I’ve heard countless times that “Cannabis doesn’t really get me high anymore. I just use it to feel normal.” For years, I thought the answer was straightforward: tolerance to the drug. That’s also true—but it is an incomplete answer.
A fascinating new study by Katharina Lege and colleagues at Maastricht University will be published on July 15th. It suggests something else may be happening. Tolerance does not mean the brain has recovered. It means the brain has adapted to cannabis.
This is an interesting study, and I wonder how this relates to a recent study on children with autism having lower anandamide levels.
I have struggled alone, for many years, with the hurdles of Autism yet my appeal to cannabis in the initial years was to have a feeling of normality - right from the start I didn’t really feel ‘high’ in the same way others describe, and I wonder if this was an effect of my endocannabinoid levels being ‘topped up’ by the THC I introduced.
I have gone without cannabis for long enough to go back to baseline, as the article suggests, however after a certain point all of my autistic hurdles come back and I find myself with more issues in regards to various aspects of daily life, from conversation to even concentration.
However when a considerable amount is provided, I get the high and stone I do enjoy.
I hope this study encourages further research into how cannabis affects us as adults.
Thanks for the insight, I didn’t know about the anandamide level thing before.
Do you still use it regularly, and is it more of a crutch or more of a medication for you?
I use it daily, however it prevents my mind from tripping over itself. Accomplished a good amount on cannabis, academically as well (History in uni here in London, also volunteered for the Imperial War Museum during my time there whilst juggling everything else). All whilst consuming cannabis daily.
I will admit it’s difficult to find people to hang with, during what is my casual use during the day. Not many people are keen to discuss Nietzsche or play chess whilst they consume, unfortunately.
I admire Amsterdam though. Some coffeeshops have chess and other board games, and there are a good few people like me - though in my experience it’s a low percentage overall.
It affects short time memory. I never knew that. Unknown to many people (me included) it leads to short term memeory loss. I bet most of you guys never knew this fun fact: daily use of marihuana leads to short term memory loss.
I didn’t know that. Did you know though that marijuana leads to short term memory loss?
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It lead to some kind of memory loss, did you not know ? My tough I got ADHD because cannabis, when we got diagnostic for ADHD she did too. She never smoked but I keep telling here her ADHD come from cannabis consumption tp teasing her for the link she made between ADHD and cannabis during my teens time. She will never live this out XD.
I have ADHD, otherwise known as “the thing that causes you to have bad short-term memory since the day you were born”.
I didn’t touch marijuana until I was in my 30s, and I didn’t drink or use ANY kind of intoxicant until I was in my 30s, either. I was never a big drinker.
But because I have ADHD, my attention bounces all over the place, and it gives me a massive amount of anxiety. After trying marijuana, I found that it actually helps me calm down and helps me focus on individual things much better, and makes my life significantly more enjoyable.
I am involved in online communities for people with ADHD, and I am also autistic, and within the communities, it’s known that marijuana seems to have a lot of really positive effects for people within these two groups.
Along with the benefits I mentioned for ADHD, for autistic people, marijuana can drastically reduce social anxiety, and here’s a really big one: MARIJUANA CAN ACTUALLY HELP ME UNDERSTAND NEUROTYPICAL PEOPLE’S SOCIAL INTERACTIONS. So a few times a week, in the evening, a few hours before bed, I eat an edible, and for the next several hours, just thinking about my life, I start to have huge realizations about why other people behaved how they behaved, and how they perceived me. And I write this stuff down, in ways that I can understand, and I read it back when I’m stone-cold sober, and I understand it well. I can’t explain the full extent of how much this improves my ability to function, and how much it improves my quality of life.
I have a really big fear that research like this will notice a correlation between marijuana users and having reduced attention spans, and that they will come to the mistaken conclusion that it’s the marijuana use that actually causes the reduced attention span, instead of the reverse. In fact, I have observed this for myself and for others, that it is actually the condition that causes the reduced attention span that causes the attraction to marijuana. The cause and effect are the opposite of what everyone else assumes.
I’m undiagnosed spectrumy and used Cannabis in my youth, then stopped for 20 years, and now I’m using it again. Does it change the decisions I take? Absolutely. It does not always coincide with what society thinks is good for me, but really works for how I function. It’s for this and the adaptations I made for myself that I went from being a nervous alienated wreck after optimizing my sober self into total burnout to someone much more grounded and happy.
How does the brain adapt to living without it? Very easily. As a heavy user, it takes about 48 hours to get through the “withdrawal symptoms” of being less hungry after stopping. Then it’s fine. Completely unlike opioids, which there is almost no way to change your brain back after you get addicted to those. It’s crazy they would even compare these two substances. And what about antidepressants? Those change your brain in crazy lasting ways that doctors don’t even fully understand, and you certainly can’t quit those cold turkey.
I (and many many others, take a look at /r/leaves for more examples) had a significantly harder time stopping, and my withdrawal symptoms lasted for weeks. Don’t downplay it just because you didn’t notice it yourself.
Is 48 hours the longest you’ve ever gone? Because i can tell you it can take years to get over the cravings.
I wish cannabis withdrawal was that easy for me. I had to get through 2-3 weeks of intense nausea, anxiety, and insomnia when I stopped using it. I’m sure having a massive tolerance didn’t help me though…
I got a week of absolutely awful sleep and wasn’t even that heavy of a user.
This reads like the author got high and tried explaining ‘psychological dependency.’
tolerance doesnt mean the brain has recovered
who ever even suggested that was the case?
This article doesn’t do much more than argue about the meaning of words. So call it adaptation instead of tolerance, now what?
the same thing? adapting to it doesnt mean youve recovered?
When I used cannabis, I was a daily user. There was def a period of reduced cognitive ability, in some ways, while increased in others. Eventually I would adjust and I would get back much of what was lost, but I would also lose the gains.
Idk I kinda hope I’m done with it but every once in a while
I think you’d be okay if you hold off using pot until your twenties and give your brain chemistry a chance to develop naturally.
Study not published yet, no specifics on methodology in the article, worthless
The study is being published in three days and the article has eighteen references. That’s far from worthless.
The references are worthless, the future does not exist
