Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/10/study-cannabis-users-report-less-subjective-cognitive-decline.html
…
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“Compared to non-users, non-medical cannabis use was significantly
associated with 96% decreased odds of Subjective Cognitive Decline.”
(i think this title alone may cause cognitive decline)
“Recently increased decreases in the changing rate of inflation flatten off”
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SCNR. You are, of course, right. Subjectively, at the very least.
Damn, I did it again.
Well.
“Significant association with decreased odds” might be a bit challenging. To me, at least.
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Bentham Science, the journal’s publisher, has a reputation as a predatory publisher (they were on Beall’s list before that list went defunct).
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None of the non-medical users that come to my ER vomiting think it has anything to do with marijuana use.
None of the users who come to my ER having had a seizure while using think it has anything to do with marijuana use.
None of the users who come to my ER stoned and having crashed their car think it has anything to do with marijuana use.
None of the users who come to my ER having an anxiety attack after using marijuana think is has anything to do with marijuana use.
While these folk represent a small portion of both users and society, the continued make-believe by the advocates that this drug has zero bad side effects is just absurd.
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I love that gif.
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I was going to write a coherent response… but I got high 
ETA – I actually agree with you – the potential side effects of cannabis use can be quite serious, and even though I support legalization, I believe the bad side effects --in both mental and physical health, especially given the current THC content of many of today’s strains – should be taken more seriously than they often are.
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EMT in rural America here, concurring.
So many instances of people in dire, usually sudden onset health situations who eventually admit to us that, yes, they were high, but NO WAY could it be the weed.
Yes it is a small number of overall users. Not statistically insignificant however.
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I was gonna write a pithy response, until I got high
I was gonna refute all of their claims, but then I got high
Now I’m daydreaming and I know why (hey, hey)
'Cause I got high
Because I got high
Because I got high
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Not the same as a bunch of stoners. This study was carried out by the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA; 2Department of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
got that from the pdf download on the “compared to non users…” link
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@fiatrn:
sounds like you have a clinic somewhere and 100% of critical cases are 100% in denial. Is that true?
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i work in an emergency department in Colorado. Every day there is someone there for vomiting after using, seizure after using, passing out after using, anxiety after using, crashing their car after using. Every day. It is not as common as thoseevents are after getting drunk, and suicidal thoughts after using mj seem less common than suicdal thoughts after drinking alcohol. Less common, but not unheard of. I am ok with it being legal, but I am not ok with the nonsensical public narrative, so prevalent in Colorado if nowhere else, that use is 100% harmless.
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Whoever wrote that headline was probably (subjectively) high.
Non-Not Medical Subjective Users of Cannabis 99% More Likely to Report That, In Their Opinion While High, Had Some of the Cognitive Decline Reported That Compares Statistically to Non-Medical Users Who Just Wanted to Cop a Buzz, study says.
I. M Baqued (AP)
Uhhh…wha? Whatever, man.
No but seriously: enjoy your weed, but have some INTENT, something goin’ on in your life. And unless you have a shit-ton of practice driving while high, just don’t. Call a friend. Or use your jet-pack.
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When I was taking medical MJ, I was kind of alarmed at the behavior of the “prescribing” doctor. She told me at our first meeting that it was a shame that it was still illegal according to the feds, because it allowed for less study. Good point! Then, in spite of that, she mocked me for not taking “enough” and repeatedly told me I should stop taking all the other medications I had fine-tuned with different physicians over the course of years and just replace them all with weed. And she told me the medications I was taking would probably kill me young, unlike pot. It was alarming, to say the least. Not saying that’s every provider, but yikes. Also, having everybody on staff in her office, including herself, being somewhere between high and really high during office hours made it really frustrating to get the basics done…including but not limited to scheduling appointments and not having appointments delayed by 2 hours or more.
But as others have said, I think it definitely has its uses and benefits, but a hand wave and “it comes from nature = safe” is not the best way to treat an increasingly powerful drug as strains become more refined.
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Yeah, it’s not exactly an ‘all-natural’ substance at this point.
A bit disappointed to hear a medical professional giving this kind of unvalidated advice. Sure, encourage a patient to experiment with different doses using a measured, gradual approach, but this case the advice sounds, well, just reckless.
My main issue is with the “subjective cognitive decline”. That’s a really tricky one isn’t it? Donald Trump would tell you he’s as sharp as he ever was, which is plainly not true. Those in cognitive decline may not be best equipped to report on it, marijuana use or not.
From their introduction:
I mean, we know how these sort of studies go by now, right? There will be one dataset where you get one finding, another will refute it. We all wait around for someone to do a metaänalysis and get a bit more clarity, but the effect size will still be awfully close to zero.
Uhhh, selective breeding just expresses genetic traits which are already existent in the plant’s genetic code, it’s not genetically modified in any way.
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One of the hard truths of pharmacology is that anything, bar none, that has an effect (especially true of psychological effects) has side effects. This is inescapable, and why a huge chunk of our business is balancing the risks and benefits. Cannabis Associated Hyperemesis Syndrome is a very real thing, and very difficult to treat for the exact reason you bring up. There will be a side effect to anything that does anything. And, due to both placebo and nocebo effects, this is true even of things that do nothing. Human brains are weird, nonstandard and unpredictable, and messing with the wiring is something that should be done with great caution and respect.
That said, this study has a pretty soft endpoint, and anything based on questionnaires is, while good for asking questions, not so great for answering them. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, further study is required to make any meaningful conclusions from this.
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