alt Hacker NewsThe abstract of the review is interesting and honestly reflects my (negative) experience with cannabis.
I admit, I really like cannabis, and when I was a 20 year old occasionally smoking with friends at parties it was a "healthier" alternative to getting wasted on alcohol. Share few joins with friends, have fun, laugh a lot.
Then as I got financially independent and I started solo consumption (mostly to get rid of stress) I really started appreciating the cons: lack of energy, disruption of sleep, negative impact of my cognitive abilities, increase in anxiety. I'm glad the study confirms those to be statistically common.
I was very lucky to have a SO who really disliked me smoking and made me realize that I was just doing it to "not think", and it had really 0 positive effects on me. I'm sure I would've quitted eventually anyway, but support and criticism sped up the reality check.
Eventually this is all anecdotal experience, and I'm sure there might be occasional users who can have a mostly positive experience, but the fact that a review points out how statistically common are the negatives and how uncommon are the positives honestly reflects what I've seen on myself and friends.
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I'm of the opinion that the claimed negative effects of cannabis are correlations, not causations. I've yet to read a study that empirically proves cannabis causes health issues beyond those caused by e.g. smoke inhalation.
I subscribe to the r/leaves subreddit, and the vast majority of posters clearly struggle with mental and physical health, and have abused the substance for years. If you consume anything daily in high dosages it's a sign that you're using the substance as a coping mechanism for other problems in your life, which you should probably address first. And then they wonder why they feel even worse after quitting cannabis... Well, yeah, you stopped relying on something that you thought helped you, without addressing the underlying problems.
The fact that there have been no recorded deaths directly caused by cannabis in all of human history[1] should be enough indication that this is the least harmful substance we enjoy. Especially when compared to alcohol, tobacco, and most other drugs. If it helps reduce stress, boost creativity, and makes life fun, there's nothing wrong with using it responsibly. The negative symptoms you mention are highly subjective, and will depend on the person's existing health and habits.
Kurzgesagt recently published a video strongly critical of cannabis[2], and it's full of anecdata and scare tactics, similar to what you often read from personal reports. As a fan of their content, this video has significantly reduced my confidence in their research and reporting.
[1]: I'm aware of recent reports of "THC overdoses", but those have all been caused by side-effects and poor judgment.
Anecdata
>The abstract of the review is interesting and honestly reflects my (negative) experience with cannabis.
The abstract doesn’t say anything about recreational cannabis usage.
>lack of energy, disruption of sleep, negative impact of my cognitive abilities, increase in anxiety. I'm glad the study confirms those to be statistically common.
>I was very lucky to have a SO who really disliked me smoking and made me realize that I was just doing it to "not think"
This study about the clinical outcomes of physician-directed cannabis usage for specific conditions doesn’t really get into musing about how weed is just sort of generally bad. The only part of the study that seems to sort of touch on what you’re talking about is the section about Cannabis Use Disorder
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2842072?gu...
At no point in this study does it say that “share a few joints with friends, have fun, laugh a lot” has common negatives and uncommon positives. It is not in the purview of the analysis.