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Drop in IQ linked to heavy teenage cannabis use
NATURE NEWS ^
| 28 August 2012
| Leigh Phillips
Posted on 08/28/2012 1:36:59 PM PDT by neverdem
Starting to smoke pot in your teens can lead to cognitive decline not seen in those who start as adults.
Becoming a heavy cannabis smoker as a teenager results in cognitive decline not seen if the illicit drug use starts when adult.
Clinical psychologist Madeline Meier at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and her colleagues used data from the famous Dunedin Longitudinal Study, an ongoing multi-factor survey involving a cohort of 1,037 New Zealanders followed from birth, which now has 40 years worth of data. Participants in the Dunedin Study had been periodically tested for IQ and other neuropsychological indices as well as being asked about behaviour such as drug-taking. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday1.
When their adult IQ was tested at 38 years old, the heaviest and most persistent adolescent-onset users in the study had experienced an average decline of eight IQ points from childhood to adulthood. Non-users had on average increased their IQ by around one point. And even after setting aside the heaviest users, a decline of a few IQ points from their childhood value was still seen in less heavy users who had started in their teens. What's more, the drop in mental function seemed irreversible even after people had quit cannabis. However, persistent users who only started when adult (older than 18 years) did not seem to experience the same IQ...
--snip--
Valerie Curran, professor of psychopharmacology at University College London and a member of the UK's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, was more sceptical, saying that a other factors, such as depression, are also associated with heavy use and reduced motivation. Although the overall sample size is excellent, the data on adolescent onset of heavy use is based on just over 50 people....
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: cannabis; drugs; drugwar; intelligencequotient; marijuana; pot; tetrahydrocannabinol; warondrugs; wod; wodlist; wosd
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Can it explain the choom gang?
1
posted on
08/28/2012 1:37:03 PM PDT
by
neverdem
To: neverdem
2
posted on
08/28/2012 1:40:31 PM PDT
by
Doogle
((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
To: neverdem
3
posted on
08/28/2012 1:43:03 PM PDT
by
2ndDivisionVet
(You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
To: neverdem
So this explains how Obama got elected and how he can still be competitive in this race! OHHHHHHHHHH.
To: neverdem
Put teenagers in the army reserve.
5
posted on
08/28/2012 1:44:37 PM PDT
by
Berlin_Freeper
(I used to want to change the world. Now, I want to stop the world from changing me.)
To: Doogle
cha?
6
posted on
08/28/2012 1:46:12 PM PDT
by
billorites
(freepo ergo sum)
To: neverdem
7
posted on
08/28/2012 1:46:40 PM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: neverdem
Obama was a heavy user of cannabis and other drugs throughout his adolescence. It had to have had an effect on him.
8
posted on
08/28/2012 1:46:41 PM PDT
by
detective
To: detective
9
posted on
08/28/2012 1:48:52 PM PDT
by
stephenjohnbanker
(God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
To: neverdem
There is also a Harvard study, fluoride lowers IQ,MSM ignores.
10
posted on
08/28/2012 1:51:30 PM PDT
by
opentalk
To: neverdem
11
posted on
08/28/2012 1:51:40 PM PDT
by
donna
(This is what happens when America is no longer a Christian nation.)
To: neverdem
12
posted on
08/28/2012 1:53:02 PM PDT
by
b4its2late
(A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
To: neverdem
Scientists explain the Obama Effect . . . .
13
posted on
08/28/2012 1:56:19 PM PDT
by
WilliamofCarmichael
(If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
To: opentalk
14
posted on
08/28/2012 1:56:44 PM PDT
by
donna
(This is what happens when America is no longer a Christian nation.)
To: neverdem
Ummm... maybe thats why they call it “dope”...
15
posted on
08/28/2012 1:57:36 PM PDT
by
chaos_5
To: neverdem
Zero! With an IQ of Zero!
May also explain the notorious NZ antisemitism.
16
posted on
08/28/2012 1:59:06 PM PDT
by
Hardraade
(http://junipersec.wordpress.com (I will fear no muslim))
To: neverdem
17
posted on
08/28/2012 2:00:16 PM PDT
by
KosmicKitty
(WARNING: Hormonally crazed woman ahead!!)
To: neverdem
the difference between “early onset teen heavy users” and later “adult onset” users, with regard to the IQ studies, is likely due to the fact that all the neurological pathways for critical analysis in the brain are not yet complete in our teens, and is therefore interfered with by the heavy cannabis use in teens
then again, maybe the choice of becoming a heavy cannabis user as a teen reflects a lower IQ to start with; I wonder if their data/research shows that or not
18
posted on
08/28/2012 2:03:23 PM PDT
by
Wuli
To: neverdem
I wonder what heavy alcohol use does to teens.
19
posted on
08/28/2012 2:10:28 PM PDT
by
andyk
(I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind...)
To: opentalk
" Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."
20
posted on
08/28/2012 2:13:59 PM PDT
by
EEGator
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