Some new science demonstrates that marijuana may not have the harmful effects critics claim. In fact, while pot had no measured impact in a new study, the very legal and very lucratively-marketed substance alcohol actually has a worse health impact on young users.
Specifically, a new study of substance-using teenagers' brains shows that the regular use of alcohol had a harmful effect on the boozing group, while the toking-up group's brains suffered little alteration.
Very soon I'm leaving work to go to a party. The thing we've all been laughing about today is that we've realized that fully half of us attending the party have no plans to drink any alcohol, but instead drink soft drinks and smoke pot instead. Full disclosure: these conversations occurred before any of us read this article.
In a way it shouldn't be surprising. Alcohol is a solvent. Solvents chemically deteriorate things. I know the body has miraculous systems in place to deter every type of damage, but the fact is, if you continue to dump a chemical solvent into your blood stream, there will be damage to some degree. People who believe otherwise are simply naive or don't understand the facts.
It's akin to how water erodes rock. Sure, it takes fucking millions of years, but at the end of the day, damage is done.
Same goes for weed. It's all an issue of moderation. A toke a day, a beer a day is fine. Heavy, sustained use is where problems occur with any drug, because your body cannot flush the shit faster than it's coming in and eventually, buffers in your body are depleted, and you suffer. Simple fact, really.
".. persistent, dependent use of marijuana before age 18 showed lasting harm to a person's intelligence, attention and memory. Quitting cannabis did not appear to reverse the loss. However, individuals who started cannabis use after the age of 18 did not show similar declines."
Not surprising. I've always heard that your brain isn't fully developed until you're around 25. It does a final paring off, pruning and a general tightening of neural connections at this time. If you disrupt this final process, there isn't another one scheduled and so you're more or less permanently damaged. I think there is some evidence that your brain can overcome damage of this sort but its a very slow and not a complete recovery. Whereas brain development from 0-25 years of age is driven by the DNA, development and recovery afterward is driven more by the repeated use of neural pathways enforcing their importance. It's the same reason practice makes perfect. If you keep doing it, your brain senses a repeated neural pathway and thus the neurons adjust to make that pathway consistent, strong and efficient. Overcoming damage to fundamental areas of the brain could be done to some degree but it would be very tricky, very arduous and would likely never lead to a full recovery.
It makes for a convincing argument to push back the legal age limit for a lot of things to 25, but I don't think that is something that would occur anytime soon.
the development period bit is very interesting info if at least is widely accepted as factual in the field. I hardly ever drink, but I smoke on a daily basis, so there might be slight bias in effect.
But I want to point out an indisputable fact: when you smoke, you get a buzz it goes away and that's that. No side effects, no feeling like shit, no nothing. With drinking...well you know how shitty liquor is to your body in a very immediate and direct manner. That should hint one's opinion on the subject.
mrd wrote:It makes for a convincing argument to push back the legal age limit for a lot of things to 25, but I don't think that is something that would occur anytime soon.
raising the driving age to 25 would save a fuckload of lives; funny how that's never seriously considered
DTS wrote:
Also, that site has to be one of the worst designed ever. Loads of it was off-screen: to the left!
7/10
@Transient: I find weed only boosts creativity in small doses. When I play guitar after a few tokes I seem to come up with unique progressions, riffs or melodies every time. If I smoke too much though it just turns into a mess and I forget what the hell I'm playing half way through it. I read an article about weed's supposed painkilling effects. It was saying weed seems to more distract the brain from pain, rather than actually dull it. Makes one wonder if the same mechanism is causing creativity by distracting the brain from the possible pain of embarrassment from playing/creating something "bad."
I can buy that. If I smoke too much, regardless of the strain, I just end up with couch lock and can't be arsed to do anything with myself.
I also smoke for pain management sometimes. I'll be aware that I'm still in pain when I focus on it, but it doesn't bother me anymore. It's kind of hard to describe, but it makes what could be a rather uncomfortable evening quite a bit more tolerable.
[quote="YourGrandpa"]I'm satisfied with voicing my opinion and moving on.[/quote]
I meant like other drugs LOL! Like weed goes well as a compliment to speed, MDMA, LSD, etc. Actually, it even goes well with alcohol, although I find that it's better when it follows drinking rather than the other way around.
Ah, gotcha. Weed + booze is a good combo. Despite what I expected, it actually makes me rather motivated and proactive. I haven't tried it with anything else (haven't even done anything else). Too much of a straight-edge, I suppose.
BTW, liquor or beer?
[quote="YourGrandpa"]I'm satisfied with voicing my opinion and moving on.[/quote]
I meant like other drugs LOL! Like weed goes well as a compliment to speed, MDMA, LSD, etc. Actually, it even goes well with alcohol, although I find that it's better when it follows drinking rather than the other way around.
Beer before bong: you're in the wrong,
Bong before beer: you're in the clear.
