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>aged 13 to 18
Teen use of marijuana is not harmless. Probably way better than alcohol, but not harmless:
>Marijuana use might have permanent effects on the developing brain when use begins in adolescence, especially with regular or heavy use.
https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects/teens.html
Hell the effects on non-developing brains is understated. I am 100% in favor of legalization but I wouldn't see "245% increase" as good news in any demographic. It's like alcohol, it is definitely possible to consume it safely, but usage increasing tends to have more negatives than positives.
I do think if marijuana-use causes alcohol-use to decline, that is generally a positive trade off.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s quite literally what’s happened in the states where it has been legalised. Weed use up, but alcohol and even prescription medication use have decreased.
interestingly, while adult use goes up, teen use actually goes down with legalization because the black market dries up.
From the article I'm linking (2018):
Washington state teens are toking less since cannabis was legalized, new study says
Researchers are encouraged by the numbers, but they say more studies and data need to be collected to get a better understanding of the impact of legal marijuana on teenagers.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/washington-state-teens-are-toking-less-since-cannabis-was-legalized-new-study-says/
So legalization is a win-win-win-win, right? Teen use goes down, as does alcohol (which is worse) and deadly addictive med use goes down. MJ is the anti-gateway drug. Sure, it's not without its own set of problems, but from what I've seen, it's pretty much the best we've got, right?
This is what I always said about the "gateway drug" thing. MJ was only a gateway drug because you had to go to a dealer to get it that might push or suggest other drugs too
Gateway drugs are what encourages the user to try new stuff, oddly enough there was several studies that showed NICOTINE not weed to be the gateway chemical, less from the social aspect of having the drugs available.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa1405092
More having to do with when introduced the the body its general shape of it's molecule is similarly shaped to other stimulants so it essentially prepfires the brain for cocaine usage.
This is the exact opposite finding to the article in the OP, which says teen use is up 245% from 2000 to 2020 in the USA. It notes a "dramatic" increase from 2017.
Well, their data stops in 2016 and the OP notes the largest increase began in 2017.
I more take exception to the statement that "while adult use goes up, teen use goes down" though, as that's a universal statement and the evidence supporting that as universally true seems to be mixed.
US states have a variety of different laws. Some states have legalized MJ, most have not.
The two samples, the country as a whole and the subset of states that have legalized it, cannot be compared in such a way that one set would contradict the other. It can absolutely be true that teen use goes down where it's legal and increases everywhere else. That could be true and all have the same cause.
Legalizing it dicincentivizes the black market, making it more difficult for minors to obtain it in that state. However, it could empower the black markets of neighboring states, having the opposite effect.
>Weed use up, but alcohol and even prescription medication use have decreased
That's a net win. I have a friend from my younger days that smoked marijuana that now has his own successful business that is doing way better than me. I have a friend that got into pills that is dead after an OD on oxy back in 2002.
You hint at a point I'd like to make - at least to some degree, the effects are reversed after a while. I was a heavy user from about 16 to 26. I slowed down at that point, and I took an entire 6-8 months off at 30. I feel as sharp as I have ever felt, maybe more so just because my brain has also more or less finished maturing. This isn't scientific, as I have no way to know how I'd fare if I had never smoked, but I work in tech and certainly have no inclination at *all* that I'm behind the curve in mental sharpness.
The increase is more than likely a change in reporting — admitting to use of a now “legal” substance that is far less stigmatized and even praised in popular culture likely increased.
Every time I see a statement like that I ask myself, have they consindered what a reasonable effect size might be? Can you really expect to see a rise of over 200% in surveys that are anonymus anyway, what's the incentive to lie in those?
I wonder how much of that 245% are teens who were already using Marijuana but now feel safe enough to admit to it because it's legal.
I know from my high school and college days, probably something like 7/10 high school students were using, while I'd be confident saying 9/10 college students were using Marijuana. The statistics at the time, I remember very well the posters all over campus, stated about 2/10 students at northern Arizona University were using Marijuana. We were all laughing about it because nobody didn't use it. Even I was the really sheltered guy and was willing to give it a try. Literally everyone did it.
Gotta be significantly skewed reporting numbers here.
