Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, a new study says
Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, a new study says
Millions of people in the U.S. report using marijuana daily or nearly every day, and those people now outnumber those who say they are daily or nearly-daily drinkers of alcohol.
Congratulations drugs for winning the war on drugs
Drugs took the Quellcrist Falconer approach to war.
She named herself after a seaweed dries up in absence of water and seems like it's dead, but, as soon as it gets even a drop of water again, it grows ten fold. That seems like a good analogy to how drugs prevailed.
Daily alcohol: blunts my emotional pain, causes awful feelings in my stomach, does damage to multiple organ systems, is physically addictive, and gives you a hangover the next day.
Daily THC and other cannabinoids consumed via edibles: blunts my emotional pain, blunts my physical pain, has a minor effect on working memory when used over years that does not further inhibit cognitive ability or motivation, is not physically addictive, and has no impact on the next day.
Used to self medicate in vaguely controlled doses, it is a no-brainer. MJ is not perfect by any means, but it is world better than booze for frequent users.
After getting the shakes, sweating profusely and not being able to sleep for a few days when quitting, I really wouldn't say it's not physically addictive.
Wait, this is after giving up cannabis? That is not normal at all. There might be something else going on. I've gone from heavy smoker for years to completely sober over night and then maintained my sobriety for months without any adverse effects. I've probably done this 5 times in my life. I've literally never heard of anything similar to your withdrawal situation happening to anyone with cannabis.
Seems like an easy choice. You'll feel the effects of daily drinking with in a week or two, but pot smoking? Doesn't seem to affect the day to day
Also, only one of the two is physically addictive. You can get psychologically addicted to cannabis, but you can get psychologically addicted to eating carrots.
So if you feel like you're using too much cannabis, it's a hell of a lot easier to stop.
Be careful with your concept of physically versus psychologically addicted, it's not really a 100% seperatable dichotomy like that. Your brain is your brain after all, whether you decide to call something physical or psychological it's all happening inside the brain. I think because cannabis doesn't tend to have severe withdrawal effects (like alcohol withdrawal, which can kill you) people assume that means they're not dependent or that it doesn't have direct effects on the reward processing centers in the brain to reinforce its use again in the future. That's what distinguishes addictive drugs from things that are just generally pleasant so we want to do them again, they have a direct chemical interaction with the neural circuits that are supposed to be helping decide if a behavior should be done again or not. Kind of tipping the scales in their favor, making you want to do something again more so than just the pleasentness of the past experience alone would otherwise do. You're going to have an easier time quitting carrots than you will cannabis, even if you find them both equally pleasant in the moment.
Don't get me wrong though, cannabis is waaaay less addictive than things like nicotine or alcohol, and has far less harmful effects than those. I think there is a tendency (especially with things like DARE lying about drug dangers when people were younger) to over correct and say things like it's a miracle drug that's non addicting and can never harm you and can fix everything wrong in your life! I'm for recreational cannabis legalization, but people should understand it's actual risks, even though they are much less than other recreational drugs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3069146/
The cumulative probability estimate of transition to dependence was 67.5% for nicotine users, 22.7% for alcohol users, 20.9% for cocaine users, and 8.9% for cannabis users. Half of the cases of dependence on nicotine, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine were observed approximately 27, 13, 5 and 4 years after use onset, respectively.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605022/#ref4
Cannabis-derived psychoactive compounds such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and synthetic cannabinoids directly interact with the reward system and thereby have addictive properties. Cannabinoids induce their reinforcing properties by an increase in tonic dopamine levels through a cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor–dependent mechanism within the ventral tegmental area. Cues that are conditioned to cannabis smoking can induce drug-seeking responses (ie, craving) by eliciting phasic dopamine events.
It does have day to day effects, but it’s definitely less dangerous than alcohol. It’s still overloading your dopamine levels when you use it, and effecting your dopamine production. I used daily for over a decade, and I still use once every couple months, but my emotional regulation has been so much easier since I quit daily smoking. Less frustration, less depression, just a better baseline emotional state. Several long term studies show this also. This podcast has a lot of great info from a neuroscientist with a history of addiction.
I don’t know what it was, but after a while of using regularly, it got to a point where every time I smoked, I would get panicky and my stomach would be on the verge of throwing up.
It was overall a very unpleasant experience. I’ve since cut way back and only smoke on weekends and just a couple small joints at that.
I found when I had a vape pen or flower, I would take in huge amounts and it would send me to the stratosphere every time. Now I can actually stay coherent enough to remember and enjoy the experience.
I know I’ve heard about this happening to other people as well where it’s fine for a while, but then it’s like your body starts to reject or something along those lines.
All that being said, the few times I’ve gotten really drunk, the experience wasn’t enjoyable at all and the headache the next day was monumental.
It’s me, I’m the statistic
I’m a dapper dab man.
Drinking everyday is hell on your body let me tell you.
Daily cannabis feels great though.
I know several people who used cannabis to help them quit drinking and turned their lives around.
That's me, sorta. For the first time since I turned 21 (so almost 15 years), I can have just one drink and not want another. I didn't even really try to cut back, it just happened naturally after I took up cannabis.
Looking back, it's kind of incredible how much alcohol was bringing me down.
I've lost 50 lbs in the past year. It is almost entirely due to the fact that I replaced alcohol with weed after it became legal here. I sleep better, eat better, I'm less anxious, and I actually look forward to working out now.
It's very hard to see any downsides.
Technically, I am a daily consumer of cannabis, but in reality I microdose (one to two hits off a vape pen) before bed to combat chronic insomnia. I know many people have a glass of wine with dinner or a "night cap" before bed. I guess I am wondering what they mean by daily use.
Daily use would include what you do while also including people that consume it all day long.
Newly legalized drug being used at a faster rate than when it was illegal.
Amazing. What a scoop.
I think you misread. The headline itself says that weed is being used more than alchohol, not more than it was when it was illegal.
For the first time, the number of Americans who use marijuana just about every day has surpassed the number who drink that often, a shift some 40 years in the making as recreational pot use became more mainstream and legal in nearly half of U.S. states.
Since the legality is the thing that has changed, that’s not that surprising.
Well done Mary Jane. Knew you could do it.
Lost her place in line again what a pity!
Go Stoners!
Recently quit drinking. Went to hit my disposable (only because I only got high once every few months or I'd have bought a refillable vape) and it was dead. Went to a shop yesterday to replace it. Found the gummies that we'd bought last year while doing spring cleaning.
We have a lot planned for today (Saturday) including going into farmland where you can pay to pick fresh fruit plus running some errands. But I'm getting high tonight.
That's awesome. I hope it helps you stay sober!
Grazie! (I had to look up how to spell it.)
I don’t trust a news source still calling it marijuana. Marijuana is a Mexican weed that was used as racist propaganda against cannabis in the early 20th century.
I’m happy to see the wide-spread adoption of cannabis. It’s non-addictive (it can be habit forming), you can’t overdose on it, and withdrawal is non-existent. Alcohol is addictive, you can def die from consuming too much in a single sitting, and withdrawal can literally kill you.
I agree with you about it being a propaganda word, but you really should trust the Associated Press as a source.
The nomenclature doesn’t really matter. In Oklahoma its called a “Medical Marijuana Card” you have to get to consume
Cool, whatever stops you from drinking yourself to death I guess.
Shiny happy people all around!
So statistically speaking, at least some of the cool kids are doing it?
Why not both??
Trading liver damage for COPD. Wcgw
Cannabis does not have to be inhaled to be used. Or are you saying you can get COPD from gummies?