Millions of people in the U.S. report using marijuana daily or nearly every day, and those people now outnumber those who say they are daily or nearly-daily drinkers of alcohol.
I’d agree weed is the healthier choice but I don’t think it’s fair to say it doesn’t affect the day to day. I used to smoke everyday and it really messed with my short term memory and sleep.
Both. For a couple years it was definitely all day but through college it was just in the evenings. The mental effects were a lot worse when it was all day but I noticed it still when it was just evenings.
I’ve smoked a lot of weed, and known a lot of people who have smoked a lot of weed, and this is my theory:
Marijuana makes it easy to get into a headspace where you simply aren’t recording memories. It is sort of like daydreaming and then snapping out of it and not knowing what the lecturer has been talking about.
People such as myself who have used weed to avoid feelings of depression tend to seek out that state, and once you get in the habit of doing that, it is hard not to fall into it again while high. You can counter it with practice, but like any mental discipline, it is a tricky thing to accomplish.
Some people seem to have a personality that keeps them more actively focused on external things rather than their internal thoughts while high, and those people don’t seem to have the same memory problems. Same goes for people who smoke for only part of the day—their brain has more time to be focused on outside stimuli and not get in the habit of being internally focused all the time.
Needless to say, my memory is shit when I’m not intentionally trying to remember something. It is sort of a blessing for me though because it makes me less anxious about things when I can move on from them without a strong memory.
Some people seem to have a personality that keeps them more actively focused on external things rather than their internal thoughts while high, and those people don’t seem to have the same memory problems
Could also be ADHDers. I smoke ALL day either because it’s a passable replacement for my actual meds (helps focus) or because if I don’t then the Adderall turns off my hunger sensation completely. Despite this my memory is on point specifically when I’m high, I’m a little slower when sober funny enough.
My Dr directly attributes that to my ADHD. He could be talking out of his ass but he’s also got it and has been doing work in this field for like 40 years so I trust him.
That may also be due to the strength. Not to mention, it’s hard to measure thc amounts when inhaled. Other methods can be dosed out consistently, and even at low doses, although not always with the same effect as smoking. There may be better ways is all I’m saying.
Be careful with your concept of physically versus psychologically addicted, it’s not really a 100% seperatable dichotomy like that. Your brain is your brain after all, whether you decide to call something physical or psychological it’s all happening inside the brain. I think because cannabis doesn’t tend to have severe withdrawal effects (like alcohol withdrawal, which can kill you) people assume that means they’re not dependent or that it doesn’t have direct effects on the reward processing centers in the brain to reinforce its use again in the future. That’s what distinguishes addictive drugs from things that are just generally pleasant so we want to do them again, they have a direct chemical interaction with the neural circuits that are supposed to be helping decide if a behavior should be done again or not. Kind of tipping the scales in their favor, making you want to do something again more so than just the pleasentness of the past experience alone would otherwise do. You’re going to have an easier time quitting carrots than you will cannabis, even if you find them both equally pleasant in the moment.
Don’t get me wrong though, cannabis is waaaay less addictive than things like nicotine or alcohol, and has far less harmful effects than those. I think there is a tendency (especially with things like DARE lying about drug dangers when people were younger) to over correct and say things like it’s a miracle drug that’s non addicting and can never harm you and can fix everything wrong in your life! I’m for recreational cannabis legalization, but people should understand it’s actual risks, even though they are much less than other recreational drugs.
The cumulative probability estimate of transition to dependence was 67.5% for nicotine users, 22.7% for alcohol users, 20.9% for cocaine users, and 8.9% for cannabis users. Half of the cases of dependence on nicotine, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine were observed approximately 27, 13, 5 and 4 years after use onset, respectively.
Cannabis-derived psychoactive compounds such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and synthetic cannabinoids directly interact with the reward system and thereby have addictive properties. Cannabinoids induce their reinforcing properties by an increase in tonic dopamine levels through a cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor–dependent mechanism within the ventral tegmental area. Cues that are conditioned to cannabis smoking can induce drug-seeking responses (ie, craving) by eliciting phasic dopamine events.