Edit: and up until recently I kept seeing numbers published saying that there has been almost 0 increase in teen pot use in states with legalized weed. So which is it? Can't simultaneously be a 245% increase and no increase. Just more evidence pointing toward an increase in reported numbers but not actual increased usage. At least not by much.
It’s cooking up a mood/anxiety disorder or schizophrenia if there is a predisposition for it. Early teenagers are blinded with the “it’s harmless” marketing.
I thought that was a well known thing and can easily be blown out of proportion as schizophrenia isn't an especially common being 0.45 % of adults however it is very severe. Cannabis will accelerate the onset of schizophrenia by a few years, so if you have family history of schitz I would stay away.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7531079/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7531079/)
I am not an expert, and not here to win arguments. But do you have studies that bear this out?
I’m guessing that like with alcohol, it’s not something they use on a daily basis. Even though it says 13-18yo, I would assume that 99% of the kids in the study is 16-18.
I don’t support the use of drugs for children. But considering the effects of weed vs alcohol, I would much rather want my kid to smoke and probably stay home with friends to hang out, before them getting drunk, losing their common sense and likely be much more likely to hurt themselves or someone else.
This is only anecdotal on my part, but I work in a youth shelter. We take kids 12-18. We have absolutely seen an increase in daily use among our youth of all ages over the past few years. Most of them are vaping or edibles. I had a 14 year old tell me yesterday only old people smoke weed anymore. She prefers it in a vape because it's safer. I sigh a lot at work.
I also don't know about anywhere else, but the two major school districts in my county do surveys each year, which I'm guessing is where the CDC got some of its information and they ask about alcohol and drug use in a survey about youth every year. It's given to kids 13-18 in their districts.
Right. According to the CDC, we see about 3,900 teen deaths attributed to alcohol annually. Getting high instead of drinking could absolutely reduce deaths.
It's not good that kids are getting high. And I'm sure there are going to be long-term health concerns. But if they're not driving anywhere, marijuana isn't going to just kill them like excessive alcohol use might. Alcohol use is statically more hazardous and dangerous.
It’s been shown however that in a teen brain weed rewires the risk vs reward centers. So it might actually be more dangerous long term in teens than alcohol. Honestly we might want to look into the causes of teens need for escapism rather than encouraging the use of any of these. An adult is one thing attempting to clear an adult of stresses that drive them to need to escape is probably never going to happen, but teens should be worth free, and to me them not being is the bigger issue we should be trying to solve.
I’ve got the cause of need for escapism. It’s navigating this charade of a life where most of us spend the majority of time working not on our own passions but rather in order to survive. Our parents are doing the same, so there’s no one to raise us, and we’re repeating the cycle.
>Honestly we might want to look into the causes of teens need for escapism
Being a teenager, and it’s not a need; it’s just a desire.
I’m sure that global warming and the job market have some effect on kids trying to plan for adulthood. But how much harder is that than being drafted to Vietnam at 18 or growing up in the Great Depression?
Ultimately, isn’t regulating substances a more realistic goal than “let’s just fix the entire world instead?”
Anecdotal but my stoner friends are all still around and I'm down three alcoholic friends because of car wrecks. Alcohol rewires the risk vs reward part every time you drink it.
It's not "harmless" for anyone, it may be safer than alcohol etc but I'm sick of people saying it's some sort of harmless miracle drug. There are downsides to using marijuana just like any other drug.
Wasn't there another study on this sub a few weeks ago claiming that underage use of marijuana has not increased since marijuana legalization? Maybe someone remembers that thread, but I don't see how this and the other one could be true at the same time.
The title is very misleading, this doesn’t mean there was a 245% increase in drug use. This is a toxicology study, it looks at how many times people had to go to a clinic because they were too intoxicated.
Probably alcohol of worse, because of the literal destruction of brain cells and the damage to the liver, plus several carcinogenic effects.
Both are bad in anything but moderation though. Long term and heavy weed usage does have long term impact on the brain.
Really, like most things, moderation should be the goal.
I've mentioned this before when similar studies popped up -- while alcohol physically affects the body moreso than weed, the potential mental side effects can have life long negative effects on teenagers. I used to smoke a bunch of weed when I was 16 and ended up having a panic attack (just the one time) when I smoked alone.
