Marijuana & Health

Health, Fitness, Food, Insurance, Longevity, Diets,...
steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

Spartan_Warrior wrote:In terms of potency and "separation from reality", I would class this effect as much closer to that of caffeine than to alcohol, and light years from that of DMT or LSD.
I feel basically this way about marijuana. It's not a strong drug. I think it's stronger than caffeine and you can get high but it's nothing like alcohol.
Spartan_Warrior wrote:Or do they simply enjoy the experience?
Yep.
Spartan_Warrior wrote:Whereas, on the other hand, I don't think anyone expects coffee or tea to have some mystical health benefit to offset its negative health effects.
I think coffee and tea are extremely healthy for you. I'd like to think that marijuana isn't going to kill me ala smoking cigarettes. I don't think I'd be comfortable with the trade off of smoking a little pot if the end result was cancer.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

Riggerjack wrote:I live where it's legal. WA didn't do it as well as Colorado, but legal is better than not.

I don't get high much, but here is my recommendation.

The active ingredients are oil based, so use it in oil based cooking. That is why you see it in cookies and brownies, but not Jell-O. I think it is best in pasta sauce.

Edibles are slower than smoking, so factor that in. The slow feedback can lead to a much stronger high than desired. Know how much you want, and eat that much, no more.
Thanks for this info. I've never been able to access this. I was though thinking of eating a little and vaporizing a little once I reach FI or maybe a little before that.

Spartan_Warrior
Posts: 1659
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:24 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

steveo73 wrote:I think coffee and tea are extremely healthy for you. I'd like to think that marijuana isn't going to kill me ala smoking cigarettes. I don't think I'd be comfortable with the trade off of smoking a little pot if the end result was cancer.
I don't dispute that there are positive benefits to coffee or tea, but there are also side effects. Caffeine is a mind and body-altering drug that, when used too much, can cause serious adverse effects. In fact, it's possible to overdose and DIE from caffeine. http://www.caffeineinformer.com/harmful ... f-caffeine

Never heard of an overdose of cannabis. However, the end result of any smoke inhalation will definitely be some amount of lung damage which could over time translate to cancer. The smoke in cannabis contains a similar range of carcinogens to burning tobacco or other burning plant matter. THC and other cannabinoids themselves are thought to be anti-carcinogenic, but again, most of the science here is IMO questionable (I didn't look at this study closely, but it looks like they did find effects in actual human tumors): http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279571.php

Also, I have just as much anecdotal evidence for the "aging hippies" being among the most healthy, vibrant, and presumably virile of the Baby Boomers. Some friends and I were at a charity event last weekend and the classic rock cover band (mid fifties) was getting lit outside. They kicked ass on stage and their fit and stylish wives didn't seem too unhappy with their partnerships.

Personally, from the research I've seen (and haven't seen), I wouldn't be any more afraid of estrogenic effects from cannabis than from eating too many lentils and beans. Which is to say, not very.

In contrast, alcohol use actually is shown to decrease serum testosterone and cause impotence, both acute and chronic.

As with all things in life, moderation is probably key. Personally, in my non-medical opinion, again, a bit of edible cannabis is about on par with a strong cup of coffee in the long run. YMMV.
Last edited by Spartan_Warrior on Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:28 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Slevin
Posts: 626
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:44 pm
Location: Sonoma County

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Slevin »

steveo73 wrote: Thanks for this info. I've never been able to access this. I was though thinking of eating a little and vaporizing a little once I reach FI or maybe a little before that.
There have been several studies recently questioning the healthiness of vaping. IIRC the preliminary results showed it may have more detrimental effects than just smoking itself.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

*********************************************************8
Last edited by 7Wannabe5 on Wed Mar 16, 2016 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Papers of Indenture
Posts: 197
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:40 am
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Papers of Indenture »

I partake a couple times a month. One thing i've noticed is that I always know when i'm good and high. I generally feel in control. I don't always know that i'm skunk drunk until after i've done or said something embarassing.

BRUTE
Posts: 3797
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:20 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by BRUTE »

Papers of Indenture wrote:I partake a couple times a month. One thing i've noticed is that I always know when i'm good and high. I generally feel in control. I don't always know that i'm skunk drunk until after i've done or said something embarassing.
is this smoking? drugs consumed via smoking usually reach the blood/brain within seconds, or at least minutes, so onset is very quick. drugs consumed via eating/drinking have to go through the stomach, and absorption takes much longer. this hour or more of delay in the feedback loop makes dosage by intuition very difficult. similarly, beginners who eat edible marijuana often don't feel anything within the first hour and then massively overdose by eating 10 brownies. luckily, the MJ overdose is pretty harmless compared to most other drugs.

