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Most of the stoners I know were stupid before they ever smoked.
An honest discussion, just how bad is marijuana on the brain?
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havoc
Shaolin Ninja
Sweeping statement you say?
You have been using that often.
Exactly why I did not want to post the link, because of your typical response of "that does not prove anything"
I use myself and plenty of friends as examples, all athletes, all intelligent, all successful in anything they put there efforts into, all inhale the Jah-herb. Herb has no negative effect on the brain, only if one's dumbass self lets it. I answered this entire garbage with my first post in this thread, that is all now. peace
You have been using that often.
Exactly why I did not want to post the link, because of your typical response of "that does not prove anything"
I use myself and plenty of friends as examples, all athletes, all intelligent, all successful in anything they put there efforts into, all inhale the Jah-herb. Herb has no negative effect on the brain, only if one's dumbass self lets it. I answered this entire garbage with my first post in this thread, that is all now. peace
Havoc,
I just don't see how you can so arrogantly and confidently say that marijuana has no negative effects on the brain. Even scientists who support the legalization of the drug aren't sure if it has long-term effects. This is just one article from the new scientist. I suggest you visit the website and read more.
The war on weed
Controversy still rages over whether cannabis damages the brain
Do decades of dope-smoking wreck cannabis users' memory and concentration? Or is this just another anti-marijuana myth?
This long-running debate reopened this week with the publication of a US government-funded study which claims that smoking cannabis daily for 20 years or more impairs memory and attention. Its findings are contradicted by others that have revealed no long-term effects.
The latest research involved 102 cannabis smokers in Seattle, Farmington in Connecticut and Miami. Half had smoked for an average of 24 years. The other half, described as "short-term" users, had smoked for 10 years on average. Both groups reported smoking about two joints a day.
In tests such as memorising a list of 15 words, the long-term users recalled 8.5 words on average, 2.5 fewer than both the short-term users and 31 non-users. The long-term users were also slower at mental arithmetic. But in in other tasks, such as sorting cards, they were just as quick.
Both groups of users also tended to over-estimate the time it took them to complete a task, thinking it had taken them a third longer than it really had.
The authors conclude that cannabis has a cognitive effect that lasts beyond the period of intoxication and that the longer you smoke, the worse the effect on memory and attention. "We do not know exactly how that translates into real-world problems," admits team member Robert Stephens, a psychologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Nevertheless, he thinks long-term users might not function as well in day-to-day life.
But there are other explanations for the results. For example, it was only 17 hours on average since the users had last smoked a joint, and some had smoked just 12 hours earlier. Harrison Pope, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, says other studies, including one he published last year comparing 108 users with 72 non-users, reveal no long-term effects. One difference, he says, is that his subjects were tested 28 days after they had last smoked.
Pope also points out that the subjects in the latest study were all seeking treatment for marijuana dependency, and might have had problems such as anxiety or depression that affected their test scores.
Paul Armentano, director of research for the US National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is even less impressed by the results. "There just doesn't seem to be a large cohort of people suffering these adverse consequences," he says.
But even if long-term smokers who give up do not suffer any permanent effects, Pope thinks continual heavy use does have an impact. "We've looked at the lives of these people and how they function. They overwhelmingly rated themselves as less effective and less happy than the control subjects," he says.
Kurt Kleiner
From New Scientist, 9 March 2002
I just don't see how you can so arrogantly and confidently say that marijuana has no negative effects on the brain. Even scientists who support the legalization of the drug aren't sure if it has long-term effects. This is just one article from the new scientist. I suggest you visit the website and read more.
The war on weed
Controversy still rages over whether cannabis damages the brain
Do decades of dope-smoking wreck cannabis users' memory and concentration? Or is this just another anti-marijuana myth?
This long-running debate reopened this week with the publication of a US government-funded study which claims that smoking cannabis daily for 20 years or more impairs memory and attention. Its findings are contradicted by others that have revealed no long-term effects.
The latest research involved 102 cannabis smokers in Seattle, Farmington in Connecticut and Miami. Half had smoked for an average of 24 years. The other half, described as "short-term" users, had smoked for 10 years on average. Both groups reported smoking about two joints a day.
In tests such as memorising a list of 15 words, the long-term users recalled 8.5 words on average, 2.5 fewer than both the short-term users and 31 non-users. The long-term users were also slower at mental arithmetic. But in in other tasks, such as sorting cards, they were just as quick.
Both groups of users also tended to over-estimate the time it took them to complete a task, thinking it had taken them a third longer than it really had.
