Pot Smoking Lowers IQ

[1-Old-Man]

tp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19372456


"Young people who smoke cannabis for years run the risk of a significant and irreversible reduction in their IQ, research suggests.

The findings come from a study of around 1,000 people in New Zealand.

An international team found those who started using cannabis below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing - suffered a drop in IQ."

Much more at link - read it and weep.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Bduh, hunh?

So howzkum da Reppuberkins dont wanna leeglize? It wudbe eezyer ta teech dere kids cretinism--I mean creatinism--an golbil warmin denyl an stuf lik dat if dey was hy alla tim an gittin brane dammij.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. ROLF!!

[marmar]

2. Reefer Madness Redux !!!!

nt

[Curtland1015]

3. I'm not anti-pot AT ALL, but if this is true, it's not shocking.

Too much of ANYTHING will end up being bad for you in some way or another.

Everything in moderation.

[Fumesucker]

7. Even moderation should be indulged only moderately..

Not to mention there's still an ongoing huge debate over what IQ might be and whether it even measures anything applicable in the real world.

[Curtland1015]

9. True.

We have to overindulge moderately.

[Voice for Peace]

24. "a bit of excess keeps moderation from becoming a dulling habit"

(maybe inexact quote, from I think somerset maugham)

[Fumesucker]

4. Fairly substantial discussion already ongoing on DU..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1216023

[monmouth]

5. Whoa man, that's ...... harsh..n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

6. Oh, for fuck sake:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021216311
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021212892

And apparently those who don't can't seem to be able to find the "Search" function.

[EOTE]

20. LOL. NT

[KurtNYC]

8. IQ drops with age -- it peaks at 2 years old regardless of pot smoking

How would a study like this explain the drop in IQ between ages 2 and 6 ? Too much Cheerios and apple juice?

[hifiguy]

10. I smoked a lot of pot between the ages of 16 and 20.

Still managed to graduate from university summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Reefer madness returns!

[Taverner]

22. yep

[RobinA]

32. Just Think

how smart you REALLY WERE before you dumbed yourself down for 4 years.

[hifiguy]

33. I smoked every weekend while I was in college

and grad school too. And I didn't even start college until I was in my mid 20s.

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. Same here, great grades.

Very little memory of attending those 4 years, tho....

[yawnmaster]

46. I believe this study was regarding much longer term use than than. eom

[porphyrian]

11. Anything that damages the brain during a body's developmental stage may do the same.

Excessive sneezing during childhood can probably be shown to lower IQ, if someone ever does the research. Note that they don't say the same about adult use. In fact, I believe a study done a while ago showed pot smoking increases IQ in middle aged men, if I remember correctly.

If we're going to wring our hands about drug use, let's look at meth and prescription drug abuse. Those are killing people. I don't think pot is entirely harmless or a miracle cure, but focusing on it instead of real problems like these make me question the motives (and funding) of those who make stories of single-study research. I don't mean you personally by this.

[tridim]

12. So wash down those painkillers with lots of beer kids!

But stay away from the devil's weed that eats your brain. It's the worst thing ever!!!111

All joking aside, I'm pro-cannabis, but I also don't like to see kids getting high every day. Teach moderation, and stop lying to the kids.

[BOG PERSON]

13. well then, i guess i'll stick to brain-boosting alcohol.

good old alcohol.

[BlueStreak]

14. Well that's just a bunch of ... I can't remember the word.

[Auggie]

15. "Runs the risk ..." Doesn't mean it happens to everyone.

As a teenager my brother-in-law smoked a ton of pot. Still a genius IQ.

[Ganja Ninja]

16. OK so now which is worse ...

Pot or FOX News?

[Remmah2]

17. National Reefer Association?

[Lionessa]

18. If true, then Repubs, particularly in TX, should welcome legalization with open arms.

Since it is one of their planks to keep the electorate stupid and stifled.

[Scout]

19. hmmm. maybe they already have a low IQ...

and that's what makes them think smoking pot while your brain is still growing and developing is ok.

perhaps the cause and effect are reversed.

most of the pot smokers i know didn't start until their early 20s ... haven't seen any IQ problems in my limited sample. the one i know who DID start in her teens, in high school, where she spent more time smoking pot in the desert with her friends, than she spent in school ... now she has some issues! i know, anecdotes aren't data.

[HopeHoops]

21. "I like eggs, Howard."

[99Forever]

23. BOO!

Not only will it lower your IQ...


... it'll turn ya into a homosexual, socialist!

Beware the Devil's Weed!

[Go Vols]

25. or this study that shows smoking makes you smarter

They found that the non-tokers IQ's stayed the same or went up slightly. The light tokers had an average IQ increase of five points, more than the non-tokers. The heavy users had suffered an IQ loss of about four points.

The study further found that after abstaining from weed for three months the differences between the three groups' IQ levels disappeared.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2488.html

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/166/7/887.full?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cannabis&searchid=1025853946146_44&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=cmaj

[librechik]

26. perhaps, altho I'd like to know if the subjects also used tobacco and alcohol during the test period

sure-- while using, short term memory suffers. But the damage isn't permanent, as it is with alcohol and tobacco use.

and besides, cannabis opens up the brain to other kinds of intelligence which can't necessarily be measured by typical IQ tests. There may be advantages to use that we are yet unaware of in addition to the medicinal properties. After all, the brain has cannabis specific receptors, almost as if evolution selected us to use cannabis. It's pretty interesting.

[EC]

27. This is the same as alcohol

any altering drug before the brain is fully developed does damage. This isn't new, it's been known for years.

[GeorgeGist]

28. Your headline is deliberately misleading ...

but good enough for low IQ thinkers.

