Tangential addendum: I used to smoke pot all the time. From my mid-teens to mid-twenties. At least once a day, increasing over time to 3-5-∞ times a day. In the last year, I have significantly reduced my marijuana usage to less than once a week. My mental health has benefitted tremendously (also thanks to a great therapist!). I sleep better, I eat less shitty food, I enjoy sex more, I feel overall more equipped to handle my daily life and be an adult. I only date people of the same sex, so standard reproduction isn't a big concern for me; but if you're a pothead like I was (am?)--there's a lot more to reflect on than your sperm count. :)
I think a lot of pro cannabis people are out of balance with viewing the negative side effects. It's a drug and has side-effects. It's much safer than tobacco and alcohol but it certainly has side effects including a strong psychological addiction potential.
We don't have a mature culture around cannabis usage. Alcohol has this benefit, and we have some social norms on how to enjoy it. A big one is the "don't drink before 5" adage. Norms like this for weed will develop in time, I'm sure.
I'm seeing the opposite quite often where I live, people who are quite a bit into weed usually end up needing to bake in order to sleep more comfortably.
Likely, but also cannabinoids can interfere with sleep. A regular user can experience night sweats when they do not have cannabinoids, depending on frequency of use
Smoking cannabis 8 times a day in not being "pro" cannabis.
Not wanting to get incarcerated for life for possession of few grams of a plant is "pro" cannabis.
i don't understand this cannabis-is-safer-than-alcohol myth. for example, i know people that have an extremely low mental tolerance for cannabis while functioning completely normal on a bottle of beer a day. also, i think that it is fairly well known that cannabis has a worrying correlation with schizophrenia [0]
It's not a myth and a few simple google with give you plenty of evidence. Here's a few:
- Cancer
- Weight gain (alcohol is more calorie dense than sugar)
- Birth defects
- Drunk driving: 10K deaths a year
- Violence / sexual violence
- Overdosing
- Withdrawal can cause death
- Did you know date rape drugs wouldn't work without alcohol? (2) It's only the combination with alcohol that causes the victim to pass out.
If you actually look at how alcohol has an impact on the body, it's effectively a poison. It has no medical benefits and only consequences. The whole red wine thing has nothing to do with alcohol but some of the enzymes in red wine specifically. Just drink grape juice instead.
I really don't care if you give yourself cancer. That's a personal decision but consumption of alcohol leads to so much crime and impact on others. Weed not so much. As a society, we've made a decision to tolerate it but it's still there.
a glass of red a night is most likely not going to give you cancer or damage your DNA. a joint a night on the other have just might (depending on your predisposition) have an extremely negative effect
besides given how long we have been consuming alcohol throughout our history, i think its effects are largely understood. we do not know this about cannabis
It's like you don't even know google exists. You just spout one false fact after another.
Cannabis is one of the oldest cultivated plants in human history (1). It was smoked for pleasure and religiously long before Christianity became a religion.
I wonder, do you dilute your glass of red wine before drinking it? The ancient Greeks diluted their wine with 25% wine and 75% water. They also viewed anyone who didn't as a barbarian and drunkard (2).
How long do you think humans have been consuming cannabis? Arguably longer than alcohol, not that it matters anyhow. The restrictions are arbitrary, not to mention being habituated to a nightly GABA agonist (alcohol) has just as many negative implications as nightly cannabinoids. The cannabinoids just won't five you cancer on top of it
I'm specifically focusing on the pharmacology of the psychoactive substances rather than the method used to consume them. No matter the method of administration, there are still risks and side effects. Sidestepping the discussion of smoking vs gaping allows us to focus on the action of the compounds themselves. We already know smoking is bad, we should not combust things and inhale the byproducts
I agree. It's going to get complicated though. There are hundreds of cannabinoids we're aware of with barely any scientific understanding of the effects. CBD, CBN, and CBG all started popping up in dispensaries in different combinations with THC. We still don't really fully understand what they do. There are also more potent versions of THC like THC-O (1)
Cannabinoids have been studied a bit already, not claiming we know everything about them but we're not in the blur either. And I was not thinking about THC derivatives, mostly non psychoactive (cbn/d/g).
Comments
Tangential addendum: I used to smoke pot all the time. From my mid-teens to mid-twenties. At least once a day, increasing over time to 3-5-∞ times a day. In the last year, I have significantly reduced my marijuana usage to less than once a week. My mental health has benefitted tremendously (also thanks to a great therapist!). I sleep better, I eat less shitty food, I enjoy sex more, I feel overall more equipped to handle my daily life and be an adult. I only date people of the same sex, so standard reproduction isn't a big concern for me; but if you're a pothead like I was (am?)--there's a lot more to reflect on than your sperm count. :)
I initially read that as a side effect of not smoking weed anymore.
hahahaha! In which case, can't recommend it enough!
I think a lot of pro cannabis people are out of balance with viewing the negative side effects. It's a drug and has side-effects. It's much safer than tobacco and alcohol but it certainly has side effects including a strong psychological addiction potential.
