[Plantagenet]

Thanks MMasters.

I appreciate your thoughtful comments on this topic.

I must note that the new research showing the harmful effects of marijuana is not only being done in the USA, where the schedule 1-schedule 2 issue you note exists, but in countries all around the world. They all keep coming up similar results----marijuana causes significant changes in brain physiology, i.e. brain damage. There are also numerous additional medical issues that are being documented in study after study.

I'm glad that marijuana is such a valued part of your life. Much of the new research on medical problems associated with marijuana use shows that it is particularly dangerous for teenagers, so you likely don't have much to worry about.

As far as my trying marijuana, I tried it a few times long ago in high school. Didn't do much for me, but then I'm one of those hyper-rational scientist types with little interest in getting drunk or stoned.

Have a great day!

[Plantagenet]

New study finds that pot smoking by adolescents does NOT lower their IQs. The new study finds that the teenagers who tend to smoke pot are the ones with low IQs to start with, so their lower IQ scores cannot be blamed on pot.

Marijuana-use-does-NOT-affect-teenager-s-IQ-pot-smokers-ALREADY-have-low-IQs

This study contradicts prior studies that showed that pot smoking lowered IQs, grades, motivation, etc. in teenagers.


The good news is that pot smoking won't lower IQ in teens.
The bad news is that chances are teens who smoke pot already have a low IQ.

[SeaGypsy]

That's funny, mine was in the top 1% when I started smoking pot in my teens. I haven't tested since.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')hat's funny, mine was in the top 1% when I started smoking pot in my teens. I haven't tested since.

[SeaGypsy]

My wife is an identical twin, raised in a different household to her sister. They are instantly distinguishable, totally different mannerisms, facial expressions, confidence levels. Neither drink or do drugs, so not much use for this topic. I've suggested they volunteer for twin studies, so far both are too busy with young kids.

[Plantagenet]

New research study shows that smoking pot makes people more likely to be violent

Smoking-cannabis-DOES-make-people-violent

Smoking pot makes people more likely to commit rapes, assaults, and other violent crimes, according to new scientific research.

The study in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.... pointed to ‘significant findings regarding the adverse effects of cannabis use on violence’.
It found there was a ‘more constant relationship’ between cannabis and violence than between alcohol or cocaine use and violence. The researchers said the link between cannabis and violence was not two-way but ‘uni-directional’.
Contrary to claims that violent people were drawn to use cannabis, researchers found ‘it was cannabis use that predicted future violent behaviour’.

Kathy Gyngell, a fellow of the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, welcomed the ‘definitive study’ and called for official action. ‘Government has been seriously negligent,’ she said.
‘Where is the public health campaign on the risks of cannabis? If ministers had any sense they would know that we cannot afford this public health and safety crisis.
‘It must lead the Government to review their community care policy for such potentially violent individuals to better protect the public.’


Its a bummer, man.

[SeaGypsy]

As usual with this stuff, it's bullshit-

"Violent incidents monitored by the study based on the lives of more than 1,100 American psychiatric patients included assaults, attacks with weapons and rapes."

That is NOT science. If there was any reality to these claims, they would be able to be shown through real scientific process. Nope, endless pseudo scientific crapola.

[asg70]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'A')bsence of THC (a naturally occurring brain-stem alkaloid) in individuals has been positively correlated with incidents of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'A')s usual with this stuff, it's bullshit-

"Violent incidents monitored by the study based on the lives of more than 1,100 American psychiatric patients included assaults, attacks with weapons and rapes."

That is NOT science.

[SeaGypsy]

Scientific study which can give weight to generalised statements: "Marijuana causes violence!" Have to be based on reality- the general population- not on a miniscule subset- people in insane asylums. That is pure bullshit. I thought your mind was better Plant.

[KaiserJeep]

Personally, I don't care whether pot causes brain damage or not. I smoked enough of it in my college days to be familiar with the effects on the mind. But I quit smoking pot because of the effects on the lungs and general health.

I'm not suggesting that we hold a prolonged thread like this one, debating whether or not pot damages the respiratory system or the brain. The type of large scale study that finally proved how dangerous tobacco was can only be held when pot is legal in the whole country, and one can distinguish the risks of inhaling marijuana smoke independent of other environmental factors in the air. There are lots of smaller preliminary studies, and the results of these are all over the map, everything from it makes no difference to being a very great deal more damaging than tobacco. If you have a mind not clouded by pro-pot or anti-pot prejudices, that is the truth of the matter - nobody knows for sure.

Then there are the plethora of pot products that one consumes as liquids or solids. Those need their own studies, before the safety of such products can be determined. Yet these products have been studied so little, and those few studies were not performed with scientific rigor, and the verdict is even more in doubt.

My personal feelings are that if one aspires to a simple lifestyle and simple diet, that pot, alcohol, or other drugs need play no part in your life.

[SeaGypsy]

I'm 50, I have smoked pot off & on about half of the last 35 years. I can swim 50 meters under water on one breath, hold down a very physical job, go to gym & pool almost daily after work, have healthy relationships.

I've seen up close examples of chronic pot use, sometimes pretty bad, but nothing compared to the damage of alcohol & ciggies.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', ' ')The type of large scale study that finally proved how dangerous tobacco was can only be held when pot is legal in the whole country, and one can distinguish the risks of inhaling marijuana smoke independent of other environmental factors in the air.

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')'m 50, I have smoked pot off & on about half of the last 35 years. I can swim 50 meters under water on one breath, hold down a very physical job, go to gym & pool almost daily after work, have healthy relationships.

I've seen up close examples of chronic pot use, sometimes pretty bad, but nothing compared to the damage of alcohol & ciggies.

[SeaGypsy]

My anecdotes are no less significant than 1100 lunatics.

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'M')y anecdotes are no less significant than 1100 lunatics.