I know this post belongs in other threads because it has ties with chemistry and molecular biology, but I'm not looking for the nitty-gritty and boring details of a scientific argument. Although it may be stupid, I have smoked :m: for nearly 1.5 years. I have steered clear of pills, alcohol, cigarettes and hard drugs. I started when I was 20, and now I am about 3 months away from turning 22. According to this BBC news article, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7945569.stm , it states that the peak brain functionality is at the ripe age of 22. After reading the article, I feel like my high times are about to end because I honestly would prefer to be a genius over being a forgetful pothead (even though I am not a "pothead"). The question I am posing for all of you is, does marijuana really deplete memory or is it just the simple fact that memory is a working process of the principle of allocation (i.e. we forget information we do not regularly use and remember important information)? Additionally, does marijuana also sabotage mnemonic memories?
Marijuana wears off and leaves not lasting physical effect ... I hope Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. No really, I know someone who smoked for a few years and then due to job and marriage cut it out. Ten years later that guy was termed a genius by testing in the executive head hunter scene. I don't know if he was when he smoked but at least the smoking didn't hurt his intelligence years later. He said he didn't really get ripped very often but regularly was high, listened to music and cogitated.
Interestin questons... but If it turns out that :m: does not harm menory in any way... do you then plan to work toward becomin a "pothead".???
Marijuana only effects your memory while you are high. Im a regular smoker and I never had any problems with memorizing stuff. In fact I would do alot of my math-based homework while high. If something is important to me I have no problem remembering it no matter my current state. But Im not all people, if you think its affecting you quit for a week and you will be back to normal.
Its not my intentions to become a pothead. I like to think of :m: as being in the same category as one of my favorite foods (i.e. pizza). It would make me sick if I ate pizza everyday, and the same goes for :m:. Reaching the supersaturated point of "pothead" would only wear me down and absorb a whole lot of my energy. Well, my goal is not to memorize; I am trying to learn. Learning and memorizing (artificially learning) are two different things. Quite possibly I am just misinterpreting what others are saying (its not like they're presenting me peer-reviewed articles that present valid information or anything), and am believing it can affect my memory (i.e. mind over matter, or something like that). I guess what I should ask is how does marijuana affect learning? Does it affect your learning capabilities?
Who's not going to be a pothead once :m: is legalized? Maybe the peer pressure to be clean will be the next big thing among society and then I can feel like a straight-edge advocate (i.e. anti-drug association). Well, seriously, I stopped associating with people that do drugs because I am the only one that cares about education and doesn't party very much. Who the hell would not choose pearls over swine (e.g. I left people hanging by ignoring them because I don't support their drug habits and chose breathing air over carcinogens)?
If you are seriously after this, I would recommend you another BBC source: It's a documentary about cannabis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlktRVp-LME I believe it will answer many of your quests. In this particular video, they scan human brain in order to see the effects of cannabis. The result: We are fundementally wired for it. It does definetely affect memory in particular and mental universe in general; but towards which direction (good, bad or ugly) is not obvious.
I believe THC effects short-term memory while you are a smoker, but the effects are not permanent and will wear off if someone quits for a decent amount of time. I've known several people in my life who had absoloutely no short-term memory because of pot. This one guy I was friends with couldn't even order from a menu without reading it to the waiter/ess because he would forget what he wanted to order the minute he put the menu down. Another girl I was friends with lost EVERYTHING; car keys, wallet, make-up, cell-phone even her POT...half my time with her was simply spent looking for her stuff. I finally just started carrying it for her or noting when she set something down, that way I could tell her where her stuff was when she forgot.
I think the inevitable is unavoidable. As a person ages he or she will experience the effects of a less efficient memory. Pot has short term effects on one’s memory but nothing compares with the aging process.
In complete honesty, I can tell you how it has benefitted me before. Used to, I would smoke on a weekly basis (usually on a friday night). As dumb as it sounds, I had something to look forward to at the end of the week and therefore was driven to work and study difficult subjects and make it all worth it (because I never party, drink alcohol, or do any other drugs). It makes me less tense and nervous about studying difficult subjects, too. I notice more miniscule (yet, very important) details and I can brainstorm a hell of a lot better after I have smoked. Its basically a project staple, like adderall is for those who like to pull all nighters (except its not as unhealthy as popping a pill).
"used to"... so in what way has that "weekly-basis" changed.??? Not dum at all... that type of drive in antisipaton of reward is very common to humans... so is the rationalizaton of our behaviors.!!! I didnt know about those benifits... so how much mor advanced do you thank you woud be in you'r studies if you had started smokin pot on a weekly basis durin high-school.???
So I guess you did not read how I emphasized I do not have hook-ups anymore. I moved away, you see, and left all of the friends that used to smoke with back home. Well I follow good examples (i.e. physicist, Richard Feynman, or astronomer, Carl Sagan). Who knows, man? Not me. If I had started smoking when I was younger, then I could have already discovered some scientific wonder that is publishable in textbooks. If you like being nosey and probing me with questions, hopefully you won't mind me asking this: How long have you been smoking weed and what do you do for a living now (aka niche)? Also, what kind of weed is the best you have ever smoked/eaten/brewed?
So do you have a plan an/or desire to get bak on the weed.??? Oops... i guess that answrd my queston.!!! Woud you esplane the benifits of :m: to a younger brother or sister an encourage them to start usinin it in high-school.??? O no i dont mind such questons at all... ive never smoked weed an my curent positon is manager of a traler cort which includes such duties as averagin about 2 houres a day mowin an weed-eatin grass... plus i do som accountin an taxes work an other paper work an cook supper for my bosses an wife.!!!
My best friend, we met twenty years ago at a Grateful Dead show. He still remembers what I was wearing, what we had for lunch, and some of the things I said verbatim. As others have said, evidence indicates that getting high inhibits the formation of short-term memory (IMO mostly due to testees being distracted by the buzz)... but overall it really doesn't do much. Carl Sagan turns out to have been a daily smoker, and he managed pretty well. Not representative of the lot of smokers, just a counter-example of the "stupid stoner" popular image.
I... uhm... thank you for the welcome! Of course, being a pillar of my local community and a law-abiding citizen of upright moral standing, I don't use the foul weed that wastes minds.every chance I get
An wit that in mind... an the "fact" that :m: seems to do little harm... woud you recomend its use to college high school or grade school kids.???
