I love using cannabinoids and have no intention to stop using them, but to call it a harmless pastime is just a lie. We must understand the risks around cannabinoid usage so we can mitigate the harm as much as possible.
In this article, I will discuss the downsides of cannabinoids I've experienced and then talk about a paper that references this issue. This is not an exhaustive list, it's just a few of the downsides I've experienced in my life with cannabinoid and cannabis usage.
Mental Addiction
Personal Anecdote:
You can get mentally addicted to anything but with something like cannabinoids the path to addiction is extremely easy. There are some serious benefits to cannabinoids generally lacking the ability to kill you, especially the not dying part, however, there is a downside.
Without a hard limit, people tend to push cannabinoids into dosage areas they would never dream of with a more dangerous drug. I know I've been guilty of this. It is not uncommon to find someone who needs a gram a day just to feel a bit high, as the urge to curb your usage to prevent yourself from going over the edge is non-existent.
The lack of danger can easily lul someone slowly but surely into being a person who does nothing but smoke weed all day. Is that going to kill you? No. But it might dull your social or work life significantly.
Studies and Scientific Evidence:
Results and important passages:
"After examining the acute and long-term effects of cannabis, CUD appears to conform to the general patterns of changes described in the Koob and Volkow model of addiction. Previous preclinical and clinical studies indicate that features of the three stages of drug addiction described by Koob and Volkow are also present in cannabis addiction (Fig. 1), although these findings may not be as robust as other drugs of abuse."
"As described in the Koob and Volkow model (2016), most drugs of abuse result in the hyperactivation of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway in the binge-intoxication stage of addiction. This hyperactivation seems to be present in cannabis addiction but to a lower extent."
"Nonetheless, as with other drugs of abuse, chronic cannabis use still results in blunted dopamine reactivity to a stimulant challenge (Volkow et al. 2014c; van de Giessen et al. 2017)."
"This blunted stimulant-induced dopamine reactivity has been associated with negative emotionality (Volkow et al. 2014c) a key feature of withdrawal/negative affect stage described by Koob and Volkow (2016). With the addition of withdrawal as a symptom of CUD, it is evident that the development of cannabis addiction parallels addiction to other drugs of abuse. In addition, chronic cannabis use has been associated with affect dysregulation that may involve changes in amygdala functioning (Filbey et al. 2013; Heitzeg et al. 2015; Spechler et al. 2015). As with other drugs of abuse, cannabis seems to disrupt HPA axis function (Somaini et al. 2012; Cuttler et al. 2017), another key neuroadaptation of the withdrawal/negative affect stage described by Koob and Volkow (2016)." "Although further research is necessary (Box 1), the findings summarized here indicate that neurobiological changes in CUD seem to parallel those in other addictions, albeit to a lesser extent in some brain systems."
Eyesight
Personal Anecdote:
While I use psychoactive cannabinoids, especially in high amounts my vision can get a bit blurry. I will also say that after almost 12 years of cannabinoid use my baseline vision is a bit worse than when I was a kid, however, that could be just normal deterioration due to age as it's not a very significant difference.
Also, I will note that staring at one spot or reading can be more difficult while using cannabinoids as I find it hard to keep my eyes in one spot.
Studies and Scientific Evidence:
Results and important passages:
"The paired t-test (or Wilcoxon test) indicated lower binocular visual acuity and poorer mean contrast sensitivity after smoking cannabis, with this deterioration being significant at the spatial frequencies 0.75 cpd (z = − 2.724; p = 0.006) and 12 cpd (z = − 3.234; p = 0.001) (Table 1, Fig. 1)."
"The intraocular straylight also increased significantly (approximately 9%) after cannabis use (Table 1). As a consequence, the participants perceived more halos, resulting in higher VDIs. Figure 2 shows the graphs pertaining to the Halo software for one participant at the baseline session and after smoking cannabis. After smoking cannabis, the participant presented a greater number of undetected peripheral stimuli (red), resulting in a greater halo area and, therefore, a higher disturbance index. This worsening was found despite the pupil size being the same under the two conditions (5 mm)."