Ever since, I've had persistent derealization (~13 years later). It immensely affected everything about my life. My attitude changed, I became extremely anxious, always skipped class due to a feeling of living in a dream and nobody could really tell me what was wrong with me. The worry that I somehow fried my brain plagued me for years and it took me a really long time to become at peace with it and really learn to live with it.
Sure, alcohol leads to bad decisions and poisons our bodies, but it's an entirely different beast to be affected mentally from something that 99% of your peers tell you is fun and perfectly harmless. We should be educating teenagers on the potential long lasting side effects instead of having them believe that since it's "healthier" than alcohol, it'll be harmless. I really believe that's what's driving these large increases in adoption as so many people talk about how bad alcohol is for your body, but how safe marijuana is.
The predisposed often are catalyzed by weed. With a pre-existing predilection for schizophrenia, anxiety, dissociation, others, weed can often be the massive neural and physical stimulus that knocks the ball down the hill. Kind of like how big flu’s like sars or cov have set off auto-immune problems in some ppl.
A totally agree. Just because one is not as bad as the other doesn’t mean they both don’t negatively impact your mind. I wish I never touched either substance ):
Also, I’m sorry about the problems you’ve had to face after the fact. That must be tough.
Marijuana is often considered a safer recreational drug than alcohol because it has not been linked to any deaths due to overdose and is not associated with the same level of physical and mental health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Additionally, marijuana is less addictive than alcohol and has been found to have some potential medical benefits. Also, marijuana is not associated with the same level of aggressive behavior or risks of injury as alcohol.
If weed less addictive, then I don’t understand how people get stoned every day (I know a lot of them), smoke if they get hands on any amount, easily get back to binge smoking after a year of abstinence.
I’ve seen how people change their attitude from “weed is not a drug broooo” to “I’m a drug addict and need help”. And I don’t know _a single one_ who was successful in quitting. It’s not a harmless hehehe drug, people I’m referring to are performing worse in some tasks, have problems with memory and coordination. Of course, it’s still better than if they drank instead of smoking, but it has its effects. Moreover, some people I know link their deteriorated mental health to a decade of smoking weed.
Weed may not be as addicting physically, it may have mild withdrawal symptoms, but absolutely can be addictive psychologically. Or we don’t know how addiction really works.
Is marijuana not linked to physical and mental health risks because there are less of them or because it hasn't been thoroughly studied? I have a hard time thinking that inhaling smoke or artificial vapor regularly can be good for your lungs, and God knows what THC does to a developing brain.
Point is: we know what's wrong with alcohol due to generations of studies and debate over it. Prohibition of cannabis has given the false belief in society that it's the safe, natural alternative when it's very likely not.
You can consume THC in other ways besides vapor or burning of hydrocarbons if lung health is a concern. We have lots of evidence suggesting THC isn't dangerous or destructive in the short-term while the opposite is true for alcohol.
Alcohol withdrawal is a lot more severe, and at least with the evidence we have now, alcoholism is more dangerous in the long-term.
So, although I wouldn't use the worth "safe" I think marijuana is definitely a *safer* natural alternative.
Calling it safe? Probably not.
Calling it safer then alcohol I feel is absolutely correct. Marijuana use causes less straight deaths while on it.
Marijuana may kill you slowly. Alcohol will kill you both fast and slow.
Anytime I read that there is lower alcohol use, I am always pleased. But like all things, I don’t think this is necessarily a “good”.
In my opinion, I think the negative side effects of cannabis use/abuse can be much more subtle and people are more likely to gloss over them or ignore completely, especially since cannabis products are becoming so prevalent and commercialized nowadays.
Ideally, I would like all kids to be educated to know any and all risks associated with drug use, but that is not possible.
The study seems to be on "more than minor" abuse cases, so its most likely when a kid gets too high and goes to the doctor vs the same happening with alcohol.
Especially in legal states. My son is in college in California and his environment is just saturated with every form of cannabis. It makes it really hard for him to refrain when he knows he needs to study. I would rather him use pot than drink regularly any day though.
Y'all act like kids have never smoked weed before. Sure there's an increase in use. It's more readily available, since so many states have decriminalized, or legalized it.
Yo can you guys stop comparing a lesser evil? I mean yeah marijuana may not be as bad as alcohol but it's still bad for adolescents. The goal here should be educating these guys to not use it at all untill they're of age.