You’re going to have an easier time quitting carrots than you will cannabis, even if you find them both equally pleasant in the moment.
I would suggest that isn’t true for the woman in the link I posted, which was sort of my point about the addictive nature of cannabis. And I would say that physical addiction is not only in the brain because it isn’t your brain that kills you when you go through alcohol or opioid withdrawal.
But sure, you can become heavily dependent on cannabis. I’m just arguing that it’s a totally different sort of dependency and should be classified as such.
Yes but saying it’s psychological dependence only is is kind of misleading here. To most reading that would imply that’s just addicting because they like doing it. A carrot does not contain a chemical that directly interacts with the learning and reinforcing centers of the brain, while cannabis does. Cannabis is directly addicting, carrots are not. I don’t think it’s a fair comparison.
Also it is your brain that kills you when you have alcohol withdrawal, it’s why alcohol withdrawal is treated with central nervous system depressants. Opiod withdrawal generally won’t be able to kill you but you certainly will feel like you want to die.
I climb the walls when I can’t have my daily dose of thc. I once broke my vape pen and the time it would take to get a new one was too long for me, so I sliced off the power cable to an old lamp and tried to electrocute the cartridge so I could smoke.
It does have day to day effects, but it’s definitely less dangerous than alcohol. It’s still overloading your dopamine levels when you use it, and effecting your dopamine production. I used daily for over a decade, and I still use once every couple months, but my emotional regulation has been so much easier since I quit daily smoking. Less frustration, less depression, just a better baseline emotional state. Several long term studies show this also. This podcast has a lot of great info from a neuroscientist with a history of addiction.
I don’t know what it was, but after a while of using regularly, it got to a point where every time I smoked, I would get panicky and my stomach would be on the verge of throwing up.
It was overall a very unpleasant experience. I’ve since cut way back and only smoke on weekends and just a couple small joints at that.
I found when I had a vape pen or flower, I would take in huge amounts and it would send me to the stratosphere every time. Now I can actually stay coherent enough to remember and enjoy the experience.
I know I’ve heard about this happening to other people as well where it’s fine for a while, but then it’s like your body starts to reject or something along those lines.
All that being said, the few times I’ve gotten really drunk, the experience wasn’t enjoyable at all and the headache the next day was monumental.
Seems like an easy choice. You’ll feel the effects of daily drinking with in a week or two, but pot smoking? Doesn’t seem to affect the day to day
I’d agree weed is the healthier choice but I don’t think it’s fair to say it doesn’t affect the day to day. I used to smoke everyday and it really messed with my short term memory and sleep.
Did you smoke everyday? Or all day?
Both. For a couple years it was definitely all day but through college it was just in the evenings. The mental effects were a lot worse when it was all day but I noticed it still when it was just evenings.
Yeah lots of anything can get you My brother has bad memory from that too
I’ve smoked a lot of weed, and known a lot of people who have smoked a lot of weed, and this is my theory:
Marijuana makes it easy to get into a headspace where you simply aren’t recording memories. It is sort of like daydreaming and then snapping out of it and not knowing what the lecturer has been talking about.
People such as myself who have used weed to avoid feelings of depression tend to seek out that state, and once you get in the habit of doing that, it is hard not to fall into it again while high. You can counter it with practice, but like any mental discipline, it is a tricky thing to accomplish.
Some people seem to have a personality that keeps them more actively focused on external things rather than their internal thoughts while high, and those people don’t seem to have the same memory problems. Same goes for people who smoke for only part of the day—their brain has more time to be focused on outside stimuli and not get in the habit of being internally focused all the time.
Needless to say, my memory is shit when I’m not intentionally trying to remember something. It is sort of a blessing for me though because it makes me less anxious about things when I can move on from them without a strong memory.
Could also be ADHDers. I smoke ALL day either because it’s a passable replacement for my actual meds (helps focus) or because if I don’t then the Adderall turns off my hunger sensation completely. Despite this my memory is on point specifically when I’m high, I’m a little slower when sober funny enough.
My Dr directly attributes that to my ADHD. He could be talking out of his ass but he’s also got it and has been doing work in this field for like 40 years so I trust him.
