Fri May 17, 2013, 12:14 PM

Smoking Pot Offers Relief to the Lonely

Is there a rule that any study which finds cannabis beneficial has to conclude by telling people, "oh, but drugs are bad, m'kay?"

The four-part study included a total of 7,040 participants and three different methodologies. The researchers examined cross-sectional data from national surveys (including data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication), they interviewed high school students, and they conducted their very own experiment involving a computer-based game called Cyberball, which, by consistently ignoring players, causes them to feel socially excluded and rejected.

After considering the data, Deckman and his colleagues concluded that "marijuana use consistently buffered people from the negative consequences associated with loneliness and social exclusion," and that "[t]hese findings offer novel evidence supporting common overlap between social and physical pain processes."

"After considering the data, Deckman and his colleagues concluded that "marijuana use consistently buffered people from the negative consequences associated with loneliness and social exclusion," and that "[t]hese findings offer novel evidence supporting common overlap between social and physical pain processes." That said, the researchers said smoking pot is a "poor way of coping with social pain.""
http://io9.com/smoking-pot-offers-relief-to-the-lonely-508172790

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10 replies	Author	Time	Post
Smoking Pot Offers Relief to the Lonely (Original post)	unrepentant progress	May 2013	OP
I can vouch for this, and no, not being funny...	abq e streeter	May 2013	#1
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too	unrepentant progress	May 2013	#2
Same here	Warpy	May 2013	#5
"I'd rather live on cannabis"	unrepentant progress	May 2013	#7
Hello ~ unrepentant progress	In_The_Wind	May 2013	#3
That means it should be legal	Warpy	May 2013	#4
Yea. I really enjoy getting smoked once in a while.	leftyladyfrommo	May 2013	#10
Smoking Pot Offers Relief for lots of things.	bemildred	May 2013	#6
Ain't that the truth.	unrepentant progress	May 2013	#8
And taking prescription meds is a great way of coping with social pain?	Chemisse	May 2013	#9

Response to unrepentant progress (Original post)

Fri May 17, 2013, 12:19 PM

abq e streeter (7,658 posts)

1. I can vouch for this, and no, not being funny...

I have ,well, I'm not sure if it's clinically social anxiety disorder, but close enough to have the same extreme discomfort. A few tokes when i get home from the situation that caused the anxiety (sometimes so bad it includes hyperventilation to the point of causing chest pain, and therefore having to leave suddenly), and I get a mellowed out perspective on things and much of the anxiety, and lonely feelings, dissipates soon. And re: " poor way of coping with social pain"...all I gotta say is it beats the hell out of suffering from it.

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Response to abq e streeter (Reply #1)

Fri May 17, 2013, 12:32 PM

unrepentant progress (611 posts)

2. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too

And no, I wouldn't laugh at your story. I don't have an anxiety disorder, but I have chronic pain from an accident a decade ago that I'd much rather treat with cannabis than opioids. However, my insurance pays for the latter while I can get thrown in jail for the former. Shit's fucked up.

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Response to unrepentant progress (Reply #2)

Fri May 17, 2013, 04:50 PM

Warpy (99,886 posts)

5. Same here

I found that Ultram gives me the relief without fogging up what's left of my brains, so while I can tolerate it, that's what I live on.

Anything that gives you a narcotic buzz looks very different when you're old and you need it than it did when you were young and looking for a buzz.

I'd much rather live on cannabis.

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Response to Warpy (Reply #5)

Fri May 17, 2013, 11:20 PM

unrepentant progress (611 posts)

7. "I'd rather live on cannabis"

Exactly. Every now and then I quite like the pleasant warm blanket feel from hydrocodone, which is exceedingly rare these days, but yeah, generally I just want the pain to stop without becoming all ADHD. Oh, and I could do without the relentless moralizing and fear mongering about prescription drug addictions.

Cannabis would be so much easier, and I could grow it on my patio.

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Response to unrepentant progress (Original post)

Fri May 17, 2013, 12:39 PM

In_The_Wind (72,198 posts)

3. Hello ~ unrepentant progress

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Response to unrepentant progress (Original post)

Fri May 17, 2013, 04:46 PM

Warpy (99,886 posts)

4. That means it should be legal

since we're not a nation of 20 year olds in the middle of dating frenzy. Many of us are ill and pretty much shut in, although we can still manage to go out once in a while and buy our food.

Once you're over 50, you can pretty much hang up a social life unless it's with family. Once you're over 50, the world starts to shrink quite a bit. Throw in an illness, and you're a hermit like I am.

Consider the suicide figures, the alcoholism figures. Legal grass could lower those quite a bit and that's a very good thing.

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Response to Warpy (Reply #4)

Wed May 22, 2013, 11:31 AM

leftyladyfrommo (14,538 posts)

10. Yea. I really enjoy getting smoked once in a while.

Takes the edge off. And I am a life long anxiety sufferer. When I was younger it was social anxiety and some other stuff. Pretty much ruined my younger years. Now it is OCD in different forms.

Grass really helps.

I do have to say that prozac really helped, too, for the OCD. Mine got so bad I was afraid I would not be able to work anymore. Went on prozac for about a year and it pretty much just went away. And prozac is cheap.

Now, off the drug, I still have some OCD but it is very manageable.

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Response to unrepentant progress (Original post)

Fri May 17, 2013, 04:52 PM

bemildred (90,061 posts)

6. Smoking Pot Offers Relief for lots of things.

But it's cheap, free really, so we can't have it.

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Response to bemildred (Reply #6)

Fri May 17, 2013, 11:21 PM

unrepentant progress (611 posts)

8. Ain't that the truth.

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Response to unrepentant progress (Original post)

Sun May 19, 2013, 05:52 PM

Chemisse (29,705 posts)

9. And taking prescription meds is a great way of coping with social pain?

The disconnect from reality - even among scientists - thanks to marijuana's inclusion in the 'war on drugs' would be hysterical if it weren't so sad and so infuriating.

The criminalization of a fairly harmless and widely beneficial substance is the kind of social norm that people will look back on in 100 years and say, "you're kidding me, right?"

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