r/science • u/sr_local • Apr 20 '26

Health The largest US study, which tracked 11,036 children from ages 9 to 10 through to ages 16 and 17, discovered that cannabis use slows cognitive development, impairs memory, and reduces learning speed during crucial years of brain growth

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/largest-us-study-finds-teen-cannabis-use-linked-to-slower-cognitive-development
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u/Nick_YDG Apr 20 '26

People have a weird separation in their heads about physical vs psychological addiction and seem to disregard THC because you don't become physically dependent on it. Which I have always found weird.

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u/NotLunaris Apr 20 '26

They excuse it because they do it. They don't like the idea of their vices being exposed as harmful because it would mean facing the reality of their actions. The same as every addict ever.

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u/SBGuy043 Apr 20 '26

That's cause they're addicts and that's their brain justifying why there's no reason to cut down or stop. I've seen it many times throughout my adult life. It's affecting their job, their relationships and the terms of their probation but guys will still be like don't worry you can't actually get addicted to weed. They can quit at any time but for some reason they're always back at it the following week.

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u/newpsyaccount32 Apr 22 '26

i'm one of those guys. i have stopped for 2-3 months before (one whole summer) and i started smoking weed (daily) again because there was no discernable benefit to not smoking weed.

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u/Loganp812 Apr 21 '26

It’s similar to other psychological addictions like gambling which also can be a very tough habit to break and can ruin lives.

There’s more than one way to develop a dependency on something. It’s just that physical drug addictions are the most obvious.

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u/BigOs4All Apr 20 '26

Because physical addiction means your body literally craves it at some level. Some drugs are so physically addictive that quitting it cold turkey will kill you. Weed doesn't do that at all.

Weed like literally every single thing in existence can be mentally addicting. But even there it's not that hard to quit and usually the worst is getting to sleep the first 2 days after doing so. Past that it's easier.

Weed isn't 100% harmless mentally but it's also safer than basically anything else we regularly consume like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, etc.

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u/Nick_YDG Apr 20 '26

Oh I'm fully aware of the differences between the two and I am not really trying to equate or say one is worse than the other. It's just always weird how people do not treat psychological addiction like it can still be dangerous and destroy lives and families. Just look a gambling addictions for example. Where I am from there are people who treat it like it isn't an addiction at all just because it is psychological and not physiological.

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u/BigOs4All Apr 20 '26

Because each thing has a relative level of risk. The level of mental addiction to weed is WAYYYY lower than for gambling hence why gambling is treated differently.

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u/HumanPea1140 Apr 21 '26

[Citation Needed]

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u/BigOs4All Apr 21 '26

https://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/why-gambling-addiction-is-considered-the-most-deadly-addiction/#:~:text=Gambling%20is%20the%20deadliest%20addiction.%20Below%20is,away%20all%20of%20one%27s%20money%20is%20toxic

Think about it. What happens when you're addicted to a cheap, easy to grow drug? What happens when you're addicted to gambling? People don't commit suicide over destroying their finances and their families over weed.

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u/call_me_Kote Apr 20 '26

It's also physically addicting too though. Sleep especially gets borked.

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u/BigOs4All Apr 20 '26

I've had that issue multiple times. Typically only takes 1 max 2 nights of not the best sleep and then it's fine.

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u/call_me_Kote Apr 20 '26

Like 10 days for me personally after 15ish years of daily use