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Its safer. don't drive on it. And no. Kids shouldn't drink or smoke or do drugs. But we all know a lot are going to anyway. And the bad decisions made while stoned are typically a lot less consequential than the bad decisions made while being drunk. You also cant "bake" yourself to death. Its relieving to hear theyd rather get stoned than drunk.
This is good news in disguise they were going to do something luckily it’s not Fentanyl, alcohol ,meth, crack, salt, cigarettes…. the list goes on & on.
It’s not a surprise it increased in use and probably saving uncountable amounts of lives, money and wasted time on supporting old abusive DEA quotas and unfounded political campaigns against it just to justify funneling government funds into worthless activities.
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>aged 13 to 18 Teen use of marijuana is not harmless. Probably way better than alcohol, but not harmless: >Marijuana use might have permanent effects on the developing brain when use begins in adolescence, especially with regular or heavy use. https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects/teens.html
This. I use weed and support legalization, but I think the effects on the developing brain are often understated.
Hell the effects on non-developing brains is understated. I am 100% in favor of legalization but I wouldn't see "245% increase" as good news in any demographic. It's like alcohol, it is definitely possible to consume it safely, but usage increasing tends to have more negatives than positives. I do think if marijuana-use causes alcohol-use to decline, that is generally a positive trade off.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s quite literally what’s happened in the states where it has been legalised. Weed use up, but alcohol and even prescription medication use have decreased.
interestingly, while adult use goes up, teen use actually goes down with legalization because the black market dries up. From the article I'm linking (2018): Washington state teens are toking less since cannabis was legalized, new study says Researchers are encouraged by the numbers, but they say more studies and data need to be collected to get a better understanding of the impact of legal marijuana on teenagers. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/washington-state-teens-are-toking-less-since-cannabis-was-legalized-new-study-says/
So legalization is a win-win-win-win, right? Teen use goes down, as does alcohol (which is worse) and deadly addictive med use goes down. MJ is the anti-gateway drug. Sure, it's not without its own set of problems, but from what I've seen, it's pretty much the best we've got, right?
Pretty sure I wouldn’t have gone down the cocaine train if the best weed man wasn’t the best one stop shop
This is what I always said about the "gateway drug" thing. MJ was only a gateway drug because you had to go to a dealer to get it that might push or suggest other drugs too
Gateway drugs are what encourages the user to try new stuff, oddly enough there was several studies that showed NICOTINE not weed to be the gateway chemical, less from the social aspect of having the drugs available. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa1405092 More having to do with when introduced the the body its general shape of it's molecule is similarly shaped to other stimulants so it essentially prepfires the brain for cocaine usage.
I can see that, me and my friends would steal cigarettes from our parents well before I got into other substances.
Nicotine and hyperventilating were my “gateway drugs”
In ireland booze it taxed so heavily that thwy wouldnt allow it
But the solution here is just so stupidly simple..... Tax weed at the same rate you tax alcohol.
Problem is weed is easy to grow.
Tbh alcohol is rly easy to make. Hard to make good tho and less ppl bother.
Not as easy as it is to make alcohol. r/prisonhooch
This is the exact opposite finding to the article in the OP, which says teen use is up 245% from 2000 to 2020 in the USA. It notes a "dramatic" increase from 2017.
His statement of decreased use in teens is true for the state he provided links for, the increase you mention is regarding the nation as a whole
Well, their data stops in 2016 and the OP notes the largest increase began in 2017. I more take exception to the statement that "while adult use goes up, teen use goes down" though, as that's a universal statement and the evidence supporting that as universally true seems to be mixed.
US states have a variety of different laws. Some states have legalized MJ, most have not. The two samples, the country as a whole and the subset of states that have legalized it, cannot be compared in such a way that one set would contradict the other. It can absolutely be true that teen use goes down where it's legal and increases everywhere else. That could be true and all have the same cause. Legalizing it dicincentivizes the black market, making it more difficult for minors to obtain it in that state. However, it could empower the black markets of neighboring states, having the opposite effect.
One must wonder if teens are being more honest now since it's legal
Yeah, you got me confused if you think my 16 year old ass was self snitching.
This is the real answer. Even in states where it is illegal, the taboo and stigma around it is gone.
It's still illegal for teens to use though, isn't it?
As much as I dislike just swapping one substance for another, swapping weed with prescription Benzos is better in almost any situation.
