What has research over the past two decades revealed about the adverse health effects of recreationa

A new study in the journal Addiction lays out what the vast research on marijuana has revealed over the last 20 years, highlighting the drug’s adverse effects, both acute and chronic. Though researchers have been studying the effects of marijuana for decades, the science has really exploded just in the last 20 years, due in part to better study methods, and also spurred by the growing interest in legalization. The new study maps out exactly what marijuana does and does not do to the body and brain, both in the short and long terms. What’s clear is that marijuana has a number of adverse effects over years of use – in certain people, anyway.

What 20yrs of research revealed about recreational cannabis use

Methods:

A comparison of the evidence in 1993 with the evidence and interpretation of the same health outcomes in 2013.
Results

Research: in the past 20 years has shown that driving while cannabis-impaired approximately doubles car crash risk and that around one in 10 regular cannabis users develop dependence. Regular cannabis use in adolescence approximately doubles the risks of early school-leaving and of cognitive impairment and psychoses in adulthood. Regular cannabis use in adolescence is also associated strongly with the use of other illicit drugs. These associations persist after controlling for plausible confounding variables in longitudinal studies. This suggests that cannabis use is a contributory cause of these outcomes but some researchers still argue that these relationships are explained by shared causes or risk factors. Cannabis smoking probably increases cardiovascular disease risk in middle-aged adults but its effects on respiratory function and respiratory cancer remain unclear, because most cannabis smokers have smoked or still smoke tobacco.

((This is the same link that is mentioned in the first excerpt under the heading 'Nature' )) What has research over the past two decades revealed about the adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use

The article states that adverse effects of acute use is that cannabis does not produce fatal overdoses as do opioids, there is a doubling of the risk of car crashes if cannabis users drive while high, (this risk increases substantially if users also consume intoxicating doses of alcohol.) & maternal cannabis use during pregnancy modestly reduces birth weight.

Adverse effects of chronic use:
Psychosocial outcomes:

- Regular cannabis users can develop a dependence syndrome, the risks of which are around 1 in 10 of all cannabis users and 1 in 6 among those who start in adolescence.
- Regular cannabis users double their risks of experiencing psychotic symptoms and disorders, especially if they have a personal or family history of psychotic disorders, and if they initiate cannabis use in their mid-teens.
- Regular adolescent cannabis users have lower educational attainment than non-using peers.
- Regular adolescent cannabis users are more likely to use other illicit drugs.
- Regular cannabis use that begins in adolescence and continues throughout young adulthood appears to produce cognitive impairment but the mechanism and reversibility of the impairment is unclear.
- Regular cannabis use in adolescence approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia or reporting psychotic symptoms in adulthood.
- All these relationships have persisted after controlling for plausible confounders in well-designed studies, but some researchers still question whether adverse effects are related causally to regular cannabis use or explained by shared risk factors


It is important in this day and age that we know the truth about cannabis use and if it should be used or not. People have the right to decide for themselves but based on truth not lies.

Check out this other thread:
5 lies about marijuana that won't die easy

originally posted by: Sabiduria
People have the right to decide for themselves...

Your last sentence discredits your entire post. How long have McDonald's, Alcohol, & Cigarettes been around?

Lies, facts, reality. No one seems to give a sh*t about these things in relation to MAC but we are still allowed to choose to partake or not.

a reply to: Eunuchorn

What do you mean?

If people want to smoke cannabis they have the right to that choice and they should be able to make that choice based on truth not on lies and propaganda.

This study shows you what happens to a recreational user of cannabis and based on 20yrs of research.

The car crash one is just stupid because it's relative to any and all mind altering substances. Alcohol kills thousands more every year, actually cannabis car accidents are miniscule compared to alcohol. In fact for every youth instance against cannabis, alcohol has the same effect. That's why kids should NOT partake unless under a physicians care. Another thing, the two type of cannabis are sativa and indica. They have different properties and different effects on the body. If someone wants to use cannabis, they really should research it first because it can make a huge difference on your experience with it. I know a lot about cannabis because I was a medical grower where I once lived. I don't partake of it because I don't like the effects, but that's just me. There is a sh#tload of other things we eat, drink, inhale that are a whole lot worse than cannabis and people should quit trying to make it evil. It has many good healing or helping properties.

ETA: I'm adding a little story here. I have an elderly female friend with rheumatoid arthritis - so serious her fingers are all bent and crooked and she's had several surgeries and taken a lot of medication for pain (which can be more addictive and have worse side effects than cannabis) but she still had pain and was a real witch to be around unless she was completely zonked out. I asked her if she want to try cannabis to see if it might help her. She was very straight and a non smoker. After I explained that she could control the dosage and use it without inhaling, I advised her talk to her doctor and to contact a Medical Marijuana Clinic, she said she would think about it. A few weeks later after she had spoken to her doctor and said she wanted to try it , I supplied her with a satisfactory product type and explained to her how to use it. She has since dropped all her other pain medication, is much happier and her life is better and gets relief without being knocked out. Am I worried about her becoming addicted? No, she'd been using pain management meds for years and they weren't helping.

