We’ve come a long way
from the days of rampant stupidity concerning marijuana use. We used to believe
in “reefer madness,” the laughable idea that smoking pot would drive you
innnnsaaaannnnne!
Then there was the
idiotic idea that marijuana was a “gateway drug” that would inevitably lead
potheads to become heroin addicts.
Then, more recently,
there was the belief that getting high would make teens less intelligent.
But, like most
propaganda, the myth of the pot-addled teen…ahem… went up in smoke when
science got involved:
The study, published online January 6 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found a statistical association between cannabis use and decreased intellectual performance. However, this association vanished when the researchers took other variables into account. “The notion that cannabis use itself is causally related to lower IQ and poorer educational performance was not supported in this large teenage sample,” wrote Claire Mokrysz of the University College London and her colleagues.
A quick disclaimer
here: I don’t smoke marijuana. I have never smoked marijuana. I will never
smoke marijuana (even if I didn’t have asthma). Not interested, don’t care.
However, I grew up
around a lot of people that smoked pot so I find the hysteria over it to be
ridiculous. I find the idea of putting people in jail for smoking it offensive
in the extreme. Cigarettes and beer are far more harmful but marijuana is
dangerous? Spare me from your ignorance. Smoke’m if you got’em.
That’s not to say that
the low I.Q. story appeared in a vacuum. A study released in 2012 clearly
pointed to the possibility that marijuana use over a long period of time could
lower your intelligence.
People familiar with
the drug were, needless to say, skeptical but the anti-pot crusaders latched
onto this for dear life. After all, all of their other talking points
(addictive, lethal, causes violence, etc.) have come up short. But now that the
original research has been duplicated and expanded on, we know that the
original study was flawed. That, of course, is the beauty of science, it
self-corrects:
“People often believe that using cannabis can be very damaging to intellectual ability in the long-term, but it is extremely difficult to separate the direct effects of cannabis from other potential explanations,” Mokrysz added. “Adolescent cannabis use often goes hand in hand with other drug use, such as alcohol and cigarette smoking, as well as other risky lifestyle choices. It’s hard to know what causes what- do kids do badly at school because they are smoking weed, or do they smoke weed because they’re doing badly? This study suggests it is not as simple as saying cannabis is the problem.”
Will the
anti-marijuana crusaders amend their narrative or will they continue to insist
that smoking pot makes you dumb? Considering their fear of cannabis is
irrational to begin with, it’s unlikely they’ll let go of such a useful
fiction.
Author Justin Rosario is a stay at home father and liberal blogger that
enjoys exposing conservative lies, hate and greed. Follow him on twitter
@FilthyLbrlScum