"Cannabis use also significantly affected the participants' three-dimensional vision, as we found a significant deterioration of stereoacuity at the two distances evaluated. A number of studies have shown changes in three-dimensional perception caused by cannabis use due to so-called binocular depth inversion illusion."
"In summary, this study shows that smoking cannabis has significant adverse effects on certain visual functions, including visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, as well as in nighttime-related visual parameters such as the VDI and intraocular straylight"
Lung Issues
Personal Anecdote:
I think anyone who has smoked weed for many years has had a few times where they gave themselves a minor lung injury. When I first started smoking I was taking bong snaps over and over every night, then waking up in the morning and coughing out dark brown fluid with a wheeze in my chest. That was my first introduction to cannabinoids injuring me.
Another time I was hurt by cannabinoids when taking gram dabs of the wrong blend. I took a gram dab of a high D8 and H4 blend last year which made me permanently retire from gram dabs. I had a very intense wheeze for a few days.
Are these permanent injuries? Usually no. But they do suck and could cause lasting damage that shows back up down the road.
Studies and Scientific Evidence:
Results and important passages:
"Regular smoking of marijuana by itself causes visible and microscopic injury to the large airways that is consistent associated with an increased likelihood of symptoms of chronic bronchitis that subside after cessation of use. On the other hand, habitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function when assessed either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, except for possible increases in lung volumes and modest increases in airway resistance of unclear clinical significance. Therefore, no clear link to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been established. Although marijuana smoke contains a number of carcinogens and cocarcinogens, findings from a limited number of well-designed epidemiological studies do not suggest an increased risk for the development of either lung or upper airway cancer from light or moderate use, although evidence is mixed concerning possible carcinogenic risks of heavy, long-term use."
"Several studies (Table 1) have compared responses to respiratory symptom questionnaires in samples of regular marijuana smokers with responses in age-matched nonsmokers of marijuana, controlling for concomitant tobacco smoking. One study examined a convenience sample from Los Angeles County of 144 habitual (near-daily for >5 yr) smokers of marijuana alone (MS), 135 habitual smokers of both marijuana and tobacco (MTS), 79 regular tobacco-only smokers (TS), and 97 nonsmokers of any substance (NS) (mean ages, 31.6–37.0 yr) (17). In the smokers of marijuana alone, tobacco alone, or marijuana plus tobacco, the prevalence of chronic cough (18–24%), sputum production (20–26%), wheeze for at least 3 weeks/year (25–37%), and at least two prolonged episodes of acute bronchitis during the previous 3 years (10–14%) were
significantly higher than in the nonsmokers (P , 0.05), but no differences in the prevalence of cough, sputum, or wheeze were noted between smokers of marijuana only, tobacco only, and combined smokers of both marijuana and tobacco."
"Regular use of marijuana causes airway injury leading to symptoms of chronic bronchitis in some smokers but no physiological or high-resolution computed tomography evidence of emphysema. Despite the presence of procarcinogenic components in marijuana smoke, a limited number of appropriately performed and analyzed epidemiologic studies have failed to demonstrate an increased risk for either lung or upper airway cancer in association with marijuana smoking, although evidence is mixed regarding the risk of heavy, long- term use. The immunosuppressive effects of THC and reports of bacterial and fungal contamination of marijuana imply an increased risk of pneumonia."
Using Cannabinoids at a Young Age
Personal Anecdote:
I started smoking weed when I was 14 years old. This was a mistake. I often wonder just how less fucked up my brain might be if I didn't do drugs back then. I have memory issues, attention issues, motivation issues, and other random bullshit that likely was at the very least not helped by my frequent weed usage while I was still a kid.
