Yahoo Answers, that bloated holdout from the days of Web 1.0, is a place where people pose questions to a “community” and hope to get useful answers in return. But those useful answers appear so infrequently that the site has mostly become a misspelled punchline to a joke no one wants to hear. One user even took to the site to ask why so many of its questions and answers are so uniquely fruitless. The top-voted answer? “Too many crap questions that attract crap answers.”
Unless you want to talk about drugs.
Detox.net, a site that connects alcohol and drug users with treatment options for getting clean, pored over a number of drug-related queries to see how accurate the answers are. You might be surprised to hear that some of the top answers are pretty solid.
Detox.net
Cocaine! How long does it stay in your system before you can pass a drug test? The top Yahoo Answer says 72 hours tops. Detox.net says, “All research points to cocaine staying in the blood for 48 hours. So yes, 72 hours is a truthful answer for blood specifically. While cocaine metabolites may be present in the body and urine for up to four days, a hair test may reveal cocaine use for up to 90 days after use.” Well done, Yahoo Answers.
A much more popular question asks how long marijuana stays in your system, and the top-rated answer on Yahoo says a week. Detox.net appraises this as half-true, because it really depends on your habits. Heavy marijuana users who smoke every day are changing the way they store THC in their bodies, and it can take a month or longer for your system to eliminate all traces of the drug. For the super-casual once-in-a-while user, a week is fairly accurate.
Detox.net
But it’s not all about how to game a drug test. For example, one user asks, “What is the difference between methamphetamine and crystal meth?” The top answer:
“Methamphetamine is the name of the chemical n-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-2-amine. When it is in crystalline smokeable form, the crystal looking rock, its synonyms include ‘crystal meth,’ ‘rock,’ ‘ice,’ ‘meth,’ etc.”
Survey says: true.
“We would strongly advise turning to a professional for help before seeking help from an Internet community.”
“The best answers tended to be legitimately helpful, sometimes encouraging drug users to seek help with their addictions or encouraging people to stay away from potentially harmful substances,” writes Detox.net. They put a nice cap on things, stating the obvious in a friendly manner: “If you or a loved one are seeking answers for drug-related questions or need help with treating an addiction, we would strongly advise turning to a professional for help before seeking help from an Internet community.” But you already knew that.
You can check out the rest of Detox.net’s findings here.
Photo via sandovaldaniel/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)