6 ms·
Study: Older Cannabis Users Have Larger Brains, Better Cognition
- pestatije 8mo ago[flagged]
- throwa356262 8mo agoUnfortunately, most of it is already occupied with conspiracy theories.
- treetalker 8mo agoYou know, like the ones involving a cabal of child-trafficking, pedophilic elites whose bad acts have something to do with pizza.
- DonHopkins 8mo agoIt's the pedophilic elites whose bad acts have something to do with hamberders I worry about.
- msalihb 8mo agousers have larger brains likely to be addicted to cannabis
- comrade1234 8mo agoCerebral edema?
- Daviey 8mo agoBuying big clothes causes you to be overweight.
- gregoryyy 8mo agoI see the drugs are bad crowd are out in force. I'm sure they'll treat any negative stories about drug users or the effects of drugs with just as much scepticism, prejudice, and criticism as they demonstrate here. How wonderful it must be to be powered by objective reason and free from confirmation bias.
- 936966931646863 8mo agoOf course junkies would jump on this paper, while conveniently ignoring meta-analyses. "Longitudinal and twin studies report larger declines in IQ among cannabis users than their non-using peers but it is unclear whether these findings can be attributed to cannabis use or to genetic, mental health and environmental factors."
- gregoryyy 8mo agoYes, and I'm sure virtuous non-"junkies" such as yourself hold all articles that report or demonstrate negative findings about recreational drug use to the same exacting standards. It must be freeing to have a completely objective perspective and be free from the clouds of any ideology or bias.
- palata 8mo agoIf you read the article, I believe it is more of a "we are studying it and there is a lot to do" than "drugs are good". I think a very important part is: > For example, I’m interested in the effects of THC versus CBD. We don't have any of that information in the UK Biobank. Most people in this study were using cannabis quite a while ago, and cannabis at that time looked very different from what’s available today. That context really matters. It’s a complex picture.
- vga42 8mo agoThat's kind of an odd thing to point out. If my buds are stronger, I use less of them. It's like having a bottle of beer vs bottle of whiskey. I don't exactly imbibe them in the same way, do I?
- misja111 8mo agoFrom the article: > However, another brain region saw lower volumes – suggesting the impact cannabis has on the brain is complex and nuanced, requiring further investigation.
- bildung 8mo agoFurther down: > there was a single brain region where we saw that higher cannabis use was actually associated with lower brain volume – the posterior cingulate, which is part of the limbic system and is implicated in processes like memory, learning, and emotion. That said, some research suggests smaller posterior cingulate volume is actually associated with better working memory, so it’s a little unclear what this means.
- emsign 8mo agoThis is the second user who didn't read the article completely. Not using cannabis obviously shows its negative effects here. QED
- polotics 8mo agoThis appears to be a perfect case of correlation vs. causation. Off the top of my head I can think of many socio-economic confounding variables, and also survivorship-bias.
- throwuxiytayq 8mo agoI actually kinda like the interpretation that big brained, cognitively superior individuals are more likely to become cannabis users.
- ivan_gammel 8mo ago* Long term cannabis users that do not slide into something worse over time or just do not consume too much.
- FeteCommuniste 8mo agoYeah, maybe people able to stick to moderation over many years are just more likely to have their lives together in general.
- vga42 8mo agoIf only it was legal, I'd happily replace my alcohol use with cannabis, and I don't think I'm alone in my age group. Not a big surprise that that yields improved brain health.
- scotty79 8mo agoImagine you could replace with just existing. That said, when I walked through the main street of my city after dark, I thought replacing all the drunks with stoned would have been a major improvement.
- FeteCommuniste 8mo agoYeah if I were navigating a crowd of people and had to choose a substance for them to be zonked out on, marijuana would be near the top. Or MDMA, haha.
- Cthulhu_ 8mo ago*if it does, this is just one study. That said, because it's not legal in many places, any health effects are understudied (not unlike hallicunogens). There's plenty of movements that push for more study though. Anyway, it's legal where I live, I avoided it for a long time because of reasons but it tends to give similar relaxing / depresant effects to alcohol, minus the downsides. I'm confident Big Alcohol is pushing hard against legalizing and developing cannabis. As is the government, because alcohol is heavily taxed and therefore a big source of income.
- 8mo ago
- guelo 8mo agon=1 but I've picked up a daily chess hobby over the past couple of years and I noticed a big negative correlation between my chess rating and my weed use to the point that I've stopped using weed after a 20 year habit. I'm talking 100-200 elo drop that would last several days.
- emsign 8mo agoI'm pretty sure memory function is bad WHILE being baked but might improve long term when not under the influence. Maybe a rebound effect that makes the brain compensate for the CB1 receptor flooding.
- prmoustache 8mo agoWhat is the point to have better cognition if you can't remember anything? Anecodtal evidence I know but all the long term daily cannabis user I know seem to have memory issues.
- littlecranky67 8mo agoQuestion is if their memories just decide to remember different things they deem more important.
- emsign 8mo ago> if you can't remember anything? You didn't read the article but instead rely on your bias alone. Life long moderate cannabis use improves memory function. That's the main takeaway from the research.
- 4gotunameagain 8mo agoWe all know that there is no way this is true though, let's be honest :)
- aurareturn 8mo agoLife long moderate cannabis use improves memory function. That's the main takeaway from the research. It took me years to get back my memory ability after quitting moderate use.
- jstanley 8mo agoHaving memory issues after quitting cannabis is not inconsistent with having good memory while using cannabis.
- aurareturn 8mo agoPeople have better memory while using cannabis? News to me.
- DonHopkins 8mo agoSo Devo was high! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegs3LFf6t8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegs3LFf6t8
- iLoveOncall 8mo agoHow can a study like this be reliably conducted in the UK where it's illegal? > In the UK Biobank, people were asked to estimate how many times they’d used cannabis over their lifetime, choosing from a set of ranges. We ended up grouping people into no use, moderate use, and high use, based on the number of times they'd used cannabis. And of course that's an imperfect way to group people, but it did allow us to approximate dose-dependent effects. Ah ok, so completely BS as expected.
- ndsipa_pomu 8mo agoIt's "illegal", but certain places have a semi-permanent funk hanging in the air. It's almost as if it's decriminalised, but I'd expect police to grudgingly act if you're overly blatant when smoking it in the street. It really should be legalised so that we can earn a bit of tax from its sale and reduce the amount of cash that criminals make from it (not so much the seller to the public, but all the criminal organisations that grow and smuggle it).
- brador 8mo agoForgot to account for survivor bias. Without accounting for that this is just bad science. It adds too many variables to make meaningful conclusions outside of feel good nonsense.
- Simulacra 8mo agoCannabis is a difficult thing I think for people to talk about. There are people who think it's great, there are people who don't care, and there are people think it's awful. Each will latch onto news like this and use it for what they want. I think it's great, I'm not a regular user, and really don't see it as any better or worse than any other drug, from alcohol, to food, and beyond, that people are using. Most things are fine in moderation. I don't think we need to twist ourselves over whether it's going to make us smarter, dumber, or whatever, unless we can divorce it from our personal opinions on the substance. That has been IMHO the hardest part
- bratwurst3000 8mo agoto conclude the article. We still donw know how the brain works.
- ashe_mag 8mo agoI have a hard time believing this