Dragline
Posts: 4436
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:50 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Dragline »

Spartan_Warrior wrote:
steveo73 wrote:
As with all things in life, moderation is probably key. Personally, in my non-medical opinion, again, a bit of edible cannabis is about on par with a strong cup of coffee in the long run. YMMV.
Maybe -- but don't kid yourself that coffee and tea are like alcohol and marijuana -- that comparison is forced and illusory, because its easy to cherry-pick similarities and ignore significant differences. These things are not really analogous at all other than they contain drugs and "they won't kill me in moderation."

More specifically, the latter quickly impair your perception and motor skills to the point where it would be dangerous (and illegal) for you to operate a vehicle or machinery, and you'd be ill advised to be participating in other strenuous physical activity for your own safety. You are never going to get picked up for DUI for drinking too much coffee or tea or have to get a breath or blood test for caffeine consumption. And they may improve athletic or cognitive performance on the margin.

In the truth is stranger than fiction department, I have actually O'Ded on caffeine in college when I accidentally ingested the equivalent of 100 cups of coffee. Never trust your chemist roommates is what I learned from that. The result was vomiting and debilitating headaches for about a day. Worse than most hangovers. But virtually unrepeatable without caffeine in concentrated powder form.

User avatar
Sclass
Posts: 2791
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:15 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Sclass »

Coffee, tea, booze, cigs or pot is really apples to oranges.

I happily served free coffee and tea in our company break room. People could use it and do good assembly work.

Alcohol at Friday mixers often degenerated into embarrassing moments. Christmas parties often ended with two married employees hooking up and ruining the mojo in the office for January.

The difference (I saw) in societal control with pot and alcohol is boozers can make it in on Monday and function. They were still scared of authority too. Potheads were operating at 75% till Wednesday (it just hangs around) and their anxiety that I might fire them for messing up their work for the umpteenth documentable time was absent. This is from first hand experience supervising a manufacturing operation. I figured out who was doing what pretty fast. Oddly, the coke head hid his problem the longest till the day I had to let him go after a theft.

These differences made me wonder if this was the rationale behind the different legal status of each drug. Agree with others, alcohol produces the stronger physiological response. But could the powers at be ("societal control") be aware that potheads make worse worker bees than alcoholics? Seriously they were my least favorite abusers on the team.

Not saying one is better than the other. Our boozers got DUIs, liver disease and ultimately affected our insurance benefits. The potheads made it difficult to extract large amounts of quality work.

Papers of Indenture
Posts: 197
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:40 am
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Papers of Indenture »

BRUTE wrote:
Papers of Indenture wrote:I partake a couple times a month. One thing i've noticed is that I always know when i'm good and high. I generally feel in control. I don't always know that i'm skunk drunk until after i've done or said something embarassing.
is this smoking? drugs consumed via smoking usually reach the blood/brain within seconds, or at least minutes, so onset is very quick. drugs consumed via eating/drinking have to go through the stomach, and absorption takes much longer. this hour or more of delay in the feedback loop makes dosage by intuition very difficult. similarly, beginners who eat edible marijuana often don't feel anything within the first hour and then massively overdose by eating 10 brownies. luckily, the MJ overdose is pretty harmless compared to most other drugs.
Yes smoke or vape.

What you're saying is true. Easier to manage dosage because it doesn't sneak up on you. But I also think what I experience is a reflection of the difference in high I get from marijuana and alcohol. Alcohol makes me oblivious and confident. Marijuana makes me alert and self conscious at least before drowsiness sets in (this can change with dosage). I'm sure some of this is due to socialization.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

Spartan_Warrior wrote: Caffeine is a mind and body-altering drug that, when used too much, can cause serious adverse effects. In fact, it's possible to overdose and DIE from caffeine. http://www.caffeineinformer.com/harmful ... f-caffeine
Maybe but I drink coffee regularly and it doesn't really affect me much. I can't imagine taking enough to overdose and die.
Spartan_Warrior wrote:However, the end result of any smoke inhalation will definitely be some amount of lung damage which could over time translate to cancer. The smoke in cannabis contains a similar range of carcinogens to burning tobacco or other burning plant matter. THC and other cannabinoids themselves are thought to be anti-carcinogenic, but again, most of the science here is IMO questionable (I didn't look at this study closely, but it looks like they did find effects in actual human tumors): http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279571.php
Cancer is my concern.
Spartan_Warrior wrote:Personally, from the research I've seen (and haven't seen), I wouldn't be any more afraid of estrogenic effects from cannabis than from eating too many lentils and beans. Which is to say, not very.
Agreed. I find these types of comments regarding marijuana or lots of things pretty funny.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

Slevin wrote:
steveo73 wrote: Thanks for this info. I've never been able to access this. I was though thinking of eating a little and vaporizing a little once I reach FI or maybe a little before that.
There have been several studies recently questioning the healthiness of vaping. IIRC the preliminary results showed it may have more detrimental effects than just smoking itself.
This is interesting and what I'd like to see. I don't want to put myself at a higher risk of getting cancer.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

Thanks for all the comments on this thread as well. It's an interesting topic to me.

