Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
We all know the tropes about stoners - but now there's evidence that smoking weed actually does permanent damage to your brain. Indeed, it has now been officially noted that getting loaded on the Acapulco Gold causes this: “Persistent users” who started as teenagers suffered a drop of eight IQ points at the age of 38, compared to when they were 13."
While that might not seem like much, for most people this represents the difference between being average and being subnormal. So, if you grew up around spleef-jockies and got the strange impression that they were off by just a notch... you may have been right!
Having never touched a leaf of the bud in my life -- and being mocked by friends and associates as a "square," a "rube," or a "narc" -- I feel justified in my long-held position that I couldn't afford to give up any of the few brain cells that I had to rub together for the sake of Mary Jane.
If you're libertarian about this sort of thing on the premise that "it's no worse than booze," does your position change even slightly given the evidence that pot actually does permanent damage to your brain, especially if you use it when you're young?
Editor's Note: Image of marijuana courtesy of Shutterstock
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Majestyk
I wouldn't be shocked to hear that regularly sucking on a tailpipe damaged your IQ as well - and it's perfectly legal. Just not wise.
If libertarians want a more libertarian society they shouldn't be espousing policies that are going to create more nincompoops who need government assistance
Your example of gasoline proves why your horror scenario will not come to pass.
Gasoline is already legal to buy, and huffing gas is much more addictive and causes much more permanent brain damage than smoking pot. Yet somehow we do not have an epidemic of welfare- and SSDI-dependent gasoline huffers in America.
Why? Perhaps because most rational actors are able to resist drug abuse - and those who are not able will become addicted regardless of what is legal and what is not.
And alcohol abuse already places more strain on Medicaid/Medicare/welfare/EBT etc. than pot smoking ever could.
Jul '12
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
wilber forge: If Mary Jane use shaves a few points off the I.Q, promotes lethargy and
leads to poor decision making. Just why not make it legal ?
Politicians demonstate the same behaviours and the need for munchies.
And if the "War on Drugs" were to end, what to do with the funding that runs in the billions ? · 28 minutes ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
It sounds to me like you don't want the "War on Drugs" to end - you want the "War on Pot" to end so you can light up.
I guess if we were to make the U.S. one big methodone clinic we'd all be much better off, because we wouldn't have to deal with all of these awful social costs.
My suspicion is that we're stuck between a rock and a hard place here because the cure in this case would be worse than the disease.
Aug '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Moderation in all things.
Legalize it ? humm... alcohol isn't legal for people under 21.
Are we criminalizing alot of adults for smoking dope ?
How will the insurance and the MADD group respond to this ?
Stoners are already driving 10 miles under the speed limit , can't bring themselves to kill a fly , much less bash anyone , and get too shy to hookup most of the time .
This all feels like a distraction in a country that is hemorrhaging manufacturing , forgetting engineering , scaring investment and entrepreneurship, and denying natural resources .
Must be a GOP war on businesswomen !
sandra ? don't bogart that diaphragm...
fluke that
Dec '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Ever talked with a drunk? Let's ban alcohol
Aug '12
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Majestyk
I can drink one beer and not suffer ill-effects. You cannot tell me that if I smoke a joint that I won't be significantly more impaired than if I drank that one beer.
Add to that the fact that alcohol is water-soluble and doesn't leave trace chemicals behind in your fatty tissues and keratin the same way that pot does and I'm not buying that argument.
Of course people can get tanked and die of alcohol - you can do the same thing with water. · 8 hours ago
Actually, drinking daily long term will lead to lack of feeling "drunk" and severe liver damage and vitamin B12 deficiency (which ABSOLUTELY causes brain damamge). We actually call these folks "pickled" in the medical industry. And, of course, the study was looking at long term effects. Booze still loses.
You CAN have just one hit, just like just one beer. ;)
Jun '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Gateway drug? Age is a "gateway drug." I drank a bit as a young man, but as a "less young man" I have to gobble prescription meds by the handful just to stay alive. How could a little pot compete with that?
The freedom to make one's own decisions (in this context) is indeed what liberty is about. Isn't that also what conservativism is about? Individual freedom?
If pot smoking lowers the IQ significantly (lets not discuss alcohol) would that explain the multitude of liberal voters?
Dec '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Majestyk
Foxman
. · 17 minutes ago
Sure, plenty more people die because of alcohol than pot because it's legal. .
