A New Study Questions The Link Between Teen Pot Smoking And IQ Decline

If anything, my iq went up.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Carl Sagan may have agreed with you.

"The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before," he wrote. "The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I’m down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse."

(Source)

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Carl Sagan may have agreed with you.

"The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before," he wrote. "The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I’m down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse."

(Source)

It would seem the important factor would be what you do with your time and your ability to comprehend the things your experiencing.

Marijuana can cause confusion and even anxiety for some and focus and calm for others. So can driving a car though. Is it the drug or the brain chemistry of the person? Prob the person.

It's important to know thyself and what works and doesn't work. When I competed in judo and wrestling every time I was injured they prescribed me painkillers. Never took them.

However cannabis could never block the pain of the kidney stones I get so I take pain killers for that. If I took pain killers every time they were prescribed to me I may have been a junkie by now. Yet its totally socially acceptable and medically acceptable to take opiates for just about any level of pain.

How rediculous.

a reply to: luthier

Yeah, the pill culture that has popped up in this country is a whole other bag of worms... I'm all for banning direct to consumer ads for prescription medicines. I'm pretty sure that is a big part of the problem. Plus legalizing medical marijuana would cut down on a large part of the opiate prescriptions.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: luthier

Yeah, the pill culture that has popped up in this country is a whole other bag of worms... I'm all for banning direct to consumer ads for prescription medicines. I'm pretty sure that is a big part of the problem. Plus legalizing medical marijuana would cut down on a large part of the opiate prescriptions.

Most people would be shocked how many athletes use marijuana for the aches pains and to relax. People you would never associate as stoners. Olympic level and pro athletes.


Why? Because of its lack of major physical side effects. You also still feel your body enough to know when too much is too much. It doesn't kill the pain it just makes it less noticeable.

a reply to: luthier

What's funny is the NFL and their ridiculous stance on marijuana. Meanwhile, just about all the players use marijuana to some degree for their aches and pains. And many retired players are coming forward saying that marijuana has helped them with their injuries more than any other pill that was given to them.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: intrptr

Being stoned all the time isn't good for you.

damn it.

Are you sure about that ?

From personal experience, yep. Haven't you notised, I can't spel, my gramma and puntuasion are for s***.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Lower IQ? nah. Mental illness? Yeah.

Drug induced Schizophrenia does happen however an IQ test is just a test and doesn't reflect on a persons intelligence as there are many ways to determine intelligence. Taking drugs may inhibit higher cognition in some cases but in other cases it heightens creativity and creativity requires cognition. Nine out of ten of your favorite musicians, writers or actors have inhaled but their IQ is not affected.

Besides, An IQ test is just cranial compensation.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

I think there needs to be a study conducted exploring the links to mental illness and a need to seek out self-medication through marijuana.

Pot doesn't kill pain. It just makes it more interesting than uncomfortable.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I think these studies should be based around the amount of the substance consumed...

I've known people who literally smoke all day long... Most times they're couch potatoes, and have nothing to add to any conversation... in many cases they are dumb as a rock because they smoke so much they're too lazy to get up or even use their brain...

The same goes for alcohol... a few drinks can be motivating, and stimulate creativity and thought process... but the more you drink the dumber you get

originally posted by: Akragon
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I think these studies should be based around the amount of the substance consumed...

I've known people who literally smoke all day long... Most times they're couch potatoes, and have nothing to add to any conversation... in many cases they are dumb as a rock because they smoke so much they're too lazy to get up or even use their brain...

The same goes for alcohol... a few drinks can be motivating, and stimulate creativity and thought process... but the more you drink the dumber you get

I know personally (as a sound engineer). People who smoke all day that are very productive and people who smoke once and are useless. It all depends on the person and their personality and tolerance.

a reply to: Akragon

It's hard to do things like that. For one the federal scheduling process for marijuana makes it next to impossible to conduct large scale studies of this nature since the government has decided that marijuana is bad for you and no science can change its mind (that's what schedule 1 means).

For my second point, I'll let the article explain it instead:

Studying the topic is difficult because children can't ethically be randomly chosen to either take illicit drugs or abstain for years so that their outcomes can be compared. Scientists have to assess what people do on their own.

I`m just going to say it here...

Abusing Marijuana is much less harmful than abusing any other legalised drugs such as alcohol, tobacco or any of the prescription drugs. They know this and fear that with legalisation their income will shrink while their IQ already has from years of self-prescribing medications.

a reply to: luthier

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Both true and good points....

Schedule 1 drugs are defined as a substance with a high potential for abuse...

Somehow cigarettes and alcohol didn't make the cut, but Marijuana did...

Perhaps its because the plant has many more uses then just getting high?

a reply to: Akragon

Tobacco and alcohol didn't make the cut because they have powerful lobbying efforts backing them. Plus after the failed thing called Prohibition, it is unlikely that the country will ever ban alcohol again. It's just a shame that the country didn't apply that same thinking to why it overturned Prohibition to the war on drugs (which were criminalized 4 short years after Prohibition was repealed).

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Hey. I'm all for keeping the minimum smoking age for places that have legalized it at 21, but it's looking like the reasoning for doing so is flawed.

The biggest flaw in the legal smoking age has always been that it has been pretty conclusively proven that if a young person gives up smoking practically all the negative effects can be reversed by simple healing over time. That means that the people at greatest risk for smoking are not young people, but middle aged and old people. So it makes a lot more logical sense to let kids smoke all they want, but ban smoking for adults over a certain age (say, 35 years old).

LOL

Funniest headline I've read...um...ever.

We already knew that. Pot smoking makes you stupid and forgetful and unmotivated and lazy.

There will always be exceptions to the rule as will, incredibly, they all must be on ATS and will reply to this post.

I fully believe you should have the right to smoke pot whenever you want, but...this is one stereotype that is dead on. Oh and let's not forget paranoid, zoning out on the silliest of things like a poster for hours. meh

Something that never seems to be considered is the different types of mj. Some are like an upper, while other types are most definitely a downer.
If we only study people who've used one particular type then test results will swing in one direction.

Several in this thread have mentioned that people they know hardly say a word when they've consumed, and that may be true, but had they used a different type of mj they may find they cant shut them up!

If test subjects are only given the down types then I can see they could easily use this to argue that mj causes a loss in iq, but in reality, there is no loss of iq, rather they just cant be bothered.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

You are a better man than I, Krazy, at ignoring rudeness and being patient... kudos.

Seems some would be better off relaxing, looking inward and asking why they are actively looking for perceived slights... especially where no rational person would see them.

I wonder how one could possibly do such a thing? What tool they could use to relax and look inward? Guess we'll never know.

Back from when I watched MTV in the 90's, I remember that Beavis and Butthead had a lot to giggle at.

eta: oh yeah, the reason I hit "reply" is that my own thoughts match yours re the study... most all of Western drug views are "soundly" based in propaganda and religious morality... not science... except for the addictive properties of some substances, that is.