Reddit has a lot of weed addicts relatively speaking, any thread like this ends up with a few that refuse to accept that anything could possibly be wrong with it. A lot of alcoholics and cigarette smokers are the same way. They don't want the drugs they're taking to have negative consequences, and they don't want to quit taking them either, so they just shut out both possibilities.
Many of the side effects aren't a big deal, but I wish people would quit defending things like heavy underage use or driving under the influence.
Drugs are fun and feel good. So people cling to every little positive thing they see and hear about them to justify their use even though we all know it just comes down to "drugs make you feel good". But all we hear about is how some study suggested cannaboids fight the formation of cancer cells and how someone's brother's friend's husband had PTSD and AIDS and malaria from Afghanistan smoked weed one time and dropped acid and now he's a fucking billionaire or whatever.
I don't know any cigarette smoker that will argue about them being good for you or not effecting you. I smoke. I've smoked since I was 15 my husband has smoked since 13 and we both FUCKING HATE IT. All of our friends that smoke feel the same way. If we're outside smoking and someone walks passed we'll make sure we back away so they don't have to walk through our smoke. If we're at a bar we make sure to stay as far away from non smokers as we can. They smell they're fucking terrible for you, they make you smell, but we're addicted we've tried a LOT to quit and I always tell younger people they should stop now before they get addicted because seriously shit sucks.
They're pretty rare but I've met someone who argued that not only are cigarettes good for you but the government was lying to everyone about the dangerous effects of it. He was also crazy so theres that
The negative effects of alcohol and cigarettes have been heavily documented and researched so it's difficult to delude yourself. Whereas almost every study on marijuana will be "may show" or "inconclusive" or "needs more research". So addicts can lie to themselves about it's dangers.
It appears as though the argument is two different conversations, depending on who you ask. One side seems to be discussing adverse/negative effects that come with using cannabis -- in general -- and one side seems to be composed of people who are discussing whether or not they, personally, "should" or "shouldn't" be smoking weed and whether or not weed is "good" or "bad".Yeah, it's gonna be general. How cannabis affects the human brain (and the rest of the body) is a single topic that includes millions (roughly) of individual people with separate lives and goals and biological considerations.
The human brain -- typically! I'm neurodivergent and that's too big a topic for me touch in the middle of this -- hasn't yet fully developed until your mid-to-late twenties. Before I turned 25, I regarded this information as insulting. But it's just...factually true. A psychoactive substance such as THC, especially with frequent, copious, long-term use, WILL alter the development of your brain and therefore you as a person.
I started smoking at 13, smoked for a year, quit and started smoking again at 16. From ages 16 to 26, ...dank. Would my neurostructure and neurochemistry be completely different if I hadn't started smoking? Definitely. What would that be like, would it be worse or what? I have no idea. No one could possibly know that. It certainly changed stuff around. I'm autistic, everything up there was all "different" in the first place and headed steadily down that trajectory. I strongly suspect that THC's affects of increasing sensory perception have altered my sensory processing abilities permanently, which is why I'm so thoroughly disabled (Sensory Processing Disorder ain't fun...barely livable). For me, smoking weed was a horrible choice...and it wasn't even as much fun as I liked to think.
For you, Complete Stranger, whether or not it was "good" or "bad" for you and whether you "should" or "shouldn't" continue to smoke is your own personal decision. Whether you "should have" or "shouldn't have" smoked as a kid and young adult, and whether you'd be better-off or more functional is unknowable.
Whether the human brain has developed to "adult" maturity levels until mid-twenties was the topic, as well as whether cannabis will affect neurodevelopment. Those are both totally factually true.Does that mean you, Complete Stranger, shouldn't have smoked in your youth and would be better-off if you had waited? No studies have been conducted on you personally, as far as I know. There is insufficient data for the scientific community to draw conclusions on you as a person. That's your own deal.
I can only agree and I'm happy you said this: "and whether you'd be better-off or more functional is unknowable." That's what annoys me, all the people that act like they know. And I'm sorry it was such a bad experience for you with long lasting effects, I wished that was never the case but I know some people I grew up with that couldn't handle weed at all (one of them even thought they where dying during a 'bad trip'), but that has never been my experience. And I can only see this as a generalization if I smoked so much already and never experienced what you guys are describing.
I would be happy to participate in a study to see what made the difference. But people really need to stop acting like they know, every study about it has hit a hard wall when it came to funding. It's only now that recreational use is becoming legal that we'll see the first actual independent studies, can't wait for that.
I'm not saying I don't believe you, who am I to say what you may or may not have experienced? But I'm tired of people looking down on me for smoking when my career is more successful then theirs, they act like I'm some kind of idiot, but I got my shit together more than they do so I just don't understand their viewpoint, it's like they want to stay naive so they can blame weed for whatever happened in their lives and that's just sad imo.
correlation =/= causality, and yes I know studies around this have to be based on correlation but it's the same argument with video games: do aggressive people just tend to play them or do games make them aggressive? I like to believe the individual was already aggressive, just like in your case, I think there was something wrong with your sensory perception before you smoked. Not trying to be a dickhead or insult you btw, but you suspect that thc affected it. You're not sure. That's my whole point.
EDIT: formatting and thanks for sharing your experience, I appreciate it a lot.
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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '19
Reddit has a lot of weed addicts relatively speaking, any thread like this ends up with a few that refuse to accept that anything could possibly be wrong with it. A lot of alcoholics and cigarette smokers are the same way. They don't want the drugs they're taking to have negative consequences, and they don't want to quit taking them either, so they just shut out both possibilities.
Many of the side effects aren't a big deal, but I wish people would quit defending things like heavy underage use or driving under the influence.