'Unique' cannabis compound reverses brain aging in mice
dw.com
dw.com
I say that mostly because, although this is a solid study with interesting conclusions, 'Cannabis does [amazing thing!]' articles are getting more and more common and mainstream, and I think people are primed to accept them, for want of cures and treatments, for desire to justify existing habits (c.f. the now discredited red wine health studies [2]), and because 'medicine with all these great effects was kept down by the powers!' is a great narrative.
Mostly, I'm finding myself mostly curious what, in 15 years, we'll know these compounds are actually good for, and steeling myself for a lot of bullshit and bad science in the meantime.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle [2]: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/red-wine-research...
I can relate to this. Pure sativa and some sativa leaning hybrids have a very similar effect to adderall when treating my ADD.
Smoking itself, because of carcinogens and oxygenation, will lead you to the sluggishness many people associate with kush.
Fuck smoking. /rant
Wishing you the best.
Interesting characterisation.
I used to describe it to myself as "opening up 127.0.0.1" - i.e. it enabled a level of introspection that had never come naturally to me. I guess I was studying that stuff at the time so it was salient, and the metaphor was readily available.
And when I'm drunk I become an incredibly good singer.
... of course the people around me, strongly disagree. But I know better.
Might it be the same with your 'different' thinking?
But I'm talking about: - coming up with recursive solutions in software for simplicity gains - noticing and fixing inefficient item placement in my kitchen - understanding a conflict from the other person's perspective, to reduce my tension
And with psychedelics you can traverse the graph upwards, deconstructing all branches you pass on your way.
Also there are more than a few people who have a hyper-sensitivity to weed which can make it worse.
When I've used it, I've also confronted things, thought about things, and remembered things I would have avoided in ordinary life. So I've really felt it to be therapeutic, especially at stronger doses, and especially when ingested rather than smoked. A lot of people don't realize this, but ingestion of larger doses can often have a psychedelic-like effect (perhaps not so much with the visuals, but emotionally and cognitively, there are some similarities).
That said, I don't like to do it a lot (as I don't want to get addicted), I tend to prefer small doses rather than getting stoned out of my gourd, and I try do do it only with positive, constructive intention rather than just to have fun or get blitzed for no reason other than boredom. I generally prefer to do something creative on it, or maybe go to a museum where it enhances my appreciation of what I see and learn, and gives me a much greater feeling of immersion.
Quitting pot is easier than quitting caffeine. Heavy smokers sober up quite often for job drug tests, for example. I've personally smoked for years and just quit for a while. Some things get a little off because of habit changing: A few days of decreased appetite and a bit of insomnia. The hardest part is dealing with the boredom I get at first. I simply don't want to do some things, and then I also start seriously hating some other things I just did. Like cleaning house. I hate cleaning house, but simply just dislike it when I'm smoking regularly. I eat less healthy without the stuff as well because food enjoyment is different.
But really, quitting is just a bit of a bother even after doing it for years. If you mix it with tobacco, you might be getting tobacco withdrawals... which can be fixed with smoking (Not the healthiest thing, but I do it). It is a habit, not an addiction.
I've known a few folks that have issues quitting - each and every one of these folks I've known have had underlying mental health or physical health issues that were partially self-treated with smoking.
I'm not really advocating daily use, but I'm not against it either. I just don't want people thinking they'll be horribly addicted in the same manner as nicotine, alcohol, or even caffeine.
Obligatory, everybody's bodies are different, what works for you might not work for everyone, ymmv, etc. I have used marijuana medically and will state without question that it is an addictive substance. Whether that is the multiple shitty feelings you get from stopping abruptly or the deep unending desire to 'just smoke a little' in the three days it takes to get over or. I think those 'comparatively little' things are enough to consider the drug an addictive substance. I've watched people drop out of college to smoke away all their money, I've watched kids lose all their friends and think nothing of it, I've seen people incur great risk of physical harm to acquire weed when they were out or sit in their house descending into self hate because everyone else was out too.
