I smoke heavily for 10 years and if I could say something about the cognitive changes, it was for better. I learnt two foreign languages, more programming languages that I can count with one hand and got out of depression by means of self-awareness and meditation after a joint. Weed+Youtube surely is harmful, but so it is only Youtube (with less fun).
You didn't say anything about your age, which would be important given that the article is about the developing brain. It's already pretty understood that the negative impact is significantly less in the adult brain.
The majority of people I went to HS with that were potheads are in exactly the types of jobs and whatnot that the Surgeon General suggests is most likely. Of course there are a lot of outliers. Nobody said this was 100%. The musicians are still pumping out great music. The artists are still doing artistic things.
I'm 38 and started smoking daily when I was 13. There's been some periods of break in my life, but mostly I've been a daily smoker for 25 years.
I'm the lead developer at my company, who I've been with for 10 years. In my late teenage years I ran my small own software company for a couple years and then a small custom pc builder company for a couple years. I've done manual labor at times. I built furniture for a while.
I'm a bit of a homebody, and feel lazy at times, but thinking also of the list of personal hobbies and projects I've done in the last 20 years, I can't really say I'm very lazy at all.
I'm also an active father, and polyamorous and in two long-term relationships.
Fair enough. I started at age of 22 and I'm currently 32. Lots of friends started when they were teenagers and most of them have some issues that can be related to that phase. But also a lot of friends that didn't smoke but watched the same amount of TV have issues that are related to laziness, lack of focus, depression, ADHD, Game addiction.
That doesn't apply in this case, because the causation is well documented. The developing brain can suffer various types of delays when thc or just about any other intoxicant is distracting said developing brain's ability to actually develop.
Problems occur when the brain is too preoccupied in La La Land to develop optimally for the real world. There's a huge difference between the "thinker" and the "space cadet" when it comes to how one's brain handles thc in their youth.
Space cadets tend to stay space cadets. Thinkers tend to stay thinkers. The space cadet is who the Surgeon General is concerned about, because thc pretty much obliterates their chances of getting out of La La Land mentality.
Nobody says pot stops the brain from developing. You're going to get a notable Bell Curve. Some potheads go total 70's/80's movie revival mode. Others become Carl Sagan. Almost everyone around these people can identify which one is the Carl Sagan and which is the Tommy Chong (character) pretty early on. That's half of the pot humour in those movies, so it's not like only non-users notice this.
Funny point: I do think that we have a better ratio of Carl Sagans/Tommy Chong in the universe of pot smokers than in the non-smokers universe. Maybe the tommy chongs that don't smoke are a little bit smarter, but they probably are more sad/depressed.
That's actually why I suggested Tommy Chong's character. In real life, he's a smart guy - which you can tell when he's interviewing, versus when he is in character.
He definitely understands the dichotomy, and as an ironic twist, has become one of the most successful professional potheads in the world. He's a thinker who is very good at emulating the opposite side of the Bell Curve.
I accomplished a lot of things before smoking, so at least I kept the rate, but by comparison, I improved, both in results and especially caring less about money and stuff. Not coincidentally, today I save 80% of what I make monthly.
Also, important to note that I started smoke weed after I got financially broke because of a failed startup. That was also when I got depressed, and against all odds and people's opinion, weed helped me get back on track. Every person has a personal experience, but I can tell to the people that ask me at least one great experience about starting smoking weed.
<Throwaway because co-workers are stalking me on hackernews and marijuana is still taboo over here, although legal>.
Sorry for the long post, I feel I need to say this.
I smoked daily and multiple times a day starting at 28 and until 33. During this time, I switched jobs twice for higher pay, learned a lot and I was very uninhibited to the extent that I grew my social life tremendously.
One of my favorite things to do was to get high and solve leetcode problems. I could do it for hours. I will never forget the stuff I learned while high, I was focused to the extent that I feel those things etched into my brain (I'm talking algorithms, competitive programming tricks, etc..). I rarely played games or wasted time when I wanted to relax, I mostly read books (about mind bending stuff) or listened to good music while drawing.
I was super productive at work also. I never smoked at work but the 9-10 hours of sobriety during the work-day were laser focused.
But all my intellectual ventures have been at the expense of my lifting hobby so I stopped going to the gym for 5 years.
But at one point, it all took a turn for the worse. I started getting panic attacks and some severe anxiety. My heart rate used to go over the roof and one day I realized that I was burning out at work, marijuana wasn't making me feel better anymore, I was just smoking to get to the baseline of 'meh'. So 5 years later, I realize that:
a) I don't have too many memories since I started smoking pot.
b) I'm morbidly obese and my resting heart rate is dangerously high.
c) I'm burned out at work.
d) I'm an addict.
And I stopped. After stopping, I went through the worst 3-4 months of my life. Severe panic attacks that I was prescribed medication by a doctor. Depression, insomnia, irritability and the scariest IMO, depersonalization... Marijuana withdrawal is real. Not as 'real'/dangerous as opiates or alcohol but there is no mention whatsoever in the pop culture about it. If I knew how it would have been, I would never have smoked daily. It took me about 6 months of existential crises and bouts of deep depression to be decently productive again, to be able to feel 'normal' and to feel that I got my cognitive function back on track.
I haven't touched it for about 2 years now and I don't believe I ever will. I learned a lot about myself, most important thing being that I'm vulnerable to addictions.
I am one of the most liberal (in the European sense) person you'd meet. I would legalize all drugs, everything. And I am happy that marijuana is legal. Because now, perhaps the medical profession will take a closer look at it and people will be more informed (at least more informed than I was).