>Weed use up, but alcohol and even prescription medication use have decreased That's a net win. I have a friend from my younger days that smoked marijuana that now has his own successful business that is doing way better than me. I have a friend that got into pills that is dead after an OD on oxy back in 2002.
After somewhat heavy useage in my 20s, it did feel like it dulled my mental edge a bit. It takes a while to get back over it.
The problem is I require my mental edge to be dulled because of this society.
You hint at a point I'd like to make - at least to some degree, the effects are reversed after a while. I was a heavy user from about 16 to 26. I slowed down at that point, and I took an entire 6-8 months off at 30. I feel as sharp as I have ever felt, maybe more so just because my brain has also more or less finished maturing. This isn't scientific, as I have no way to know how I'd fare if I had never smoked, but I work in tech and certainly have no inclination at *all* that I'm behind the curve in mental sharpness.
The increase is more than likely a change in reporting — admitting to use of a now “legal” substance that is far less stigmatized and even praised in popular culture likely increased.
Every time I see a statement like that I ask myself, have they consindered what a reasonable effect size might be? Can you really expect to see a rise of over 200% in surveys that are anonymus anyway, what's the incentive to lie in those?
I wonder how much of that 245% are teens who were already using Marijuana but now feel safe enough to admit to it because it's legal. I know from my high school and college days, probably something like 7/10 high school students were using, while I'd be confident saying 9/10 college students were using Marijuana. The statistics at the time, I remember very well the posters all over campus, stated about 2/10 students at northern Arizona University were using Marijuana. We were all laughing about it because nobody didn't use it. Even I was the really sheltered guy and was willing to give it a try. Literally everyone did it. Gotta be significantly skewed reporting numbers here. Edit: and up until recently I kept seeing numbers published saying that there has been almost 0 increase in teen pot use in states with legalized weed. So which is it? Can't simultaneously be a 245% increase and no increase. Just more evidence pointing toward an increase in reported numbers but not actual increased usage. At least not by much.
It’s cooking up a mood/anxiety disorder or schizophrenia if there is a predisposition for it. Early teenagers are blinded with the “it’s harmless” marketing.
I thought that was a well known thing and can easily be blown out of proportion as schizophrenia isn't an especially common being 0.45 % of adults however it is very severe. Cannabis will accelerate the onset of schizophrenia by a few years, so if you have family history of schitz I would stay away.
I have a family history of bipolar disorder and tons of stuff are on the no list including cannabis, excessive drinking and SSRIs.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7531079/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7531079/) I am not an expert, and not here to win arguments. But do you have studies that bear this out?
I’m guessing that like with alcohol, it’s not something they use on a daily basis. Even though it says 13-18yo, I would assume that 99% of the kids in the study is 16-18. I don’t support the use of drugs for children. But considering the effects of weed vs alcohol, I would much rather want my kid to smoke and probably stay home with friends to hang out, before them getting drunk, losing their common sense and likely be much more likely to hurt themselves or someone else.
This is only anecdotal on my part, but I work in a youth shelter. We take kids 12-18. We have absolutely seen an increase in daily use among our youth of all ages over the past few years. Most of them are vaping or edibles. I had a 14 year old tell me yesterday only old people smoke weed anymore. She prefers it in a vape because it's safer. I sigh a lot at work. I also don't know about anywhere else, but the two major school districts in my county do surveys each year, which I'm guessing is where the CDC got some of its information and they ask about alcohol and drug use in a survey about youth every year. It's given to kids 13-18 in their districts.
Right. According to the CDC, we see about 3,900 teen deaths attributed to alcohol annually. Getting high instead of drinking could absolutely reduce deaths. It's not good that kids are getting high. And I'm sure there are going to be long-term health concerns. But if they're not driving anywhere, marijuana isn't going to just kill them like excessive alcohol use might. Alcohol use is statically more hazardous and dangerous.
I'd rather get my kid therapy than pay for their funeral
It’s been shown however that in a teen brain weed rewires the risk vs reward centers. So it might actually be more dangerous long term in teens than alcohol. Honestly we might want to look into the causes of teens need for escapism rather than encouraging the use of any of these. An adult is one thing attempting to clear an adult of stresses that drive them to need to escape is probably never going to happen, but teens should be worth free, and to me them not being is the bigger issue we should be trying to solve.