You may be able to quit easily but it is wrong to apply your experience to broad statements like, "pot isn't addictive". Marijuana is an addictive substance and I wish this anti-prohibition mindset I see so many places would fight for science, not just weed.
The kind you get physical withdrawal symptoms from are physiologically addictive. These are drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and heroin.
Cannabis can be psychologically addictive. You can crave it when you stop or have trouble coping with life without it -- much like people who are psychologically addicted to eating lots of food. Both are psychologically addictive.
You can get psychologically addicted to just about anything pleasurable or desirable. I try not to do that with cannabis or anything else.
That's exactly what they said about coke. You're wrong. If it's not an addictive substance, this is news to me. It's about half way through the year and I've probably tried to quit about 90 times or roughly every other day. It most certainly is addictive in every sense of the word and even has mild physical withdrawal symptoms. Yes, it's not like withdrawing from heroin, and it probably won't make one sell everything to get it, but to say it's not addictive is simply false. I'm not against daily use and I'm not saying it's necessarily negative, but it most certainly is addictive for some people. As the Luniz song goes, "THC ain't no joke."
I've never taken drugs but when I need to center myself properly then those are good things to do.
I reserve (moderate) alcohol for letting the brain unwind, no productivity goals in mind.
Sometimes it's nice to get fucked up and give your brain an even off from over-analysing everything.
Of course, drinking, smoking, or snorting your problems away isn't a good idea. That's how you form a habit. But if you're in a good frame of mind, it's nice to lose your shit every once in a while.
Also, ketamine (in higher doses) is a psychedelic. Being in a K hole is a unique experience.
Ketamine is very valuable, but not to be trifled with, reader.
- it's very hard to "self talk" yourself into doing things you don't really want to do
- things you do want to do draw an intense level of focus so you get deeper into them
- yeah it can make you a little sloppy but you learn from these mistakes and they sometimes lead to serendipitous accidental discoveries
- it can cause you to take a no-nonsense expedient approach that can sometimes be better
That said, when you're back in normality again you can sometimes be left scratching your head wondering how you came up with that, or how it even works!
I'm describing an experience. Which substances are you talking about because I'm talking about Cannabis. The idea that somebody could end up in an ER for smoking weed is laughably remote.
I see. That might be true in most cases, but even Cannabis can have adverse effects on people with predisposition to mental illnesses
It is kind of like Ibuprofen or cough and cold medicine. It is pretty safe for most folks to take, yet a few folks are allergic or have other conditions that makes it dangerous to take. It is worth mentioning the hazards - but if you leave off the safety qualifier, it can scare folks away from taking it. Advice to treat the underlying condition is prudent in some cases, others might be advised to avoid it entirely or take smaller doses - much like the advice for the person that gets panic attacks.
To what extent is, weed giving a person panic attacks a bigger cause of panic attacks such as "being in a crowd" or "occupational stress"?
Nobody is saying that weed is for everybody but they're not forcing it on anybody either. For whatever downsides there are, are they significant when compared to just about anything else?
I should also note that when people have bad experiences with medication like ibuprofen and decide that it isn’t for them, people don’t respond by invalidating their experiences and position in the assumption they just aren’t educated enough about how to use it.
These days, I take one hit in the morning and then just move on. The dose is low enough that I don't feel sluggish during or after, but still enough that I feel up and "high".
I think cannabis is invaluable in medicine, but I do think the culture around it, much like alcohol, has pushed using an excess and treating is as a party drug rather than medicine.
Also, I need to put this urban legend to rest. The most common mistake people make about recreational drug use is that drug users fit a universal stereotype. Not every recreational drug user is an addict escaping their problems. I would actually say that addicts are a vanishingly small minority of drug users. Nobody would say that everyone who ever drinks a beer is an alcoholic running away from their lives, and it's the same situation with recreational drug users.