We don't have a mature culture around cannabis usage. Alcohol has this benefit, and we have some social norms on how to enjoy it. A big one is the "don't drink before 5" adage. Norms like this for weed will develop in time, I'm sure.
We live in different bubbles. I certainly live in a social circle that has a mature view on cannabis. Perhaps it's Amsterdam.
I smoke about 6 to 12 times per year, mostly THC/CBD (Dutch weed), sometimes CBD only (specifically, weed from Switzerland).
Dutch weed: 3 to 5 puffs and I'm fine. Smoking half a joint or more is definitely overdosing it, feeling cold and uncontrollable tremors can occur.
Swiss weed: I smoke half a joint.
Yeah, wake and bake is a bad cultural norm for weed. Then again, smoking at 4:20 would mirror the "no day drinking" norm.
I'm seeing the opposite quite often where I live, people who are quite a bit into weed usually end up needing to bake in order to sleep more comfortably.
Maybe they are having problems sleeping to begin with.
Likely, but also cannabinoids can interfere with sleep. A regular user can experience night sweats when they do not have cannabinoids, depending on frequency of use
Preferable to waking up to panic attacks from dream content.
Smoking cannabis 8 times a day in not being "pro" cannabis. Not wanting to get incarcerated for life for possession of few grams of a plant is "pro" cannabis.
i don't understand this cannabis-is-safer-than-alcohol myth. for example, i know people that have an extremely low mental tolerance for cannabis while functioning completely normal on a bottle of beer a day. also, i think that it is fairly well known that cannabis has a worrying correlation with schizophrenia [0]
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7442038/
It's not a myth and a few simple google with give you plenty of evidence. Here's a few:
- Cancer
- Weight gain (alcohol is more calorie dense than sugar)
- Birth defects
- Drunk driving: 10K deaths a year
- Violence / sexual violence
- Overdosing
- Withdrawal can cause death
- Did you know date rape drugs wouldn't work without alcohol? (2) It's only the combination with alcohol that causes the victim to pass out.
If you actually look at how alcohol has an impact on the body, it's effectively a poison. It has no medical benefits and only consequences. The whole red wine thing has nothing to do with alcohol but some of the enzymes in red wine specifically. Just drink grape juice instead.
I really don't care if you give yourself cancer. That's a personal decision but consumption of alcohol leads to so much crime and impact on others. Weed not so much. As a society, we've made a decision to tolerate it but it's still there.
1. https://drugabuse.com/blog/marijuana-vs-alcohol/
2. https://www.drugs.com/illicit/ghb.html
Eating cannabis won't give you cancer, drinking alcohol likely will. One of these things has metabolites that actively damages DNA and one does not
a glass of red a night is most likely not going to give you cancer or damage your DNA. a joint a night on the other have just might (depending on your predisposition) have an extremely negative effect
besides given how long we have been consuming alcohol throughout our history, i think its effects are largely understood. we do not know this about cannabis
It's like you don't even know google exists. You just spout one false fact after another.
Cannabis is one of the oldest cultivated plants in human history (1). It was smoked for pleasure and religiously long before Christianity became a religion.
I wonder, do you dilute your glass of red wine before drinking it? The ancient Greeks diluted their wine with 25% wine and 75% water. They also viewed anyone who didn't as a barbarian and drunkard (2).
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cannabis#:~:text=Ca....
2) https://www.worldhistory.org/article/944/wine-in-the-ancient...
How long do you think humans have been consuming cannabis? Arguably longer than alcohol, not that it matters anyhow. The restrictions are arbitrary, not to mention being habituated to a nightly GABA agonist (alcohol) has just as many negative implications as nightly cannabinoids. The cannabinoids just won't five you cancer on top of it
So vaporize it.
Not "vape", with juice.
Heat, and inhale.
I'm specifically focusing on the pharmacology of the psychoactive substances rather than the method used to consume them. No matter the method of administration, there are still risks and side effects. Sidestepping the discussion of smoking vs gaping allows us to focus on the action of the compounds themselves. We already know smoking is bad, we should not combust things and inhale the byproducts
Yah, well. Then don't. Maybe plug the gaping hole with it. Rectal administration is a thing. (I've heard)
Maybe a blend of low psychoactive cannabinoids + some THC could become a better norm.
I agree. It's going to get complicated though. There are hundreds of cannabinoids we're aware of with barely any scientific understanding of the effects. CBD, CBN, and CBG all started popping up in dispensaries in different combinations with THC. We still don't really fully understand what they do. There are also more potent versions of THC like THC-O (1)
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THC-O-acetate
Cannabinoids have been studied a bit already, not claiming we know everything about them but we're not in the blur either. And I was not thinking about THC derivatives, mostly non psychoactive (cbn/d/g).
All things have negatives when overdone.
When my cousin stopped cold turkey, his speech/thoughts pace was a solid 50% up. It was surreal.