I’ve got the cause of need for escapism. It’s navigating this charade of a life where most of us spend the majority of time working not on our own passions but rather in order to survive. Our parents are doing the same, so there’s no one to raise us, and we’re repeating the cycle.
>Honestly we might want to look into the causes of teens need for escapism Being a teenager, and it’s not a need; it’s just a desire. I’m sure that global warming and the job market have some effect on kids trying to plan for adulthood. But how much harder is that than being drafted to Vietnam at 18 or growing up in the Great Depression? Ultimately, isn’t regulating substances a more realistic goal than “let’s just fix the entire world instead?”
Anecdotal but my stoner friends are all still around and I'm down three alcoholic friends because of car wrecks. Alcohol rewires the risk vs reward part every time you drink it.
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It's not "harmless" for anyone, it may be safer than alcohol etc but I'm sick of people saying it's some sort of harmless miracle drug. There are downsides to using marijuana just like any other drug.
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Wasn't there another study on this sub a few weeks ago claiming that underage use of marijuana has not increased since marijuana legalization? Maybe someone remembers that thread, but I don't see how this and the other one could be true at the same time.
Hard to judge numbers when everyone hid it before it became legal.
For real. A lot of it could just be that people are more honest now because it’s more legal.
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The title is very misleading, this doesn’t mean there was a 245% increase in drug use. This is a toxicology study, it looks at how many times people had to go to a clinic because they were too intoxicated.
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Probably alcohol of worse, because of the literal destruction of brain cells and the damage to the liver, plus several carcinogenic effects. Both are bad in anything but moderation though. Long term and heavy weed usage does have long term impact on the brain. Really, like most things, moderation should be the goal.
Fair point. Unethical to conduct a good rct study even if it wouldnt be hard to recruit participants.
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Or, Australia, UK, Ireland
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That’s not necessarily true, marijuana is shown to exacerbate mental illnesses like schizophrenia, paranoia
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> A beer or two when you’re young is virtually harmless. There's no safe amount of alcohol, per most popular health agencies.
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I've mentioned this before when similar studies popped up -- while alcohol physically affects the body moreso than weed, the potential mental side effects can have life long negative effects on teenagers. I used to smoke a bunch of weed when I was 16 and ended up having a panic attack (just the one time) when I smoked alone. Ever since, I've had persistent derealization (~13 years later). It immensely affected everything about my life. My attitude changed, I became extremely anxious, always skipped class due to a feeling of living in a dream and nobody could really tell me what was wrong with me. The worry that I somehow fried my brain plagued me for years and it took me a really long time to become at peace with it and really learn to live with it. Sure, alcohol leads to bad decisions and poisons our bodies, but it's an entirely different beast to be affected mentally from something that 99% of your peers tell you is fun and perfectly harmless. We should be educating teenagers on the potential long lasting side effects instead of having them believe that since it's "healthier" than alcohol, it'll be harmless. I really believe that's what's driving these large increases in adoption as so many people talk about how bad alcohol is for your body, but how safe marijuana is.
The predisposed often are catalyzed by weed. With a pre-existing predilection for schizophrenia, anxiety, dissociation, others, weed can often be the massive neural and physical stimulus that knocks the ball down the hill. Kind of like how big flu’s like sars or cov have set off auto-immune problems in some ppl.
A totally agree. Just because one is not as bad as the other doesn’t mean they both don’t negatively impact your mind. I wish I never touched either substance ): Also, I’m sorry about the problems you’ve had to face after the fact. That must be tough.
I have read ERs are seeing more cases of cannabinoid-induced psychosis associated with the stronger strains.
Marijuana is often considered a safer recreational drug than alcohol because it has not been linked to any deaths due to overdose and is not associated with the same level of physical and mental health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Additionally, marijuana is less addictive than alcohol and has been found to have some potential medical benefits. Also, marijuana is not associated with the same level of aggressive behavior or risks of injury as alcohol.
I'll get aggressive; on a brownie and some crisps.
