 2y agoIt's a feedback loop.
- MuffinFlavored 2y agoIf you do drugs, you think politically left? Those who think politically left do drugs?
- ceejayoz 2y agoNot the original poster, but I'd imagine something similar to gay marriage; after decades of "it'll collapse society if people can do x" warnings, it becomes clear they were wildly overblown.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- snarf21 2y agoI don't think that is what they were implying. Conservatism tends to be about not changing or considering new things. It tends to be more "I was raised that X was wrong, so X is wrong". (It is how I was raised for sure.) So, if a historically conservative person tries weed and it doesn't turn out to be the all encompassing evil they were lead to believe, it may open them up to forming new personally verified opinions on other issues too.
- petercooper 2y agoYeah, I don't think it comes down to left/right as much as the orthogonal spectrum of conservativism to (small l) libertarianism. People across the left/right spectrum are anti-drug for public safety, decency, or religious reasons, but equally there are those who feel individuals should be able to do what they want to themselves.
- DontchaKnowit 2y agoYep sounds awful. Every listened to the political opinions of a stoner? Theyre typically exceedingly dumb.
- karaterobot 2y agoThat using marijuana would make someone more left is a logical non-sequitor and, I feel certain, not empirically demonstrated, at least not rigorously. And the fact that you'd want to live in a world where consuming different substances was what dictated people's beliefs is baffling to me. Think of the consequences.
- keybored 2y agoMight seem absurd for a light substance like marijuana. But I would be surprised if, say, someone took mushrooms and then it was a 50/50 chance as far as going right or left (if any change).
- keybored 2y agoI don’t do marie but smoking as an everyday thing sounds more pleasant than drinking as an everyday thing. But I’m from a binge drinking culture.
- MuffinFlavored 2y agoWhat's worse: what drinking does to your liver or what smoking does to yours lungs?
- ceejayoz 2y agoI'd just note that there are readily available non-smoking forms of marijuana.
- voisin 2y agoAlmost certainly drinking, because it doesn’t just affect your liver but your blood pressure, resting heart rate, bowels, sleep, etc. smoking marijuana is negative to the lungs but somewhat limited to that.
- keybored 2y agoAll I’m worried about marie is my brain. Given that you don’t have to smoke it.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoI've got access to both and still prefer drinking. Maybe it's an addiction, not sure.
- cowmix 2y agoWhen my wife and I do our morning walks around downtown Phoenix in the early AM, we're always amazed at how much weed we can smell. I mean, 6:30am -- a good part of the city smells like a Bob Marley concert -- how do people get anything done these days?
- pavel_lishin 2y agoI wonder how much of that smell comes from night-shift workers, for whom it's their "evening downtime" period.
- facialwipe 2y agoTurns out the proletariat needs more than a minimum wage to survive.
- notesinthefield 2y agoDifferent strokes. Something about smoking a specific hybrid strain helps me focus and keep my energy level way up so in the morning when I know ill have a busy day, I have coffee and a joint.
- kkielhofner 2y agoGenuinely curious about this - in my naive and uneducated understanding it seems regular use of anything that activates reward circuity as effectively as marijuana seems like an overall "bad thing" longterm? Anecdotally, I've noticed with friends and acquaintances that this leads to what basically comes down to a de-motivating effect, i.e. the "reward" via built-in mechanisms (like productivity, exercise, etc) gets attenuated over time as marijuana activates similar reward mechanisms very quickly and reliably via something as simple as inhaling. Basically "why bother going for a run, smoking makes me feel even better and I don't have to do anything". I don't want to seem critical or anything of the sort, I've just seen it myself in multiple cases and it "makes sense" to me. Your anecdote seems to counter this. Do you find the effectiveness of this strategy reduces over time? That said it's obvious daily drinking has similar reward system impact with significantly greater overall health consequences.
- albert_e 2y agoI initially mis interpreted the title as "... outpaces daily drinking OF WATER" and was stunned.
- sickofparadox 2y agoProbably to be expected, after years of suppression usage spikes, then comes back down to 'normal' levels once people decide the like or hate it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- factorialboy 2y agoA full circle, re: Opium Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
- itishappy 2y agoNot sure I follow, mind elaborating a bit?
- fb03 2y agoI think cannabis is a great harm reduction tool, compared to harder and more dangerous drugs like Alcohol, Heroin, etc. It is truly a blessing compared to those. But there is an aura of "harmlessness" going around it and I think it is detrimental to public health, because people think it is okay to smoke weed everyday all day long - the same people that will condemn "daily drinking" as it should be condemned (as a terrible, health wreaking habit). Many people, including me in the past, use or have used something (food? drugs? you know your shit) as a daily coping mechanism to "issues" or "stuff". If that's your case, seeking help and changing your environment the best way you can is way better than sweeping it all under the rug with a daily something that makes it all good for some hours, and then you refill. It takes fortitude to step up and change, but you can do it if you change your frame of mind. I'm rooting for your change out there. I have no issues with cannabis at all and I think it's way, way superior as a chill out, relaxation thing than alcohol. But I also think that daily "wake and bake" could be a sign that something is off, so please be mindful of your surroundings, environment, and listen to how you feel.
- ceejayoz 2y agoMy hope is the rescheduling will permit proper research into the pros/cons so we have a better idea of all this. It's hard to do most clinical trials on a Schedule 1 substance.