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Study Shows Marijuana Use In Teens Correlates To Decreasing IQ
retroworks writes "The BBC reports on a paper published in the U.S.'s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing a correlation between persistent, regular cannabis use and risk of lower IQ. The study finds the risk particularly correlates use of cannabis by teenagers who use the drug "four times a week year after year." The more people smoked, the greater the loss in IQ. Reviewers of the study at King's College Institute of Psychiatry states that the data and methodology are exceptional, but she also cautions that there may be another explanation, such as depression, which could lower IQ while stimulating marijuana use. The study does not mention or rule out 'nocebo' effects, i.e. just feeling stupid for spending your teens hanging out with potheads."
4 times a week, not 4 times a day.
Propaganda by whom, and for what purpose? How do you identify it as propaganda instead of legitimate science? You have to answer these basic questions and support your answers with evidence before anybody is going to buy into your conspiracy theories.
Teenagers who are in the "I know everything" stage can be very frustrating when you try to explain the dangers.
Probably because you're an adult in the "I know everything" stage, and think you know the dangers. Funnily enough, teenagers with internet access can easily learn more about a given subject than you know offhand, and it may surprise you that some of them actually research marijuana before smoking it. Which is often more than their parents can manage before laying down the law to them about it.
In fact your entire attitude stinks, and teenagers can smell that a mile away. The teenager doesn't actually think he knows everything, but he has learnt that his parents don't. Yet many of them still insist on being treated as unquestioned authorities. Hence your "frustration" when you're not treated that way. It's a parenting problem, not a growing up problem.
I'll bet $100 all you know is what you've uncritically read in the sensationalist media. For instance, you seem to think marijuana addiction exists. There is no scientific basis for this idea, as you should know if you want to engage in a serious discussion with your teenager about what you believe the risks to be. Talking about marijuana addicts just makes you look ridiculous, I'm afraid, and that is why you fail.
But pot use after age 18 doesn't have long-term affects on IQ, only for the time immediately after consuming the drug. This was an important point lost in the summary. So, marijuana should be illegal for young kids to smoke. If marijuana were legal and regulated like alcohol, we would see less young people abusing the drug.
In my experience most of those in favor of cannabis legalization aren't blind to the adverse effects, it's just that they're sick to death of seeing time and time again how some study proclaims "Teenagers who are genetically predisposed to end up with severe mental illness may have slightly earlier onset of their condition if they smoke marijuana on a daily basis" and how the media and those who fervently hate cannabis turn that into "POT MAKES YOU CRAZY!".
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
Short form: If you admit it, you're addicted. If you don't, you're in denial.
Propaganda: MARIJUANA LOWERS IQ
The difference is in how this is presented. A scientific presentation cannot possibly say that marijuana is a causal factor until at least all of the following are addressed:
There are a lot of things that can cause the results the scientists saw -- which is good news for them, since it means they have plenty of questions to answer. Unfortunately, the media will see this, ignore the part about heavy users, spend no time discussing confounding factors, and jump right on the "marijuana is bad" bandwagon. Typical, unsurprising, propaganda-driven approach.
Palm trees and 8