Law & Politics

New Study on Cannabis and Teens: Pot Not Detriment to IQ, Source: http://everythingwrongwithtodaysyouth.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/female-cannabis-bud.jpg?w=1038&h=576&crop=1Much of the nonsense that froths from the lips of the Prohibition Power Rangers is rooted in something less than verifiable data. For instance, opponents of legalization have, for a couple of years, been spouting off that marijuana use (especially among teens) is responsible for a drop in IQ. This argument has been a fairly large lynchpin in their anti-pot stance.

From where did this alleged correlation arise? As it happens, the notion of stoner IQ hitting bedrock stems from a 2012 study put out by Duke University which claimed to find a link between reduced IQ in teens and frequent cannabis consumption.

This study generated criticism almost immediately. The claim Duke made was based entirely off a sample of 38 heavy pot users and failed to account for other contributing factors such as other drugs/alcohol use, lifestyle factors, etc. In fact, 6 months after the Duke report a follow up-study “found that the Duke paper failed to account for a number of confounding factors. Although it would be too strong to say that the results have been discredited, the methodology is flawed and the causal inference drawn from the results premature.”

In October of this year, University College of London conducted a similar study, but drew from a sample size of 2612 subjects. Their results were quite telling and further cast doubt upon the flawed science of the Duke study. Authors of the University College of London commented that:

Researchers examined children’s IQ scores at age 8 and again at age 15, and found “no relationship between cannabis use and lower IQ at age 15,” when confounding factors – alcohol use, cigarette use, maternal education, and others – were taken into account. Even heavy marijuana use wasn’t associated with IQ. “In particular alcohol use was found to be strongly associated with IQ decline,” the authors write. “No other factors were found to be predictive of IQ change.”

I know this news will be hard to swallow for the liquor lobby and I’m pretty sure Kev-bo Sabet-hammer and DUI poster child Patrick Kennedy are trying to find a new pair of pants. As I have been saying ad nauseum, if we are going to fully accept and embrace alcohol as legal, there is zero justifiable reasons not to treat cannabis the same way. It would be like if butter knives were outlawed but machete’s were given carte blanche. The logic is just missing from this argument.

Full disclosure: The new study did find a very minor link between very heavy cannabis use and slightly lower exam scores. Heavy users averaged 3% lower on exams than the control group. What’s the prohibitionist’s next war cry? “Don’t smoke weed or else you might get a B instead of a B+.”

I won’t lie. It feels pretty great to sit back and watch as, one by one, the opposition’s ace-in-the-hole counterpoints fall away like paper lanterns in a tempest.