"I won't go schizo, will I?"
"It's a distinct possibility."
Posted on 04/19/2018 7:58:56 AM PDT by Mariner
(CNN)Marijuana is notorious for slowing certain cognitive functions such as learning, memory and attention span (maybe that's why they call it "dope"?). But new research in young people suggests that these cognitive effects, while significant, may not persist for very long, even among chronic users.
The meta-analysis, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, combines data from 69 previous studies that look at the effects of heavy cannabis use on cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults. It found that those young people who identified as heavy marijuana users scored significantly lower than non-users in a variety of cognitive domains such as learning, abstraction, speed of processing, delayed memory, inhibition and attention.
"There have been a couple of meta-analyses done in adult samples, but this is the first one to be done specifically in adolescent and young adult samples," said Cobb Scott, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a lead author of the study.
"We looked at everything from learning and memory to different aspects of executive functioning such as abstraction ability," Scott said. "And we basically showed that the largest effects -- which was around a third of a standard deviation -- was in the learning of new information and some aspects of executive functioning, memory and speed of processing."
But when the researchers separated the studies based on length of abstinence from marijuana use, the difference in cognitive functioning between marijuana users and non-users was no longer apparent after 72 hours of marijuana abstinence. That could be an indication "that some of the effects found in previous studies may be due to the residual effects of cannabis or potentially from withdrawal effects in heavy cannabis users," Scott said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
IOW, if the student only lights up twice a week, he has one day his mind might be capable of learning something. Maybe. If he’s not hoped up on something else. But, hey, lets make pot legal!
Marijuana users are called pot heads for a reason and it is not for being brilliant thinkers.
Yup lol. It seems to me that risk takers, as a class, get calmness and focus from weed. That describes the ones I’ve mentioned anyway. They don’t go overboard with it, though. A few tokes is like anti-ADD for them. It wss for me, too, but I went waaaay overboard and had to quit.
Alcohol almost killed me, though. Shudder.
“Chronic users never go 72 hours without dope.”
Excellent point.
Yeah, I got a 33/35 on the ACT and a perfect score on the science section, after “waking & baking” the morning of the test.
I wouldn’t recommend it though for people who are already mentally dull. That’s not a good combination.
Marijuana’s effects on young brains diminish 72 hours after use, research says
What they really meant..
Reasearch says Marijuana diminishes young brains 72hrs after use.
When the article references 1/3 of a “standard deviation”, folks would do well to know what that means statistically.
If pot drops your IQ from 120 to 100 (not unreasonable when high) the formula for that difference, and standard deviation would look like:
100 - 120 /6
or - 3.33
1/3 of a standard deviation is but 1 IQ point as a residual effect. And that goes away after 72 hrs.
I appreciate that you’ve never personally witnessed it, but...
news/article-3099469/Paranoid-factory-worker-stabbed-parents-death-frenzied-attack-psychotic-episode-smoking-cannabis-years.html
Numerous other accounts here in Colorado.
1. CNN
2. JAMA Psychiatry
Don’t even need the third strike now, do we?
“I suppose then that this is clinical proof that liberals were >> that stupid << without needing to smoke pot.”
That is correct.
Not or never been a pot smoker, but why is it ILLEGAL?
It took two Constitutional amendments to make alcohol first illegal and then legal again.
Of course, that was back when the country actually cared about the Constitution.
I say decriminalize pot, tax it, and regulate the age of use just like alcohol.
It is established science that those on the cusp of psychosis should not smoke pot.
It WILL put them over the edge.
Cigarettes bad. Weed good. The world is upside down.
So why did you give it up? (sincere question)
And prior to the actual cannabis-induced psychotic event how is the average user supposed to know if they’re ‘on the cusp’?
I could get into MENSA but no thanks. Smart enough to say no thanks to alcohol or drugs, too. I prefer a clear mental and physical state and certainly don’t need to be in some club just because my DNA aligned in a certain way. Brings to mind that old hair dye commercial with some blond model stating she got her looks thanks to her parents. IQ, looks and race are nothing you did.
the accepted becomes the acceptable...(read that somewhere)
“how is the average user supposed to know if they’re ‘on the cusp’”
They don’t. Otherwise they wouldn’t be crazy.
Whiskey can have the same effect.
Ever seen a crazy man on whiskey?
Pot has a reverse tolerance effect. The more a person ingests, the less they need to ingest to get the same feeling.
I’s believed that this is due to the buildup of cannabinoids in the fatty tissues of the body.
As an aside, if you eat mangoes an hour before you ingest pot, it makes the pot work better. This is because mangoes contain a compound called myrcine, which temporarily weakens the blood-brain barrier.
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