User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by jennypenny »

After reading this, I wonder if part of the reason (or the main reason) I liked pot was that I liked smoking it. I used to smoke cigarettes and still do occasionally. I love smoking. Maybe I wouldn't even enjoy marijuana in edible form? It's the same reason I prefer alcohol -- I don't just like being drunk but getting drunk.

And doesn't that make me sound like a winner lol. Stand back boys, I'm taken. :lol:

Dragline
Posts: 4436
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:50 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Dragline »

jennypenny wrote:After reading this, I wonder if part of the reason (or the main reason) I liked pot was that I liked smoking it. I used to smoke cigarettes and still do occasionally. I love smoking. Maybe I wouldn't even enjoy marijuana in edible form? It's the same reason I prefer alcohol -- I don't just like being drunk but getting drunk.

And doesn't that make me sound like a winner lol. Stand back boys, I'm taken. :lol:
Just getting warmed up for St. Paddy's Day tomorrow, are we? :lol:

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by steveo73 »

jennypenny wrote:After reading this, I wonder if part of the reason (or the main reason) I liked pot was that I liked smoking it. I used to smoke cigarettes and still do occasionally. I love smoking. Maybe I wouldn't even enjoy marijuana in edible form? It's the same reason I prefer alcohol -- I don't just like being drunk but getting drunk.

And doesn't that make me sound like a winner lol. Stand back boys, I'm taken. :lol:
I was just about to ask.

I've never eaten marijuana. I wonder if I'd like it in that format.

enigmaT120
Posts: 1240
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:14 pm
Location: Falls City, OR

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by enigmaT120 »

Count it toward your salad quota in your diet.

I tried smoking some a few years ago, to celebrate with a friend the recent legalization in WA, only to discover that after a 20 year hiatus, I still didn't like it. Oh well, it's not like I don't have enough ways to mess up my life.

User avatar
Sclass
Posts: 2791
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:15 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Sclass »

From LA times today.

Longtime marijuana use might make you a loser - LA Times - www.latimes.com http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol- ... story.html

Biased but it captures my personal experiences with regular pot use.

Thought y'all would like it because it mentions financial issues.

Spartan_Warrior
Posts: 1659
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:24 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

Everyone has their anecdotes. Some of us even get to publish them in L.A. Times. :lol: Whatever science that article purports to represent appears to have been artfully blurred with opinion and then left unreferenced.

I don't think anyone is arguing that becoming reliant on a substance (which I would argue you are if you're using it daily over the long-term) is beneficial. The ERE model in particular would suggest being reliant on as few necessities as possible. Addiction and its long-term outcomes are certainly inefficient. It's also a strawman position in this topic, though. No one is asking, "Should I become addicted to this and use it daily for the rest of my life?" (Nor is that a necessary outcome of occasional use, as cannabis is not physically addicting.)

I maintain my positions: that at least a great deal of the fear-mongering surrounding cannabis is the result of good old corporate-sponsored government propaganda, so there is not much reliable science confirming negative impacts; the science that is available lends me to believe that occasional recreational use of cannabis is about the least deleterious method of obtaining a buzz (except maybe caffeine*). Ergo, if buzz is desired--and whether or not altered consciousness is desirable is also not germane--then cannabis is the optimum choice, IMO.

*BTW, @Dragline, my argument with caffeine was not really to say that alcohol and cannabis are in the same league as coffee, but rather that cannabis has about as much in common with coffee as it does with alcohol. Caffeine is also physically addictive where cannabis is not. It really is comparing apples to oranges, which is sort of the point: I object to lumping cannabis in with alcohol as I believe alcohol is far worse. (Notably, you object to lumping caffeine with alcohol for the same reason of severity.) If cannabis to coffee is a forced comparison, it's as forced as cannabis to alcohol.

Also, caffeine overdose is eminently possible with energy drinks and/or pills for small or sensitive people. Granted, perhaps not so much with coffee/espresso and almost certainly not with tea. My GF is extremely sensitive to caffeine and has also experienced overdose.

At the end of the day, you can screw up your life with anything. Long-term daily abuse of sucrose doesn't look pretty after a few decades, either, for that matter.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: Marijuana & Health

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I am officially changing my stance on this issue due to the fact that I have decided that all human beings should maintain one vice or addiction for the purpose of not rendering themselves thoroughly socially obnoxious and unlikable. This is analogous to my belief that people should have one thing they collect even if they are otherwise minimalists or one luxury category even if otherwise extremely frugal. However, I believe that it is important to be thoughtful in making your choice of sole vice/addiction. It is best to reflect upon your own unique physiology and personality and lifestyle and make the choice with the best possible risk/reward potential for you. For instance, I decided to choose coffee over sugary treats because I decided that sleeping overnight with damp tea bags on my face might possibly reduce inflammation while sleeping overnight with frosting on my face would possibly cause inflammation.

Also, the world already has enough people with high testosterone levels and too much ambition, so pot use passes muster on the "What if more people did it?" test in my book.

Post Reply