I wish every kid in America was required to take a statistics class in HS.
I have no doubt that the studies showed that marijuana is not a gateway drug. If the samples were comprised of 40 year old MS patients, 50 year old chemo patients, and 60 year old Parkinson’s patients, the data likely showed significant improvement in the quality of life (less pain, more appetite/less nausea, better sleep, enhanced mobility).
It is medical malpractice to conduct a double blind study on an illegal substance (which marijuana was at the time) on 14 year olds. So that was never studied.
So the studies-- likely accurate- measured what they measured. Is a chemo patient with a terminal diagnosis better off or worse off using marijuana? I’m sure the answer is- Better off. You can only answer what you’ve asked, based on the population you’ve tested, based on the control sample.
There are a lot of terrible, chronic conditions where the studies show marijuana is beneficial (not as a cure, but as a way to make the symptoms bearable). If people who don’t understand statistics conclude from these studies that it’s ok for their 16 year old to “party hearty” every weekend because at least he’s not drinking… well, take a statistics course. The study didn’t include 16 year old’s, and did not control for recreational use vs. medical use.
I’m very confused by what you are claiming. To be clear, the studies that try to determine whether marijuana is a gateway drug have nothing to do with the studies that look at symptom relief for chronic conditions in midlife. They are entirely different studies with appropriate patient populations chosen by the researchers. Not sure why you would conclude that trained scientists would try to answer this important clinic question with an irrelevant patient sample.
Again confused by what you are trying to claim. The epidemiologists who have studied marijuana at a possible risk factor for use disorders of other substances (aka the marijuana gateway hypothesis/MGH) are not in the business of making pronouncements “that it is safe.” Epidemiologists don’t think or talk this way. And epidemiologists don’t study the MGH with 60 year olds; they use datasets such as National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (in the US.)
In my opinion it’s definitely worth going back to the primary literature for anybody interested. Obviously, all the technical language is going to be inaccessible to those without an epidemiology background, but the Introduction, Results and Discussion sections are accessible to the average college grad.
I agree with everything you have posted. I am pointing out that posters who are annoyed/mad/furious that the media summarizes studies to say “marijuana use is not dangerous” are NOT citing studies which used teenagers. They are NOT longitudinal. So my comments are directed at those posters. Don’t get mad at the studies- get mad at the media, get mad at the citizens of your state who don’t push back on legalization legislation to ask “where is the evidence here?”, get mad at your neighbors who want a cannabis store in your town to reduce the mill rate on your property taxes (I actually know some of these people. They won’t spend another 100 bucks for better schools (math instruction perhaps?) if taxing marijuana will reduce their property taxes at no cost to them.
I am agreeing with you. But there are posters who are peeved at the “marijuana is safe” messaging-- and they have misdirected their anger.
When I was a late teen, I remember vividly seeing a teenager at the local Pizza shop my friend delivered for. This teenager routinely smoked marijuana and was “baked”. His brain was definitely “toasty”. He could not really communicate very clearly at all and was clearly adversely affected by his drug use. It was a glaring sign to me that too much marijuana can lead to an outcome I wanted nothing to do with.
Sorry, still confused. A lot of the time the media is reporting on longitudinal studies using teenagers (i.e. studies that are based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents.) I mean the media never gives as much detail as I would prefer, but when I click on media stories about youth and marijuana risks, the studies they report on are typically longitudinal studies done on youth. ETA: Maybe we are just in different media markets or consuming different media, but the reporting I’m running into is done reasonably well…
ETA again: When epidemiologists do a study and can’t find strong support for a marijuana gateway effect (or any other hypothesized harm of marijuana), it doesn’t mean they did bad science. Let’s not shoot the messenger, even when we personally feel sure that marijuana must be bad.
There was already a lot of marijuana use on campus in CO before recreation legalization. The legalized medical marijuana era seemed a farce. We heard about students at CU being approached to get a prescription - “you have a chronic snowboard shoulder injury, right? wink, wink”. And before that there was just a lot of illegal pot. Sad but true. The difference now I think in CO is that I notice more adults smoking it in parks etc. Before that it seemed mostly teens (and still teens now too - just have not noticed an uptick… perhaps they feel bolder to use it at home though.)
Well my “park” areas are on a 3.5 mile walking trail around the local lake (was not sure if the term ‘open space’ would be familiar to others). Lots of desolate stretches where marijuana or alcohol can be consumed without patrol detection. Not sure about the local rules.
NOTE: This thread is for discussion of teen issues. Apologies for the detour.
The kid of one our good friends really struggled with lockdown. Really depressed. But got waitlisted, and then admitted if he could do a late start at an Ivy. So self medicated for a gap year and then went psychotic when he got to school. His parents knew he smoked a little pot but had no idea how much/often/strong. Luckily the school handled it well, the Pysch facility was top notch, and he was able to return and do well in school. And although he initially resisted the explanation, his parents both have serious medical issues and they were eventually able to talk some science into him. He also started therapy, addressed some issues he was avoiding, and is much much happier right now.
Then again, I went to school in the 70s when it was legal nowhere and it was rampant then too on my campus. Probably the drug of choice – rather than alcohol.
It’s stronger now, and I do wonder how that plays into this.
Federal Scientists Recommend Easing Restrictions on Marijuana
In newly disclosed documents, federal researchers find that cannabis may have medical uses and is less likely to cause harm than drugs like heroin. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/health/marijuana-fda-dea.html
Unfortunately, I think the “federal scientists” have lost a lot of credibility. Further, I wonder how many of them hold investments in their recommendations?
I tried it in college and didn’t care for it. But if I had a choice between marijuana and an addictive pain killer, I would absolutely try marijuana first. I would like to see more research into medicinal use so that proper dosage could be developed.
But I am not a young person with a developing brain (quite the opposite, actually).
I read the article and do worry that it might encourage parents to be cool with marijuana… and there is definitely a concern on teen usage.
It was interesting that CO governor claimed that teen use has gone down since legalization - I have not yet seen any data cited on that topic.
I do like the idea of there being more quality control when legalized (and on the teen topic I’m guessing that legalization improves the odds of underage users getting predictable doses from older friends purchasing legally)
“When we look at the public health landscape and the effect of legislation, in this case legalization, one of the big benefits is taking cannabis out of the underground illegal market. Taking cannabis out of that particular space is a great idea. You’re taking it out of the illegal market and giving it to legitimate businesses where there is going to be oversight and testing of products, so you know what you’re getting. And these products undergo quality control and are labeled. Those labels so far are a bit variable, but at least we’re getting there. If you’re picking up cannabis at the street corner, you have no idea what’s in it.”
from - Risks and Benefits of Legalized Cannabis | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health