Last year, more middle-aged adults were binge drinking, using marijuana or consuming hallucinogens than ever before, according to a new report. Cannabis use surged among young adults under 30, alongside historic rates of vaping, as well.

  • SpezCanLigmaBalls@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Is anyone really surprised cannabis use surged? Like with legalization you would think it would have that cause and effect.

    Im glad psychedelic use surged. Makes you see reality differently and can be amazing for mental health issues which needs to be utilized. Fuck the war on drugs

    Alcohol can go away though but it’s hard when there is quite literally no future to be seen

    • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      If I recall the research, increases are pretty slight from legalization.

      COVID and the largest disruption to social and economic conditions in human history is the alpha and omega for pretty much anything that significantly changed in the last three years.

      • JoYo 🇺🇸@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        it’s kinda hard to give a fuck about public health regarding cannabis when watching the complete apathy for COVID precautions.

        oh, cannabis makes some people think slower? you sure that wasn’t brain damage from a deadly virus?

      • SpezCanLigmaBalls@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I’d be curious on this research. I could be completely wrong but I feel like with legalization and having the conveniency of dispensaries it would mean more frequent use and even new use. Do you know if this research was for why they used and not if they would of used it wasn’t legal and didn’t have dispensaries?

        • oʍʇǝuoǝnu@lemmy.ca
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          2 years ago

          From my understanding, at least in Canada, we’ve an increase in older people using and a decrease in younger people trying.

          Essentially older people who may have used back in the day generally gave it up when they had kids and lost their plug. Now that it’s legal and available they are going back to it since its easier to get now then having to know some guy and go through that whole rigmarole. As for the younger crowd, dealers aren’t as common since most people just buy it from the store, or grow their own and they have other avenues to form addictions, like social media.

        • I’m finding conflicting research now that I’m looking again. In Colorado for example use definitely went up after legalization but not by a significant amount more than it was already going up, year over year. Youth usage went down.

        • iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee
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          2 years ago

          Maybe for new people that didn’t use it because it was illegal.

          Before it was legal I would buy as much as I could because I hated meeting dealers. Now that I can go to a shop I don’t really mind going a few days without.

          I tend to smoke more when I have a lot vs just having an eighth from the dispo that I’ll just stretch because I know I can just go get more any time with ease.

          Also ime with new users where I live. People love the 5mg gummies. That’s not what we used to do with edibles before legalization. I don’t think a lot of new users are getting baked like snoop, unless maybe they are a part of party culture.

          Also it seems younger people consider always-stoned-stoners junkies. It’s not a cool look anymore it’s just pretty pathetic and sad.

          • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Ditto. The first 3 paragraphs. Ditto. I smoke less because I can pick up whenever. I ran out 2 weeks ago and will pick up next time I’m in the city and in the area. I could go to the city now but I’m too lazy.

    • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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      2 years ago

      Im glad psychedelic use surged. Makes you see reality differently and can be amazing for mental health issues which needs to be utilized. Fuck the war on drugs

      I would still be on SSRIs if it wasn’t for my magic mushies, and they’ve done better than SSRIs ever did.

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I’ve started growing some for this exact purpose. How do you dose and what form do you take them?

      • iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        I want to use mushrooms again but I went on SSRIs. They changed my life for the better and without them I probably wouldn’t have tried an SSRI. Mushrooms seem better. I only did low doses but went through about an oz of shrooms over the time I used them.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Alcohol will remain my favorite drug until they come out with drugs that are more fun than alcohol.

        I’ve done just about everything but heroin, and whole heroin does seem really fun, the externalities are too big to ignore.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      Several cities (including my own) and Oregon have decriminalized hallucinogenic mushrooms so it is not a huge surprise that rates increased.

    • MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com
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      2 years ago

      Just like how the people in the US are surprised how many people are willing to say “I’m queer” now that queer people have a voice.

    • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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      2 years ago

      I mean I agree the war on drugs and the way it’s policed is not the right call. But after looking at what’s happening in Oregon. Not sure I’m totally for just straight up legalize all the things. OD rates are up, and apparently it’s quite common for folks to be nodding off all over the place. It’s not the psechedelics like marijuana and lsd, it’s the synthetic opioids and harder drugs like heroin doing real damage.

      https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/07/oregon-drug-decriminalization-results-overdoses/674733/

      • SpezCanLigmaBalls@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Does anyone have a way to read the article without an account?

        Oregon was setup to fail with it. The US is setup to fail right now. We can’t even agree that addiction is a mental health issue and should be addressed with therapy vs jail. Fentanyl will never be solved, let’s be real. Feds help bring it in.

        Now if you set up clinics for people to do drugs safely AND gave them access to clean drugs it’s a completely different story.

        It’s also not like that is unique to Oregon. Go to Seattle and you’ll see tons of people nodding and OD rates are higher everywhere