And as far as "speculation" about trace chemicals being left behind in your body goes? Fact. · 7 hours ago
More die from alcohol? That has to be true because nobody dies from pot. Zip, zero, zilch.
I do not contest that trace elements are left in fatty tissue. Please provide some evidence, any, that it harms adults.
Dec '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Majestyk
One of the things about liberty is that it requires a sober and judicious electorate. · 7 hours ago
Read de Tocqueville. Early Americans were anything but sober.
May '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Majestyk
If you're libertarian about this sort of thing on the premise that "it's no worse than booze," does your position change even slightly given the evidence that pot actually does permanent damage to your brain, especially if you use it when you're young?
Being libertarian about this sort of thing, the premise that "it's no worse than booze," or transfats, or 32 oz. cokes, never enters my mind. Being libertarian about this sort of things, my humble opinion is that it's none of your business.
Jul '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
YES.
Jan '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Diiig the Cheech & Chong reference. Did you have to follow him around with a baggie for three days until you got it back?
Dec '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
America needs burger flippers too.
Oct '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
@Majestyk:
All humor aside, never use the stuff. Yet, in large part have no issue with the use of Mary Jane. The War on Drugs has been responsible for inecuseable loss of life, needless incarcerations and is one of the most massive publicity stunts in history. Not to mention the cost.
Now, here lies the rub. Look back into how the Netherlands dealt with the same issues and do so deeply.
There are clearly cultural anomalies between the societies and it is known that what may work for X does not apply to Z.
The culture here is and always been driven by Puritanical thinking, not always to a satisfactory outcome. Perhaps a worthy approach, yet in application, Hi-Handed and unforgiving.
With all due respect to all that post on this issue in a proposed mindfull fashion. This is getting lost in the weeds, forgive that, if you will.
Produces no meaningfull approach or thought of resolution.
Have One ?
Feb '12
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Foxman
Ever talked with a drunk? Let's ban alcohol · 1 hour ago
I've talked with drunks. It's the reason I don't drink to excess.
I said it was an argument against using, not for criminalization.
Smoking pot is a dumb thing to do, often done by dumb people who only get dumber for using it. That has very little bearing on whether it should be legal.
Edited on August 29, 2012 at 3:31amOct '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Foxman
Majestyk
One of the things about liberty is that it requires a sober and judicious electorate. · 7 hours ago
Read de Tocqueville. Early Americans were anything but sober. · 50 minutes ago
True, as well as most of the revered authors we so enjoy. IE; Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstien and the works of Poe. The list is nearly endless.
Apr '12
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Hasn't it been proven that alcohol kills some brain cells?
Apr '12
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
I'm always amused at the idea of the legislation of morality. There are so many examples of how it doesn't work at all, that one would think we would learn. Alas we are slow learners.
Oct '10
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
wilber forge
Foxman
Majestyk
One of the things about liberty is that it requires a sober and judicious electorate. · 7 hours ago
Read de Tocqueville. Early Americans were anything but sober. · 50 minutes ago
True, as well as most of the revered authors we so enjoy. IE; Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstien and the works of Poe. The list is nearly endless. · 24 minutes ago
E.A.Poe, yes. Mary Shelley, perhaps. Lewis Carrol, I doubt it. I think Dodgeson was just a Tory with a good imagination.
May '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Jul '11
Re: Marijuana Costs IQ Points ... Still Want to Legalize It?
Super Nurse
Majestyk
I can drink one beer and not suffer ill-effects. You cannot tell me that if I smoke a joint that I won't be significantly more impaired than if I drank that one beer.
Add to that the fact that alcohol is water-soluble and doesn't leave trace chemicals behind in your fatty tissues and keratin the same way that pot does and I'm not buying that argument.
Actually, drinking daily long term will lead to lack of feeling "drunk" and severe liver damage and vitamin B12 deficiency (which ABSOLUTELY causes brain damamge). We actually call these folks "pickled" in the medical industry. And, of course, the study was looking at long term effects. Booze still loses.
Booze is the un-winner here. But any kind of stimulant or depressant usage runs the risk of abuse - especially for those who seek some kind of escape, for whatever reason. The escape becomes the addiction; the substance is just the vehicle.
So arguing over which is better or worse is kind of idiotic. These are the same arguments made in college dorms, by drunk and/or high guys, right before a Taco Bell run.