Also, delta 9 THC may be the most common cannabinoid in cannabis (well, in one of three major chemotypes), but it's not the most common compound in the cannabis plant.
Imagine being a mouse living forever in a small glass box in a longevity museum.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9vdTTtte1Og/UN-rVHj9yEI/AAAAAAACSa...
If you are willing to give it another chance, you could try finding the weakest pot you can find, then smoke the tiniest amount you can. If you feel nothing, wait a couple of days and try again, this time taking a tiny bit more.
Repeat as needed until you very slowly and gradually work up to a dose that gets you very mild, positive effects, and no paranoia or other symptoms of overdose.
The first few times I did it back then, everything was cool, but then something clicked in my brain that permanently associated pot with extreme anxiety.
On one hand I’m kinda thankful that this saved me from turning into a lazy pothead in my teenage years, like some of my friends did, on the other hand it sucked being the weird guy who always passes up the spliff without takin a hit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But I found, pot can help you a lot figuring out what you want and get new ideas what to do - so if you then overcome the stonedness and actually do it, then it can be good around that time...
Time can also fly away, working like a log on something you don't love and then you equally wasted your time.
If you know yourself well enough to understand a substance is not for you, then the solution is simple: don't consume it, and don't listen to people who say you're doing it wrong.
It can be very helpful as well as very hindering ... "lazy potheads".
But if the moment comes again, don't be afraid, just try a little bit in a safe, nice area and see what happens .
In my experience it all costs the same. That super dank hydo that has had daily love and care sells for the same price as bush weed that was planted in a forest and then harvested a few months later.
I don't really smoke weed, but when I do I much prefer smoking spliffs (tobacco and weed, rolled into a joint). I think the French have the right idea, they smoke weed all day long and are never too high, because they are basically smoking cigarettes with a touch of green in them. Of course, it's terrible for you because you're basically smoking giant cigarettes with no filter.
This is a super easy thing to do, but kind of difficult to explain. I'll give it a try anyway:
Disassemble the filter of a cigarette. Split a small part of it (vertically) and fold it in half. Tear off the middle of the rolling paper's filter (about a centimeter in length). Place the small part of the cigarette filter into the middle of the rolling paper's filter, and fold the sides into a "W" shape like you usually would.
Do that once, smoke a joint, and when you're done with it, disassemble the makeshift filter you've made. Once you see how tar turned your makeshift filter almost completely black and realize all of that would end up in your lungs otherwise, you'll never roll a joint without this step.
It makes the process of rolling a bit more complicated (and almost impossible to do properly without having scissors near you), but it's totally worth the effort.
Any tobacco store that sells rolling tobacco will have a variety of options available in sizes/densities/etc.
I rather have no filter, or much better, pipe filters. They are ceramic, paper and charcoil.
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Perl-Junior-Pipe-Filters/dp/B007TV...
your typical euro-cone is usually a 50/50 mix using 'good stuff' in a jumbo paper. far from mild.
And it's a vape instead of smoking anything, but at these quantities it almost doesn't matter.
Using it, therapists gradually get patients used to tolerating situations and feelings they'd usually try to avoid. It's supposed to be a very effective form of treatment -- probably even more effective when done with the help of a trained professional.
I suddenly was getting massively winded with the simplest physical activity. The only reason I didn't think it was a breathing or heart problem was that my S.O. recognized the symptoms and theorized it was anxiety. About 15 minutes after taking a beta blocker those symptoms disappeared, proving the theory correct.
No idea how to re-create it and no desire to, it was kinda scary.
Similar things happen with other drugs as well. Ibuprofen is pretty safe for most people to take from time to time, for example, but a few folks are allergic to it. Some folks cannot drink with their physical health problems.
And perhaps we'll be able to find strains for folks like you once we are better able to research this stuff. I'm pretty sure finding a strain fit for folks like you would be a major benefit to a company selling it for recreational use... assuming legality for recreational use, that is.
oh and also, as with all psychedelics - set and setting are very, very, very important.
well that's my story.