
Cannabis Smoking Associated with Higher Sperm Count, Study Finds - pseudolus
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-06/cannabis-smoking-associated-with-higher-sperm-count-study-finds
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TaylorAlexander
Just thought I would share that lately I vape marijuana via my PAX3 vape
roughly twice a day. I am going through a stressful period, and probably don’t
consume it as often normally. But once a day has been typical for me for the
past few years.

Something I have observed is that I used to drink alcohol daily. Now I don’t.
I’m not sure if it was personality changes or my brain just wanting something,
but either way the vape feels way healthier for my body than drinking. I can’t
believe I used to drink every day, alcohol is crazy bad for your body.

I think marijuana helps me cope a lot with life. When I don’t vape, stress
builds up in my life. I think I do have ways of processing stress without the
help of any substances, but I’ve found that even when I’m using much less,
some marijuana on the weekends helps me process my stress, chill out,
sometimes cry, and get past the hard parts of life.

For everyone out there that still believes the crazy stories about marijuana
that many of us (myself included) were told, don’t believe that stuff. Like
alcohol, marijuana offers the potential for abuse. But it’s not the devil
substance so much propaganda has taught us.

~~~
AnthonBerg
I came to similar conclusions, but then later realized that cannabis was
simply making me numb in certain ways. (Subtly dangerous ways, in my case at
least. My empathy became retarded.) Sedation and analgesia are incredibly
useful tools but ought to be treated with care. Most pain is there for a
reason and most of it can be altered, dissolved, or accepted.

~~~
angulardementia
I think this is a great observation and I'd like to add to it. I've used it
nightly for many years with some breaks of various lengths and am back on a
break from it. My mental acuity and ambition have shot back up after a week of
discontinued use. I'm a very nice person but it does affect your ability to be
empathetic which I'd call almost a creative process although we've been taught
or at least repeat that weed is supposed to help creativity. This may go hand
in hand with the mental acuity. Luckily I am aware of the importance of and
have the capability to stop when I endure a large life change and realize the
need to process these things in a sober way. However, once these fade I find
myself slipping down into the hole of "well it's ok to use on weekends" ->
"it's ok to use on week nights as long as I don't have anything important
going on" -> "I don't know how I'd fall asleep without it". So therein lies
the danger and as someone who is fairly young especially for the crowd here,
I'm actually quite frightened that this may hinder my ability to do fulfilling
and ambitious things in life.

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randie63
"... men with higher sperm concentrations are likely to have more testosterone
in their bodies and thus may be more likely to smoke marijuana because simply
they are willing to take more risks."

~~~
tinbad
Immediately followed by: “In conclusion, I am not convinced that this paper
moves us any further forward in this debate.”

~~~
rasengan
To be clear, the researchers feel that the results should be taken with
caution and the points mentioned in this comment thread are possible
hypothesis that are also scientifically untested and such opinions should be
interpreted with extreme caution.

The title of the article states the facts, and how the fact came to be has not
yet been tested.

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taf2
Did I read that right? Sperm counts increased by 420%?

~~~
morpheuskafka
They didn't _increase_ , they were _higher by_. Increase would imply
correlation, which would require a rigorous, controlled intervention al trial.

This study was simply a self-reported survey attempting to _correlate_ past
marijuana abuse with sperm counts, making it hard to control a number of
factors such as honesty of self-reporting, exact historical use patterns, and
representativity (the fact that 55% of respondents used an illegal drug when
no attempt was made to generate such a high figure, when only 9.4% of the
>12yo American population uses any illegal drugs, should be a warning that
there may be external correlating factors not controlled for) of the general
population. Most importantly, though, the study didn't actually measure the
marijuana used, because it's an observational study and it's just measuring
past use. You'd need to get the UMiss official research marijuana, and use a
fixed dosing protocol over the interventional group, to make a claim about how
much sperm counts increased as a result of marijuana use.

As the study notes, it's equally possible that high testosterone levels may
predispose one to marijuana abuse, or that there is no causal link at all.
Interesting and valid paper, but it does not justify any claims of A
increasing B.

~~~
meritt
> "marijuana abuse"

> "illegal drug"

Holy fucking bias.

1) There's nothing to support that the study participants were _abusing_
marijuana

2) Medical marijuana was legalized in California in 1996 and numerous other
states until recreational legalization began in 2012. This study was conducted
from 2000 - 2017 so it stands to reason that many of these users were
completely legal under their state jurisdiction at the time. Obviously it's
been illegal on a federal level the entire time.

3) The 55% is the percentage that had _ever_ used it. A study by the National
Institute of Health [1] conducted in 2017 found that 45.20% of the 12yr+
respondents said they had used it at least once in their lifetime (and 52.7%
of the 18-26 cohort).

I'm not even here to defend whether or not this study in particular is
rigorous or not, but you need to drop the 1971 War on Drugs propaganda.

[1] [https://www.drugabuse.gov/national-survey-drug-use-
health](https://www.drugabuse.gov/national-survey-drug-use-health)

~~~
toxik
This was likely in MA, not CA. It is marijuana abuse because it’s illegal to
use.

~~~
meritt
1) People can travel between states, or even to other countries, during a
lifetime.

2) MA legalized medical usage in 2013.

3) "Drug abuse" has nothing to do with the legality of the substance. It's
whether or not the substance impairs the individual and that it was used for
non-medicinal purposes.

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paleotrope
"On average the men were 36 years old, mostly white and college educated.

All of them belonged to couples seeking help with conception from a fertility
clinic."

*record scratch Wait wut?

~~~
flukus
You're confused why they're at a fertility clinic if they have a high sperm
count? Conception is a two player co-op game and you can't carry your partner.

~~~
carlmr
It's a weird selection of a focus group though. And nothing warrants this
headline (although it's par for the course in 2019).

~~~
midgetjones
Maybe that's just the only place they could get data

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sleepysysadmin
The previous studies are very likely biased studies created as an anti-
marijuana scheme but now that it's going legal real studies are being done and
discovering the fraud.

As science moves forward, we will continue to restudy and discover more and
more bad science.

~~~
cirgue
Alternate take: now that there's serious money to be made in the cannabis
industry, there will be more and more bad science about how there aren't risks
associated with its use, just as there has been with literally every other
recreational drug that is legal and many high-dollar pharmaceuticals.

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koolhead17
Reminds me of:

* Drinking coffee 3 times a day is good for heart.

* Smoking cigarette can help in weight loss.

* Eating caveman's diet in modern era will help in healthy life.

Who is sponsoring these research? Makers of these products?

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ilaksh
Did they properly control for age?

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hellofunk
Another study recently pointed to higher risks of poor health and chronic
illness in children fathered by heavy cannabis smokers, so YMMV.

~~~
sometimesijust
That would be consistent with highly fertile cannabis users having more
unwanted children than the less fertile non-using population. So YMMNV.

~~~
hellofunk
Not sure I follow, you mean cancer is a byproduct of being unwanted?

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jb17
Cannabis also seems to have some relation to Testicular cancer; e.g.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5812006/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5812006/)

~~~
angulardementia
That study shows it has no relation...

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dzhiurgis
My GF would complain a lot about me smoking and found study saying smoking
cannabis reduces speem count. In return I found study saying smoking pot
doesn’t impact conception rates.

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stunt
Once it is decriminalized, now it is time to market it. Soon when it is
legalized, they will start sponsoring Hollywood movies and fun begins.

