Cannabis smoking 'permanently lowers IQ'

The Telegraph ^ | 8:00PM BST 27 Jul 2012 | By Stephen Adams, Medical Correspondent

[DannyTN]

Teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are putting themselves at risk of permanently damaging their intelligence, according to a landmark study.

[Vasilli22]

The Dude abides.

[Andrei Bulba]

No not everyone turned out ok.

[philman_36]

I was trying to make a point. Obviously it didn't go over well.
My apologies.

[jmacusa]

And while we’re at it, lets have the cops stop us randomly to see if our underwear is clean and oh yeah, and have them ask us “Do you own a gun?’’ too. Yup, let’s have that kind of a country.

[Ken H]

Here's what the people in charge of the drug war say:

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) among Adults

-snip-

Although SMI is somewhat correlated at the individual level with past month use of an illicit drug, the correlation at the State level among persons aged 18 or older was fairly low (0.08). The correlation at the State level between SMI and past month use of cigarettes was slightly higher (0.36).

This finding is consistent with literature that shows a high correlation at the individual level between smoking cigarettes and SMI (Arday et al., 1995; Kessler et al., 2003; Romans, McNoe, Herbison, Walton, & Mullen, 1993; Woolf, Rothemich, Johnson, & Marsland, 1999).

The State-level correlations between SMI and dependence on or abuse of drugs or need for treatment were generally quite low. The correlation at the State level between SMI and the 2000 per capita income was negative and quite high (-0.51); the lower the income, the higher the percentage with SMI.

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k2State/html/ch6.htm

[Liberty Valance]

oh s*** -

[1FreeAmerican]

LOL!!! Uh... what were we talking about?

[SuziQ]

My sister is a former cop, now running an alternative drug sentencing program, so she’s been dealing with folks on drugs for over 30 years. She’s always said she can fairly pinpoint the age at which someone started smoking dope by the way they act; their ‘emotional’ age, I guess.

[philman_36]

So how long have you been using?

I see you're into insinuations as well.
First I'm a drunk, now I'm a pot head.

One more and I'll have a trifecta.

[Jemian]

No worries. I’m tired. I miss a lot of inferences when I’m tired.

Your apologies, although unnecessary, are accepted.

[Ken H]

Now look at what fedgov says about the state level data:

____________________________________________________________

Figure 6.1 is a U.S. map showing percentages reporting past year serious mental illness among persons aged 18 or older, by State, for 2001.

States in the highest group (9.80 to 11.35 percent) were Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia.

States in the next highest group (9.11 to 9.79 percent) were Alaska, District of Columbia, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

States in the mid group (8.51 to 9.10 percent) were Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont.

States in the next lowest group (7.86 to 8.50 percent) were Arizona, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

States in the lowest group (6.48 to 7.85 percent) were California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k2State/html/fig6-1alt.htm

[Liberty Valance]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAMVyBCHvU4&feature=player_embedded
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood - Them Changes

[spodefly]

Well, I ... What were we talking about?

[catfish1957]

Got to hand to the Dazed and Confused movie. They did a pretty good job. To me watching it was like hitting a time warp to 1976. Even down to the mannerisms and behaviors.

[driftless2]

"as proven by DU"

I've felt for a long time that heavy use of dope lowers IQ. And I've pointed to the higher use and lower IQs of liberals as proof. I first began wondering about the ill effects of marijuana during the seventies. That's when I started noticing the decrease in quality of the music by many of the great musicians of the sixties...especially The Beatles and Bob Dylan. When the sixties ended, all of a sudden their music turned to crap. With Dylan actually before the decade ended. Like many sixties musicians, they'd been or still were heavy dopers. Brian Wilson is an example of one sixties icon who almost totally lost his mental functions due to heavy drug use. And furthermore, many of the biggest libs I know from family, work, or friends were heavy dopers. It's incontrovertible: heavy dope use leads to liberalism and loss of creativity.

[driftless2]

"before I became a Democrat"

Some of the strongest libs and most prone to believe in wacky conspiracies concerning conservatives i.e Truthers were co-workers who admitted to heavy mj use when they were younger.

[Dead Corpse]

Any activity that reduces oxygen to the brain during the formative years can lead to problems.

This goes for tobacco, alcohol, the "choking game", free diving, holding your breath during a temper tantrum, etc....

Ban children. They are obviously the problem...

[driftless2]

But they just did a scientific study. They’ve done others showing harmful effects of heavy mj used...which are always rejected out of hand by dope defenders who do not want to believe them. This latest study is not saying everyone who smokes dope heavily will be stupid. It says it can lower your IQ. Which means someone with an IQ over 120 (necessary to be a doctor, lawyer, etc) will still have a fairly high IQ. If I made Usain Bolt run the 100 meters with a five pound weight on him, he wouldn’t run it as fast, but he’d still be faster than 99.9999999999% of the world’s population.

[driftless2]

Hey, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. My favorite cartoon dopers. Whatever happened to them?

[Eva]

The study decrease in IQ was for teenagers who smoked 4 days a week for three years. That’s most of their high school career. That might sound like a lot to you, but is actually, quite common now, especially in WA state, where medical marijuana is permitted, but now regulated. One of the local principals told me that they were sending at least one kid a day home for being high in class, claiming that they were smoking to ease the pain of a sore neck, bad back, sprained ankle, whatever.

I think that this study will pretty much end the discussion of legalized marijuana because there is no way to shield children from the effects of second hand smoke.

I’ve been wondering what effect other drugs have on developing minds, if marijuana can cause an 8 point drop in IQ. Eight points is a lot, when some of these kids are in double digits to begin with.