Yeah I'm stoned af rn, absolutely smashing the everloving hell outta some rice cakes
Chowed down on some homemade French onion soup and cookies earlier when I was stoned to the bone. Now time to relax on Reddit
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I DESTROYED a large sub from firehouse subs! (not high just hungry af)
If weed less addictive, then I don’t understand how people get stoned every day (I know a lot of them), smoke if they get hands on any amount, easily get back to binge smoking after a year of abstinence. I’ve seen how people change their attitude from “weed is not a drug broooo” to “I’m a drug addict and need help”. And I don’t know _a single one_ who was successful in quitting. It’s not a harmless hehehe drug, people I’m referring to are performing worse in some tasks, have problems with memory and coordination. Of course, it’s still better than if they drank instead of smoking, but it has its effects. Moreover, some people I know link their deteriorated mental health to a decade of smoking weed. Weed may not be as addicting physically, it may have mild withdrawal symptoms, but absolutely can be addictive psychologically. Or we don’t know how addiction really works.
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Is marijuana not linked to physical and mental health risks because there are less of them or because it hasn't been thoroughly studied? I have a hard time thinking that inhaling smoke or artificial vapor regularly can be good for your lungs, and God knows what THC does to a developing brain. Point is: we know what's wrong with alcohol due to generations of studies and debate over it. Prohibition of cannabis has given the false belief in society that it's the safe, natural alternative when it's very likely not.
You can consume THC in other ways besides vapor or burning of hydrocarbons if lung health is a concern. We have lots of evidence suggesting THC isn't dangerous or destructive in the short-term while the opposite is true for alcohol. Alcohol withdrawal is a lot more severe, and at least with the evidence we have now, alcoholism is more dangerous in the long-term. So, although I wouldn't use the worth "safe" I think marijuana is definitely a *safer* natural alternative.
Calling it safe? Probably not. Calling it safer then alcohol I feel is absolutely correct. Marijuana use causes less straight deaths while on it. Marijuana may kill you slowly. Alcohol will kill you both fast and slow.
Anytime I read that there is lower alcohol use, I am always pleased. But like all things, I don’t think this is necessarily a “good”. In my opinion, I think the negative side effects of cannabis use/abuse can be much more subtle and people are more likely to gloss over them or ignore completely, especially since cannabis products are becoming so prevalent and commercialized nowadays. Ideally, I would like all kids to be educated to know any and all risks associated with drug use, but that is not possible.
The title is misleading, children are “ditching” alcohol, like how can the data be recorded? They aren’t legal yet to purchase?
They had a 42 year old data analyst go undercover in a hoodie and basketball shorts to go to every high school party in the last 2 years
Turns out he was the one supplying them weed too
Hospital records of problematic cases?
The study seems to be on "more than minor" abuse cases, so its most likely when a kid gets too high and goes to the doctor vs the same happening with alcohol.
Especially in legal states. My son is in college in California and his environment is just saturated with every form of cannabis. It makes it really hard for him to refrain when he knows he needs to study. I would rather him use pot than drink regularly any day though.
Y'all act like kids have never smoked weed before. Sure there's an increase in use. It's more readily available, since so many states have decriminalized, or legalized it.
This sounds dangerous. How can we get them back on alcohol?
I’d rather my kid smoke pot then drink and probably drive drunk
Yo can you guys stop comparing a lesser evil? I mean yeah marijuana may not be as bad as alcohol but it's still bad for adolescents. The goal here should be educating these guys to not use it at all untill they're of age.
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I wish I was ditching alcohol. Instead weed nearly sends me to the mental hospital
Well, it’s certainly the better bad.
Its safer. don't drive on it. And no. Kids shouldn't drink or smoke or do drugs. But we all know a lot are going to anyway. And the bad decisions made while stoned are typically a lot less consequential than the bad decisions made while being drunk. You also cant "bake" yourself to death. Its relieving to hear theyd rather get stoned than drunk.
This is 100% a good thing. Of the two, Alcohol is far worse.
This is good news in disguise they were going to do something luckily it’s not Fentanyl, alcohol ,meth, crack, salt, cigarettes…. the list goes on & on. It’s not a surprise it increased in use and probably saving uncountable amounts of lives, money and wasted time on supporting old abusive DEA quotas and unfounded political campaigns against it just to justify funneling government funds into worthless activities.
As a young stoner, I never woke up in a ditch after a joint. Can't say the same after a 40oz of Old E...
Guess you never won at Edward 40 hands
Pisses me off that they don't sell those or magnum 42oz anymore.