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Title: Legal Pot Might Make America’s Kids Stupider, Say Researchers
Source:
Time
URL Source: http://time.com/2826726/legal-pot-m ... kids-stupider-say-researchers/
Published: Jun 5, 2014
Author: Eliza Gray
Post Date: 2014-06-05 16:38:57 by scrapper2
Keywords: pots makes teens stupider
Views: 183
Comments: 10
In the midst of the drumbeat toward legalization, it’s easy to forget that smoking pot isn’t great for you. Especially if you are a teenager. A review of the research on the negative health affects of marijuana published today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that smoking pot as a kid may have lasting impacts on intelligence and achievement. For starters, smoking pot regularly from an early age is correlated with a lower IQ. The mechanism is not fully understood—experts are not claiming one necessarily causes the other—but scientists speculate the drug can interfere with a critical period for brain development during the teen years. “Adults who smoked regularly during adolescence” according to the review, have “impaired neural connectivity” in parts of the brain involving alertness and self conscious awareness, executive function, processing of habits and routines, learning, and memory. Smoking marijuana as a teenager is also linked with poor grades, criminal behavior, and increased risk of dropping out of school, according to the review. The research doesn’t prove that regular marijuana use causes these negative consequences. But the review article suggests that available evidence could explain the relationship. Though some research suggests that the harmful effects of marijuana subside after the drug leaves the brain and can be reversed after a person stops using, other studies show that “long term, heavy use of marijuana results in impairments in memory and attention that persist and worsen with increasing years of regular use.” The article also points out that marijuana can impair cognitive functioning for days after you toke up, increasing the likelihood that students could be functioning “below their natural ability” for periods of time. None of this is really surprising. But since legalization in Colorado and Washington may contribute to the perception that, doctors’ notes aside, recreational marijuana is harmless, it’s worth paying close attention to links between marijuana use and negative outcomes in achievement—especially for teens. See also:
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#1. To: scrapper2 (#0)
Minors should not be smoking cannabis recreationally. On that point you'll get no argument from me. But I would suggest that the use of cannabis by adolescents is more of a symptom rather than the cause of "negative outcomes in achievement" as this article suggests. Back in "99, Charlotte Iserbyt gave us a brilliant treatise on the the deliberate dumbing down of America. Cannabis use was but an uncredited extra in that nefarious agenda. The family unit itself has been under attack by government programs, and social ills such as feminism and mass media / entertainment destroy the nurturing environment a family is intended to provide. Misapplication of prescription pharmaceutical substances poisons millions of young minds every day. If a minor child is smoking weed recreationally, any number of failures occurred in his / her life prior the taking of the first hit off of a joint. And every one of those failures contributed to that child's inability to achieve maximum potential. True that existing societal evils can have negative impact on teenagers. But not all teenagers live in bad environments. The NEJM article points out that weed has been promoted as a harmless drug when in fact it can harmful lasting effects on teenagers' IQ and with legalization of pot more teens ( not just ones who come from broken homes) will gain easier access to it. snip "The National Institute of Drug Abuse - supported ”2013 Monitoring the Future Survey” indicates that 6.5 percent of 12th graders report daily or near-daily marijuana use, with 60 percent not perceiving that regular marijuana use can be harmful...This review emphasizes that marijuana use is likely to increase as state and local policies move toward legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. As use increases, so might the number of people likely to suffer negative health consequences, the scientists predict."
I would suggest that unless one has secluded oneself in a hermitage, everyone alive on earth today lives in a bad environment. On a personal note, I've been a relegalization activist for over 30 years and it is extremely rare to hear an educated proponent make such a claim. It's true that no LD50 for THC / cannabis has ever been established (ie: it is not lethal or toxic). But anyone who claims that cannabis is always completely harmless is an idiot, and should be treated as such. And for those on the prohibitionist side to base their arguments on such claims distorts the nature of the debate. Distractions in any form can produce negative effects in ones ability to absorb and retain new knowledge. As I have stated before, the parents are, and always must be, the first line of defense. They can do more than anyone else to prevent their children from veering off course. As if we didn't already have the NEA, the DoE and common core doing enough... MTV and weed will be the final nail in rational and critical thinking.
"Call Me Ishmael" -Ishmael, A character from the book "Moby Dick" 1851. "Call Me Fishmeal" -Osama Bin Laden, A character created by the CIA, and the world's Hide And Seek Champion 2001-2011. -Tommythemadartist
OMG... This reminds me of my life... One would think the propaganda would stop after legalization... insted it revs up tens times worse... Pot has not been legal one full year but allready it is killing babies and making us all stupid. next thing you know it will be responsible for global warming. When are we going to get real and grow up? ______________________________________ Suspect all media / resist bad propaganda/Learn NLP everyday everyway ;) If you don't control your mind someone else will.
This article referenced medical research published in NEJM. The research specifically focused on negative effects on IQ of teenagers. I'm guessing you're still good to go, Dad. No worries for you.
Pot has not been legal for one full year. So how empirical can these "case studies" be with only 6 months of data or less? I mean shit, do side effects include death? And god forbid, how much more dangerous is "illegal" marijuana ? ______________________________________ Suspect all media / resist bad propaganda/Learn NLP everyday everyway ;) If you don't control your mind someone else will.
it’s worth paying close attention to links between marijuana use and negative outcomes in achievement—especially for teens.
#2. To: Buzzard (#1)
If a minor child is smoking weed recreationally, any number of failures occurred in his / her life prior the taking of the first hit off of a joint. And every one of those failures contributed to that child's inability to achieve maximum potential.
#3. To: scrapper2 (#2)
But not all teenagers live in bad environments.
The NEJM article points out that weed has been promoted as a harmless drug
when in fact it can harmful lasting effects on teenagers' IQ
with legalization of pot more teens ( not just ones who come from broken homes) will gain easier access to it.
#4. To: scrapper2 (#0)
#5. To: scrapper2 (#0)
#6. To: titorite (#5)
#7. To: scrapper2 (#6)
(Edited)
#8. To: scrapper2 (#0)
-Alex Kurtagic
#9. To: X-15 (#8)
"The authors also note that because older studies are based on the effects of marijuana containing lower THC – the main psychoactive chemical found in marijuana – stronger adverse health effects may occur with today’s more potent marijuana."
#10. To: scrapper2 (#9) (Edited)
That is actually a propaganda myth. Things are the same as they always were.Nothing new under the sun. The founding fathers may of separated their seeds by potency but genetics only take things so far.. And just because we can grow good stuff these days does not mean everything grown is great. I just wish the propaganda lies would end... If you do not control your mind and your understanding then someone else will happyly step in to control your mental understanding for you....that is propaganda And now for so positive words "The authors also note that because older studies are based on the effects of marijuana containing lower THC – the main psychoactive chemical found in marijuana – stronger adverse health effects may occur with today’s more potent marijuana."
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Suspect all media / resist bad propaganda/Learn NLP everyday everyway ;) If you don't control your mind someone else will.
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