That may also be due to the strength. Not to mention, it’s hard to measure thc amounts when inhaled. Other methods can be dosed out consistently, and even at low doses, although not always with the same effect as smoking. There may be better ways is all I’m saying.
Also, only one of the two is physically addictive. You can get psychologically addicted to cannabis, but you can get psychologically addicted to eating carrots.
So if you feel like you’re using too much cannabis, it’s a hell of a lot easier to stop.
marijuana is not a drug I used to suck dick for coke
I would suck dick for weed. But I like sucking dick so it’s more like a benefit.
Coke also isn’t physically addictive surprisingly.
I SEENT HIM!
You ever see the back of a twenty dollar bill… on weed?
Be careful with your concept of physically versus psychologically addicted, it’s not really a 100% seperatable dichotomy like that. Your brain is your brain after all, whether you decide to call something physical or psychological it’s all happening inside the brain. I think because cannabis doesn’t tend to have severe withdrawal effects (like alcohol withdrawal, which can kill you) people assume that means they’re not dependent or that it doesn’t have direct effects on the reward processing centers in the brain to reinforce its use again in the future. That’s what distinguishes addictive drugs from things that are just generally pleasant so we want to do them again, they have a direct chemical interaction with the neural circuits that are supposed to be helping decide if a behavior should be done again or not. Kind of tipping the scales in their favor, making you want to do something again more so than just the pleasentness of the past experience alone would otherwise do. You’re going to have an easier time quitting carrots than you will cannabis, even if you find them both equally pleasant in the moment.
Don’t get me wrong though, cannabis is waaaay less addictive than things like nicotine or alcohol, and has far less harmful effects than those. I think there is a tendency (especially with things like DARE lying about drug dangers when people were younger) to over correct and say things like it’s a miracle drug that’s non addicting and can never harm you and can fix everything wrong in your life! I’m for recreational cannabis legalization, but people should understand it’s actual risks, even though they are much less than other recreational drugs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3069146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605022/#ref4
I would suggest that isn’t true for the woman in the link I posted, which was sort of my point about the addictive nature of cannabis. And I would say that physical addiction is not only in the brain because it isn’t your brain that kills you when you go through alcohol or opioid withdrawal.
But sure, you can become heavily dependent on cannabis. I’m just arguing that it’s a totally different sort of dependency and should be classified as such.
Yes but saying it’s psychological dependence only is is kind of misleading here. To most reading that would imply that’s just addicting because they like doing it. A carrot does not contain a chemical that directly interacts with the learning and reinforcing centers of the brain, while cannabis does. Cannabis is directly addicting, carrots are not. I don’t think it’s a fair comparison.
Also it is your brain that kills you when you have alcohol withdrawal, it’s why alcohol withdrawal is treated with central nervous system depressants. Opiod withdrawal generally won’t be able to kill you but you certainly will feel like you want to die.
I climb the walls when I can’t have my daily dose of thc. I once broke my vape pen and the time it would take to get a new one was too long for me, so I sliced off the power cable to an old lamp and tried to electrocute the cartridge so I could smoke.
Psychological addictions can be extremely powerful.
It does have day to day effects, but it’s definitely less dangerous than alcohol. It’s still overloading your dopamine levels when you use it, and effecting your dopamine production. I used daily for over a decade, and I still use once every couple months, but my emotional regulation has been so much easier since I quit daily smoking. Less frustration, less depression, just a better baseline emotional state. Several long term studies show this also. This podcast has a lot of great info from a neuroscientist with a history of addiction.
I don’t know what it was, but after a while of using regularly, it got to a point where every time I smoked, I would get panicky and my stomach would be on the verge of throwing up.
It was overall a very unpleasant experience. I’ve since cut way back and only smoke on weekends and just a couple small joints at that.
I found when I had a vape pen or flower, I would take in huge amounts and it would send me to the stratosphere every time. Now I can actually stay coherent enough to remember and enjoy the experience.
I know I’ve heard about this happening to other people as well where it’s fine for a while, but then it’s like your body starts to reject or something along those lines.
All that being said, the few times I’ve gotten really drunk, the experience wasn’t enjoyable at all and the headache the next day was monumental.
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