Young cannabis smokers run risk of lower IQ, report claims
339 replies, posted
[QUOTE] Young people who smoke cannabis 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.
A UK expert said the research might explain why people who use the drug often seem to under-achieve.
For more than 20 years researchers have followed the lives of a group of people from Dunedin in New Zealand.
They assessed them as children - before any of them had started using cannabis - and then re-interviewed them repeatedly, up to the age of 38.
Having taken into account other factors such as alcohol or tobacco dependency or other drug use, as well the number of years spent in education, they found that those who persistently used cannabis suffered a decline in their IQ.
The more that people smoked, the greater the loss in IQ.
It is such a special study that I'm fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains”
The effect was most marked in those who started smoking cannabis as adolescents.
For example, researchers found that individuals who started using cannabis in adolescence and then carried on using it for years showed an average eight-point IQ decline.
Stopping or reducing cannabis use failed to fully restore the lost IQ.
The researchers, writing in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that: "Persistent cannabis use over 20 years was associated with neuropsychological decline, and greater decline was evident for more persistent users."
"Collectively, these findings are consistent with speculation that cannabis use in adolescence, when the brain is undergoing critical development, may have neurotoxic effects."
One member of the team, Prof Terrie Moffitt of King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said this study could have a significant impact on our understanding of the dangers posed by cannabis use.
"This work took an amazing scientific effort. We followed almost 1,000 participants, we tested their mental abilities as kids before they ever tried cannabis, and we tested them again 25 years later after some participants became chronic users.
There are a lot of clinical and educational anecdotal reports that cannabis users tend to be less successful in their educational achievement, marriages and occupations”
"Participants were frank about their substance abuse habits because they trust our confidentiality guarantee, and 96% of the original participants stuck with the study from 1972 to today.
"It is such a special study that I'm fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains."
Robin Murray, professor of psychiatric research, also at the King's College London Institute of Psychiatry but not involved in the study, said this was an impressive piece of research.
"The Dunedin sample is probably the most intensively studied cohort in the world and therefore the data are very good.
"Although one should never be convinced by a single study, I take the findings very seriously.
"There are a lot of clinical and educational anecdotal reports that cannabis users tend to be less successful in their educational achievement, marriages and occupations.
"It is of course part of folk-lore among young people that some heavy users of cannabis - my daughter callers them stoners - seem to gradually lose their abilities and end up achieving much less than one would have anticipated. This study provides one explanation as to why this might be the case.
"I suspect that the findings are true. If and when they are replicated then it will be very important and public education campaigns should be initiated to let people know the risks."[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19372456[/url]
Impossible, weed cures all ailments
marijuana
not even once
Can those things be attributed to cannabis or to the social implications of the use of the drug? If one lives the lifestyle where they smoke frequently it stands to reason that other factors could come into effect - e.g. diet. When compared to something like cigarettes is it any worse? Does vaporization or consumption have the same effects?
Also, doesn't one's IQ drop with age anyway?
(If you disagree for some reason give a response, I'm curious what you find objectionable.)
420 blaze it faggot
death sentence to marijuana
[QUOTE=Repulsion;37434163]420 blaze it faggot[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/80e88.jpg[/IMG]
god damn marijuana needles are a cancer on our great cities
I thought weed cured cancer and could be turned into diamond, steel cable, nuclear fuel rods and roast chicken?
Maybe it's the other way around.
People with low IQ's smoke weed earlier in life?
[editline]Actually, maybe not. Missed a couple lines.[/editline]
Actually, maybe not. Missed a couple lines.
[QUOTE=Splash Attack;37434251]Maybe it's the other way around.
People with low IQ's smoke weed earlier in life?[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/kMKf7.gif[/IMG]
[editline]27th August 2012[/editline]
but no:
[quote]An international team found those who started using cannabis below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing - [B]suffered a drop in IQ.[/B][/quote]
[QUOTE=Splash Attack;37434251]Maybe it's the other way around.
People with low IQ's smoke weed earlier in life?
[editline]Actually, maybe not. Missed a couple lines.[/editline][/QUOTE]
Unless I'm misunderstanding the article, it states that in the study the cannabis users IQ's fell, so it's starting level is irrelevant.
Not surprised TBH
This implies IQs have any value.
[QUOTE=Jookia;37434353]This implies IQs have any value.[/QUOTE]
The IQ test isn't without it's flaws, but it's still the best standardised way to quantify intelligence, so cannabis possibly causing such a change in the participants scores should be at the very least pause for thought.
[QUOTE=Repulsion;37434163]420 blaze it faggot[/QUOTE]
playitloud
not surprising
[QUOTE=Aidan_088;37434400]The IQ test isn't without it's flaws, but it's still the best standardised way to quantify intelligence, so cannabis possibly causing such a change in the participants scores should be at the very least pause for thought.[/QUOTE]
how do you say that for someone who's been smoking cannabis since 12
who gives a flying fuck
[quote]below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing[/quote]
I thought that [URL="http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/09/23/brain-wiring-continues-into-young-adulthood/29719.html"]brain development continued to around 25?[/URL]
So basically, if you're under 18 don't smoke, and if you're over 18 do whatever the fuck you want?
Or just do whatever the fuck you want anyway.
Started last year..
Went from a 91 in low-level maths, to a 99 in entry level advanced math at Uni..
Vast difference in difficulty.
==================
If this is the rule; I'm the exception.
Are we sure they didn't just come to the test stoned?
I knew a few friends in school who became stoners, I did notice they became dumber and slower and more zoned out a lot of the time. Then again I think it was only temporary.
[QUOTE=Faren;37434437]I thought that [URL="http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/09/23/brain-wiring-continues-into-young-adulthood/29719.html"]brain development continued to around 25?[/URL][/QUOTE]
Exactly, so their brains are still developing.
[QUOTE=Faren;37434437]I thought that [URL="http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/09/23/brain-wiring-continues-into-young-adulthood/29719.html"]brain development continued to around 25?[/URL][/QUOTE]Everyone knows that once you are a legal adult in the USA your brain instantly develops and begins to work at its maximum capacity. Hence you are allowed to purchase firearms, beer and hookers.
[QUOTE=Bradyns;37434458]Started last year..
Went from a 91 in low-level maths, to a 99 in entry level advanced math at Uni..
Vast difference in difficulty.
==================
If this is the rule; I'm the exception.[/QUOTE]
Anecdotal evidence is meaningless.
[QUOTE=Bread_Baron;37434463]Exactly, so their brains are still developing.[/QUOTE]
So why does this man claim
[quote]"It is such a special study that I'm fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains."[/quote]
?
[QUOTE=Bumbanut;37434477]Everyone knows that once you are a legal adult in the USA your brain instantly develops and begins to work at its maximum capacity. Hence you are allowed to purchase firearms, beer and hookers.[/QUOTE]
Alcohol is legally available to most Europeans years before it is to Americans :v:
Anectdotal evidence doesn't exist... but I have seen what smoking a lot of weed can do to people in the long run. It's not good.
I'm partial to a joint on occasion, but I used to know a guy that would smoke 3 or 4 a day. He went from being a charming, intelligent and fucking hilarious mate... to a mumbling, grumpy leech. All he would do was sit and smoke. People that say it's harmless are full of shit.
I miss that guy :(
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