News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Smoking around the world by dfee on Thursday August 09, 2018 @10:06PM (#17730171)
Over the weekend a friend of mine pointed out that while nicotine use has dropped, cannabis use has heavily increased. As if, the rise on tobacco prices has driven folks to alternative drugs.

I wonder (and if someone on HN knows how, please share) if you were to track use and abuse of pills, stimulants (including things like 5 hour energy), cannabis and other forms of what’s becoming not-so-recreational drug usage — what would we find?

Re:Smoking around the world by shpx on Friday August 10, 2018 @12:32AM (#17730692)
Re:Smoking around the world by nkozyra on Thursday August 09, 2018 @11:39PM (#17730527)
Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs.

My takeaway is American drug usage has been shaped by a lot of socio economic factors that do not have human or societal health ramifications. There needs to be a total, science-backed overhaul of drug policy for this reason.

Re:Smoking around the world by dfee on Friday August 10, 2018 @12:44AM (#17730735)
> Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs.

I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group.

https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/

And that’s by frequency.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodi...

That’s by potency.

Sure. Don’t get me wrong. Nicotine is bad for you, so is Alcohol, but it doesn’t make you do this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack

Re:Smoking around the world by toomanybeersies on Friday August 10, 2018 @01:15AM (#17730861)
I'm not going to trust an article that says that using ketamine gives you HIV.
Re:Smoking around the world by dfee on Friday August 10, 2018 @02:12AM (#17731089)
You probably shouldn't trust any information thrown at you without critical thinking (including the first three articles that came across my Google search).
Re:Smoking around the world by nkozyra on Friday August 10, 2018 @06:07AM (#17731988)
> I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group.

Your article supports my premise.

If you need me to post people doing horrible things while drunk or tobacco related death statistics I'm happy to do so as a counterargument.

Re:Smoking around the world by InclinedPlane on Thursday August 09, 2018 @10:39PM (#17730290)
I'd like to see the statistics on that. Marijuana used to be illegal, so a lot of use was hidden.

Also, 5 hour energy is just caffeine and I highly doubt that caffeine usage in the US has changed significantly (from ubiquitous) over the past few decades.