The authors conclude that cannabis has a cognitive effect that lasts beyond the period of intoxication and that the longer you smoke, the worse the effect on memory and attention. "We do not know exactly how that translates into real-world problems," admits team member Robert Stephens, a psychologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Nevertheless, he thinks long-term users might not function as well in day-to-day life.
But there are other explanations for the results. For example, it was only 17 hours on average since the users had last smoked a joint, and some had smoked just 12 hours earlier. Harrison Pope, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, says other studies, including one he published last year comparing 108 users with 72 non-users, reveal no long-term effects. One difference, he says, is that his subjects were tested 28 days after they had last smoked.
Pope also points out that the subjects in the latest study were all seeking treatment for marijuana dependency, and might have had problems such as anxiety or depression that affected their test scores.
Paul Armentano, director of research for the US National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is even less impressed by the results. "There just doesn't seem to be a large cohort of people suffering these adverse consequences," he says.
But even if long-term smokers who give up do not suffer any permanent effects, Pope thinks continual heavy use does have an impact. "We've looked at the lives of these people and how they function. They overwhelmingly rated themselves as less effective and less happy than the control subjects," he says.
Kurt Kleiner
From New Scientist, 9 March 2002
C
Code
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I said this before, and I'll say it again:
I know 5 stoners, only one is doing anything productive.
I think both sides of this argument are using biased information and/or just refusing to be opened minded about the consequences of this drug.
I'm sure that any non-biased, scientific study would prove this out. Occasional use might in fact have no negative effect whatsoever.
But I'm pretty sure that daily use is not good for anyone.
I know 5 stoners, only one is doing anything productive.
I think both sides of this argument are using biased information and/or just refusing to be opened minded about the consequences of this drug.
I'm sure that any non-biased, scientific study would prove this out. Occasional use might in fact have no negative effect whatsoever.
But I'm pretty sure that daily use is not good for anyone.
Never Enough
New member
I've been smoking marijuana for 10yrs. Have there been any negative side effects, yes! Definetly can't run like I use to. And I'll admit my short term memory is well a little shorter than I'd like it to be, but other than that none. Not that those 2 aren't enough. So what I can only run 5 miles now instead of 10. Oh well, I know plenty of non-smokers that couldn't run 1/2 a mile. As far as the memory thing goes well somethings I have to read twice now instead of once, again oh well! I've still been successful in life both professionally and socially. I'm an engineer working on robotics and other automated equipment. I'm engaged. Plus I'm getting ready to move to back to Houston and start my own business. So on that note I'm going to smoke a bowl! 
I've read studies that claim pot (thc) just 'tickles' brain cells, not kill them. Another thing is thc in its NATURAL, UNALTERED, UNPROCESSED FORM, is much easier on the mind/body than its chemically processed/mixed counterpart, which is what most pot is when boughten on the street. Pure thc is hard to come by, and much more expensive because of it.
Delinquent
Well-known member
Havoc I have a question for you. I've read a lot of your posts regarding marijuana and how you go into the spiritual aspect (I'm not saying religious just spiritual) Have you ever tried lsd (if you have mentioned it, I never read it)? For me lsd was way more of a journey into the abyss. We would sit and talk for hours about time, space, religion, whatever and it would literally opened or minds to higher thinking. I was wondering what your position was on lsd?
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Code
Guest
Never Enough said:I've been smoking marijuana for 10yrs. Have there been any negative side effects, yes! Definetly can't run like I use to. And I'll admit my short term memory is well a little shorter than I'd like it to be, but other than that none. Not that those 2 aren't enough. So what I can only run 5 miles now instead of 10. Oh well, I know plenty of non-smokers that couldn't run 1/2 a mile. As far as the memory thing goes well somethings I have to read twice now instead of once, again oh well! I've still been successful in life both professionally and socially. I'm an engineer working on robotics and other automated equipment. I'm engaged. Plus I'm getting ready to move to back to Houston and start my own business. So on that note I'm going to smoke a bowl!
Your honor, I rest my case.
Doktor Bollix
New member
I think the Puritans here are worried someone might be having fun somewhere without suffering for it.
As a non-smoker myself, and therefore ideologically neutral, it is obvious that occasional use is harmless, and no-one can prove otherwise, despite much, much scientific effort and waste of my taxpayer dollars to do so. It seems equally obvious that chronic use will make a lot of people, though apparently not all people, burn-outs, in many subtle ways.
Either way it's fine by me.
As a non-smoker myself, and therefore ideologically neutral, it is obvious that occasional use is harmless, and no-one can prove otherwise, despite much, much scientific effort and waste of my taxpayer dollars to do so. It seems equally obvious that chronic use will make a lot of people, though apparently not all people, burn-outs, in many subtle ways.
Either way it's fine by me.
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