If you happen to be young and reading this, first of all, get off this site oh my god, and second of all, PLEASE JUST WAIT. Weed is not going anywhere, but your youth is. The choices you make as an adolescent have the potential to shape your entire future. Don't use weed to fast forward through the pain and the boredom of being a kid. That time is incredibly important for your growth into a functional adult, even though it hurts at times.
Make something of yourself first - then smoke weed if you want to. You'll be happier for it.
I'll leave you with the best anti-weed speech for kids I've ever heard, said by Randy Marsh in an episode of South Park.
"Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but, well son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored, and it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything.”
Studies and Scientific Evidence:
Results and important passages:
"Research on regular marijuana use highlights a unique susceptibility of the developing adolescent brain to adverse neurocognitive and psychiatric outcomes. Although studies have not firmly established causality, onset of regular marijuana use in adolescence is associated with later decline in cognitive function, as well as with adult onset of psychosis and anxiety. Educational and employment outcomes may be poorer among regular marijuana-using adolescents. A number of other adverse respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal associations with regular marijuana use have also been established. Good screening tools and promising brief intervention and behavioral treatment programs are available to clinicians, who are in a position to identify problematic marijuana use among adolescents and refer for services."
"The adverse health effects associated with marijuana are myriad, and adolescents demonstrate particular susceptibility to long-term neurocognitive and psychiatric changes from chronic marijuana use."
Psychoactive Cannabinoids Can Destroy Your Motivation
Personal Anecdote:
I can hear the keyboards warming up now telling me "Well I smoke all day every day and I'm great at my job." Listen, I don't doubt that - I write a lot of what you read on here while I'm using cannabinoids. I wrote an entire book while using cannabinoids ABOUT cannabinoids.
They are not a death sentence for your productivity, however, in my experience, it's a bit like running a race with ankle weights on. Can plenty of people perform at a high level in a race even with 15lb ankle weights? You betcha, but that doesn't mean ankle weights are good for winning races. You can get better at running with ankle weights, but that doesn't mean they still aren't hindering your overall performance.
There are some potential exceptions to this like the varins which can greatly improve focus, but generally speaking, psychoactive cannabinoids inhibit my ability to think clearly and critically at the highest level I can. For some people that's no issue, but it's something to really pay attention to, especially if you are a frequent user.
Studies and Scientific Evidence:
Results and important passages:
"We also reviewed evidence to answer the question, “Is there evidence that decreased motivation among cannabis users is unique to the use of cannabis (rather than to use of any addictive drug)?” As shown in Table 1, 12 of the reviewed studies accounted for the influence of use of substances other than cannabis, such as alcohol and nicotine. Several of these studies found significant associations between use of other substances and motivation."
"Additionally, we reviewed findings regarding causality to answer the question, “Is there evidence suggesting a causal relationship between cannabis use and motivation?” As seen in Table 1, only two of the studies reviewed were longitudinal in design and thus better able to examine causal relationships. Martz et al.(2016) found that continued cannabis use was associated with blunted activity in the nucleus accumbens during reward anticipation even after controlling for an exhaustive set of confounds, including baseline nucleus accumbens activation. Pre-existing differences in accumbens functioning, on the other hand, did not predict later cannabis use. A longitudinal study by Lac and Luk (2018) found similar results: after controlling for confounds, being a cannabis user predicted lower self-efficacy at a later time point, whereas self-efficacy did not predict later cannabis use. Thus, there is evidence suggesting a causal relationship between cannabis use and reduced motivation and reward sensitivity."
"Neuroimaging studies focusing on the effects of cannabis on reward sensitivity have consistently found differences in activation of reward areas of the brain in cannabis users relative to controls. Although studies vary as to whether they conducted ROI or whole-brain analyses, most found alterations among cannabis users in striatal areas, particularly ventral striatum, as well as frontal areas including the cingulate, thus implicating parts of the salience network. Alterations in this network among users suggest that cannabis use may alter how attention is allocated to rewarding stimuli and/or drug-related cues (Menon, 2011)."
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