[thechat] marijuana and intelligence

deke web at master.gen.in.us
Tue Apr 2 10:58:00 CST 2002


On 2 Apr 2002 at 10:11, rudy posted a message which said:

> but am i reading this correctly?  light use *increases* intelligence? --

>    Results: Current marijuana use was significantly correlated
>    (p < 0.05) in a dose-related fashion with a decline in IQ over
>    the ages studied. The comparison of the IQ difference scores
>    showed an average decrease of 4.1 points in current heavy
>    users (p < 0.05) compared to gains in IQ points for light current
>    users (5.8), former users (3.5) and non-users (2.6).

I'm not sure they have cause and effect right. The level of marijuana
use is self-selected, rather than being randomly assigned, which makes
it an entirely different study than the results would indicate.

People of higher intelligence generally have greater curiosity - and
many of the "drugs of abuse" started out being used first by the
intelligensia.

However, marijuana gets you *stoned*. You still may be *curious* while
you are stoned, but you aren't very likely to learn much.

deke




*Any great truth can -- and eventually will -- be expressed as a cliche
-- a cliche is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance,
my grandmother used to say, "The black cat is always the last one off
the fence." I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was
undoubtedly true. --
                       Solomon Short




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