Mods, I hope this isn't against the rules. I'm not a pusher but that's just one of the many stories I have that prove this can be used for a good medicine.

originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: Eunuchorn

What do you mean?

If people want to smoke cannabis they have the right to that choice and they should be able to make that choice based on truth not on lies and propaganda.

This study shows you what happens to a recreational user of cannabis and based on 20yrs of research.

Cannabis has been surrounded by lies and propaganda since the 1930s and now you think you have the handle on the truth?

Sounds like the same old lies we've been told for decades. Who funded these "studies"....pill pushing drug companies???

Tell us lies for decades and now you want us to believe you? I don't think so.....

a reply to: StoutBroux

Exactly.

Everything effects everyone differently.

They include the car crash one because it is always dragged up in the anti-marijuana group. See link for more details. (link is also in the main post) 5 lies about marijuana that won't die easy.

originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: StoutBroux

Exactly.

Everything effects everyone differently.

They include the car crash one because it is always dragged up in the anti-marijuana group. See link for more details. (link is also in the main post) 5 lies about marijuana that won't die easy.

I don't need to read the link, I'm well aware of the negative propaganda articles against cannabis. But they're never articles written by people who actually use and are helped by cannabis. So whatever. But chat me up in 20 years when you or your partner have medical problems caused by eating or drinking the wrong things, getting cancer, arthritis, aids and let me know how all those expensive meds are working out for you. Which by the way is the main reason for the negative campaign against cannabis. The big pharma can't control it and make millions and people can "make" it themselves.

a reply to: olaru12
Read the article!
It is pro marijuana and yes it is the truth.

originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: Eunuchorn

What do you mean?

If people want to smoke cannabis they have the right to that choice and they should be able to make that choice based on truth not on lies and propaganda.

This study shows you what happens to a recreational user of cannabis and based on 20yrs of research.

Did you actually read the article? It repeatedly says a causal relationship can not be established. In other words, the study can't prove that many of these things are caused by marijuana use as compared to those things occurring coincidentally with marijuana use. Huge difference. Here's an example you might use as a comparison: Virtually 100% of murderers consumed milk within 48 hours of killing someone (I made it up but it's probably close to accurate). The question becomes whether the consumption of milk is coincidental to the killing or the cause of the killing.

a reply to: Tangerine

That is a silly comparison. Is milk known to cause killer intentions into its drinkers? No.
I'm pro weed, mind you.

a reply to: StoutBroux

I know very well the medical benefits of cannabis. I'm in a support group that has people with chronic pain and really bad diseases. Of the 15 in my group, 10 use cannabis and have huge improvements to their health that they can't even come close to getting with hardcore drugs like Humira (adalimumab).

You also don't have to worry about the crazy side effects that can come with pharmaceutical pills. Prednisone for example can have horrible side effects where you have hardly any short term memory, your speech can suddenly be slurred, your balance becomes wonky and your vision goes. ((I know this because it used to happen to my Mom, it was very scary))

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: Tangerine

That is a silly comparison. Is milk known to cause killer intentions into its drinkers? No.
I'm pro weed, mind you.

Uh..I just pointed out that that study admitted that it couldn't prove causality. Do you know what that means? It means the claims are just as silly as the claim that milk makes people kill.

originally posted by: Tangerine

originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: Eunuchorn

What do you mean?

If people want to smoke cannabis they have the right to that choice and they should be able to make that choice based on truth not on lies and propaganda.

This study shows you what happens to a recreational user of cannabis and based on 20yrs of research.

Did you actually read the article? It repeatedly says a causal relationship can not be established. In other words, the study can't prove that many of these things are caused by marijuana use as compared to those things occurring coincidentally with marijuana use. Huge difference. Here's an example you might use as a comparison: Virtually 100% of murderers consumed milk within 48 hours of killing someone (I made it up but it's probably close to accurate). The question becomes whether the consumption of milk is coincidental to the killing or the cause of the killing.

Did I read the article that proves correlation is not causality? Yes. Did you just chose to "argue" against my article on how correlation of causality by stating that correlation is not causality? Yes you did.

Thank you for agreeing with me and the article. Next time you want to try to argue something, you may want to read the article first so you know if you are actually arguing it or in reality, defending it.

a reply to: Tangerine

That's the whole point of the study Way to go!!! Correlation is not causality I shall applaud you.

originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: Tangerine

That's the whole point of the study

Way to go!!!

Correlation is not causality

I shall applaud you.

LOL. Actually, indirect correlation is not causality. Direct correlation is. In your first post you cited the study as revealing the adverse affects of marijuana but failed to reveal that those who conducted the study admitted they couldn't prove causality for many of the claims.

This is what I find hilarious. You say check out this link .. where you say ...

Here are five recent media lies about marijuana:

2. High people cause car crashes

So you say it's a LIE being high causes accidents .. then you make this post where you say ....

driving while cannabis-impaired approximately doubles car crash risk

And yet you have the nerve to say ....

People have the right to decide for themselves but based on truth not lies.

I agree, so how about you stop being dishonest.

This is already being discussed here.

As noted above, the topic is already posted. Please go to the thread linked above. Thank you.

Thread closed.