Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
Russ, you have always seemed like a reasonable person who understood the value of data. Properly conducted, peer reviewed, published studies preferably conducted in a double blind placebo controlled environment are critical for advancing medicine. Real life experience is the sales trick of hucksters and frauds. Testimonials for how much weight Susie lost, or that Ken was cured of his cancer by apricot pits... that's the opposite of science. It is harder for people to understand p-values than the appeal of "I have seen this TEN times" and all my patients got better with snake oil treatments. I support legalization, and not just for medical use but there is data of potential long term harm in very long term studies as cited above. Cannabis use before age 15 and subsequent ex... [Br J Psychiatry. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI There also are studies not finding long term harm. Here is a study attempting to provide an alternative explanation to the New Zealand data Correlations between cannabis use and IQ change in the Dunedin cohort are consistent with confounding from socioeconomic status This is not a problem with science, it is how science works. Once there is a preponderance then one can clearly state that the evidence supports an opinion. Three kinds of lies.. Bald face lies, little white lies, and personal experience. |
I am always swayed by a scientific argument. We also can say that Sanjay Gupta is not primarily a practicing physician but a TV personality and his "special" made him mega bucks.
Thank you Blueash. I love this forum.