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US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

(apnews.com)
662 points JacobHenner | 4 comments | 30 Apr 24 17:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.661s | source
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qwerty456127 ◴[01 May 24 01:52 UTC] No.40218673[source]▶
Great news. A very sound move. Indeed, marijuana is much less dangerous of a drug yet considerably harmful in cases of chronic use in unreasonably high doses therefore should be controlled some way. What seems problematic nowadays is teenagers smoking too much. Also the idea of stoned people driving cars sounds scary. To me it seems it should be as available and legal as alcohol and cigarettes are, no less, no more.

What I'm curious about is how marijuana availability links to consumption of other drugs including hard drugs, alcohol, tobacco, tranquilizers and antidepressants. I hypothesize it may decrease these.

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babyshake ◴[01 May 24 02:10 UTC] No.40218782[source]▶
"Also the idea of stoned people driving cars sounds scary. "

Depends how stoned, but people routinely drive while using medication that affects them far more than being a bit stoned.

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lambdaba ◴[01 May 24 03:38 UTC] No.40219252[source]▶
In response to uninformed sibling comments reflexively fearing cannabis use in drivers, see here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/

> Cannabis users perceive their driving under the influence as impaired and more cautious, and given a dose of 7 mg THC (about a third of a joint), drivers rated themselves as impaired even though their driving performance was not; in contrast, at a BAC 0.04% (slightly less than two “standard drinks” of a can of beer or small 5 oz. glass of wine; half the legal limit in most US states), driving performance was impaired even though drivers rated themselves as unimpaired.

> This awareness of impairment has behavioral consequences. Several reviews of driving and simulator studies have concluded that marijuana use by drivers is likely to result in decreased speed and fewer attempts to overtake, as well as increased “following distance”. The opposite is true of alcohol.

I'd be more weary of people under the influence of anger, benzos, or other psychiatric drugs.

In my experience, cannabis is a performance enhancer in these cases, increasing awareness rather than decreasing it. After all, it does improve ADHD symptoms.

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1. ineedaj0b ◴[01 May 24 05:35 UTC] No.40219841[source]▶
I find it far more likely it has not been studied to the degree alcohol has been, and as a larger sample of users is tested these results will change.

I’ve heard every drug under the sun affect adhd for people lately, so I don’t know if that’s a divining rod for truth.

Had a guy say Fentanyl really helped his adhd… hm okay. I think our definitions and condition criteria need to separate into more discerning terms for a lot of medical conditions

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2. lambdaba ◴[01 May 24 09:26 UTC] No.40221129[source]▶
Ethanol is a poison, what, outside of prejudice, would make you find it more likely it's simply a lack of studies? Maybe it simply hasn't reached me, but I never even heard about cannabis being chiefly blamed on a car accident, mind you, people can drive recklessly sober, but, again, if anything cannabis is going to make them be more cautious. For one, surely you have heard of the "paranoia" that cannabis users often get at higher doses, where they feel distant objects are closer than they really are.
3. joenot443 ◴[01 May 24 12:45 UTC] No.40222375[source]▶
After reading through that paper, it's pretty clear the authors were thorough in their research. They're referencing many of dozens of studies with many thousands of participants.

You mention that "results will change", but given that it's a lit review, I'm not sure which results you're talking about. I'm sure you read the contents of the link, so I'll ask directly - which study in particular did you find issue with? What do you think they did wrong?

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4. ineedaj0b ◴[10 May 24 18:49 UTC] No.40322516[source]▶
I am friends with a researcher at a drug and alcohol lab at a major state university. Obviously alcohol is bad but he's pretty clear: marijuana absolutely impairs. The functional difference is marijuana users will drive slower and be more cautious but they are still not 100%. He said if you gave drunk drivers more practice drunk driving they'd also improve! Not enough to make them safe however.

There's also the two different strains - they have an effect on why marijuana studies have conflicting results. The researchers source bad weed because the IRB has made it impossible.

I understand it all 'looks' solid but the sourced weed, the difficulty of finding quality participants before legalization, and the IRB has led to some interesting data. I think it will take more time, society is not there yet.

Alcohol studies get tons of funding, and have been studied for years and years. nearly 40ish? Weed didn't earnestly get looked at until the 2010s. Mushrooms have conflicting results according to him, and he's seen Kratom fail every study he's tried, and he tried a great deal to find some proof with that.