[1-Old-Man]

29. Let me explain something about language to you: it may be misleading but its not deliberate

You see just about any statement may be misleading if it is incomplete or somehow purposefully saying one thing when another is true. But when you put the word "deliberately" in there it changed the focus from the article, which may or may not be misleading, and focused it on the author (me) and accused me of doing something, purposefully misleading the audience, that in fact I did not do. So what you did was take what might have been a valid attack on the article and turned it into a personal attack on me. That is how language works. It is the most important thing you can do in you life is pay attention to what you say and say what you mean while avoiding saying things that you don't mean. I doubt that you meant to attack me, but that is in fact exactly what you have done with the inclusion of that one simple word.

[Oilwellian]

34. I read the article, but...

didn't weep. I giggled like a loon.

[Ohio Joe]

31. Not misleading... Plain old bullshit - nt

[Jamaal510]

30. Meh...people who don't smoke weed aren't really missing out on much, anyway.

I still think it should've been decriminalized a long time ago, like alcohol and tobacco.

[SomethingFishy]

35. Read it and weep?

Only a fucking moron would believe that smoking pot while your brain was still developing doesn't have any affect. I didn't need a fucking study to tell me that.

The study also says that it does not affect people who start smoking at age 18. So.. assuming your comment about "read it and weep" is a hilarious statement about your thoughts on legalization or pot use I'd say the study says go ahead ans smoke up as long as you are of age. Read it and weep indeed.

[NotThisTime]

38. Why can't we agree that kids, even young adults risk full brain formation if they interupt the

synapses while they are still forming. Yes, I'm talking drugs, alcohol, tobacco. It's not good for KIDS. Since when the hell do we promote these things for KIDS?

[liberal_at_heart]

39. we're not promoting it

we're simply saying that we are not closing our eyes to it. Young people are going to listen to misogynistic music, smoke all kinds of things, drink, and have sex. It's called individuation. While kids are young they identify themselves by what their parents tell them to do. Eventually, they start thinking and making decisions for themselves. Most of them time when they are teenagers they do this by doing the exact opposite of what their parents tell them to do. The more we tell them not to do something the more they want to show their independence by doing it. We do have teach them about the dangers and let them know we care and that we're concerned, but the more dangerous we make it out to be the more they want to do it.

[NotThisTime]

43. I hear what you're saying but I see plenty of adults doing it with their kids, buying it for their

kids. My kid fell in with that crowd, his GPA is in the toilet, he failed his AP exam, he was SOL on his SAT's because he was stoned and he thinks in his universe he's getting into his top choice college and I should pay. Under the circumstance I'm not paying... and it all started with one mother and one kid who roped the lot of them in.... Parents and adults do promote it with their kids. It's one thing to be against criminalization for adults over the age of 21, it's quite another to just hand it over, and post after post I just see people glorifying it, I'm pretty fed up as a parent.....

[liberal_at_heart]

44. From one parent to another

I am sorry your kid is making it harder for himself to go to college. I have a seventeen year old who I happen to know is experimenting with some stuff I would much rather her not be experimenting with. I do worry about her being denied a spot in college, or being denied a job. I have talked to her, but quite frankly at this age they are going to do what they are going to do. This is the point in their lives when if they fall on their butt they have to figure out how to fix it for themselves. Your kid has made it more difficult for himself to get into college, but that doesn't mean he can't change that once he realizes he wants to change it for himself. You can't change it for him.

[NotThisTime]

45. Thanks liberal_at_heart, we know that as parents, but I wish that he hadn't had the easy access

through the other adults in his life at the age of 15. We hear the same argument, they're going to do it anyways, so we just do it together. Honestly it makes me sick, if your kid goes that route they go that route but you don't need adults, a 59 year old adult giving them full permission and use of anything. So when I hear "So What" to studies like this, I just wonder if people realize these are children's brains, not adults. As parents we have no right to make them do anything, from drug testing to counseling, nothing. We are just financially responsible until 18.... and we can't take away the bad choices, our son is going to have to make it on his own and prove that at some point he can be a good student and get good grades, until that time comes, college is off the table as far as us paying for it.

[riderinthestorm]

47. I completely agree with you NotThisTime. My 14 yr old was sucked in too

by an adult giving her drugs. We had a truly terrible year where she completely spiralled out of control - dealing, prostituting herself for drugs, sneaking out at night and catching rides into Chicago for adult coke parties and worse. The police caught her at a heroin party at IIT on the south side of Chicago and brought her home but warned they would arrest her next time. She entered a rehab facility the next day. I have never been so terrified.

She has a substance abuse problem. ANY drug is a problem for her. She's just lucky she didn't have time to try heroin there (or meth which the police also found at the party).

She's 15 now, 9 months clean and sober but I know from counseling that the younger they start, the easier it is for them to backslide. Furthermore, I know that some people just can't handle it, even pot.

We desperately need decriminalization for adults. But adults giving kids drugs should still be a criminal offense imho.



I hope your son can find his way and pull himself together.

[lunatica]

40. Yeah, but who cares dude...

[hobbit709]

41. Second one of these today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021216311
and still the same old.

[DeSwiss]

42. Next week's article:

[font size=2]''Scientists Say Marijuana Increases IQ In Everyone But New Zealanders''[/font]

- Seriously, no should take anything that's reported today at face value. What one must always do first is to look at who ''owns'' the reporters.....

"Just look at us, everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroys information and religions destroy spirituality."

~Michael Ellner

[Motown_Johnny]

48. Agreeing to participate in case studies lowers IQ.

Young people who agree to participate in case studies for years run the risk of a significant and irreversible reduction in their IQ, research suggests.