[jamal-kumar]

This is pretty important kind of research. Tons of people are using this stuff medically and while it's obviously a better solution for pain management than long-term use of things that can kill you if they're suddenly unavailable, like opiates, we should still be highly aware of mitigating whatever harms could come from the widely used alternatives. It would also be more interesting to see harm in aspects of things like hippocampal density compared to pain medication than compared to regular alcohol or other recreational substance use. I kind of feel it's unlikely at this point but it could just turn out that people who are prone to losing IQ points faster like to consume more cannabis as well and it's not as much of a causative agent. I would imagine the first thing I want after getting smacked in the head by someone if this was something I did professionally is something to take the pain away. This study could also just be a crock of shit like some others are saying but I don't really feel qualified to judge that.

The only thing that can truly tell with these kinds of studies is another 30 years of data.

[edgyquant]

Lots of people use it recreationally with the belief it’s not bad for you at all. This kind of research will help to show them that’s not the case.

[somehnguy]

I don't know if it will really make any difference at all. Many people consume alcohol regularly and we already know that it's bad for you. I think most people are willing to make tradeoffs, especially when in moderation the negatives aren't really that big.

[jamal-kumar]

I doubt most recreational users are using it at anywhere near the same strength or with the same frequency, however.

We're talking the difference between 2 and 200 milligram doses of THC here in terms of how it affects people on these levels. One comes in a soda at the store down the street from me. The other you can't get like that and might send your average recreational user to the hospital with a panic attack.

I'm wondering also if one of the big factors here is oxygen deprivation. These sound kind of like the same kind of numbers of cognitive decline that you see in air pollution, maybe just generally clogging your lungs with smoke could be comparable.

[edgyquant]

With the legalization in a lot of states people are consuming ridiculously strong amounts of THC these days and it’s only getting legalized in more places.

[whalesalad]

Everything in moderation :)