You sound like an expert on experts.
:beer3:
:pepper2:

In my opening post, I stated the following in the second sentence: "As I heard it explained on the radio,......and smoking pot can cause a permanent decline [in IQ] of about 8 points." I assumed this was also in the study that was published in the Journal Neuroscience.

However, when in doubt, do a little more research. Search: Cannabis smoking permanently lowers IQ

I yield to Rubicon. If anyone can come up with an intelligent answer he/she can.

Lou

Another good arguing technique is to confuse the issue and put everything in doubt. But you are only highlighting the fact that the average person has a proclivity to misunderstand science. They don't know, or don't care to know, how to put anything in proper perspective. Misunderstanding food science, or science in general, is more productive to their agenda.

This is of interest.
 

Harvard: Marijuana Doesn’t Cause Schizophrenia | Psych Central News

Not sure how much impact some study will have on the habits of teens and college age kids.

The third paragraph of your link basically explains just about everything you need to know about this study. They are talking about the underlying basis for schizophrenia. And they say: "It's not cannibis use by itself..." In other words, it's not one thing working alone. If you have underlying health issues, or a predisposition, cannibis can be the trigger.

We all have predispositions for multiple health issues. Do we always know what they are? No, we don't. So why fool around with drugs or substances that may act as a trigger to set those health issues in motion? It doesn't make sense.

When kids go out with their friends to have a good time, are they going to stop and think if there might be a family history of some brain disease? It's highly doubtful. And even if they did, they might think that getting high is worth the risk. Even if they don't trigger schizophrenia, they could still lower their IQ.

This is why marijuana should never be made legal for general recreational use. Making it legal will only serve to make it more widespread among teens than it already is.

The Harvard study was an attempt to work around the known confounding factors in studying drug use and later psychiatric outcomes. It has been long known that heavy drug and alcohol use is associated with poorer adult functioning. But correlation is not causation. So in this study of only about 300 people they divided the 300 into four groups. 87 people non-psychotic and not drug users, 84 non-psychotic drug users, 76 psychotic drug users, and 32 psychotic non drug users. The study then looked at the family history of nearest relatives of each person and found that "There was an increased morbid risk for schizophrenia in relatives of the cannabis using and non-using patient samples compared with their respective non-psychotic control samples (p = .002, p < .001 respectively). There was no significant difference in morbid risk for schizophrenia between relatives of the patients who use or do not use cannabis (p = .43)." What this means is that if you have a family history of psychosis your risk of becoming psychotic is increased whether you use pot or not.

A controlled family study of cannabis users with and without psychosis

This study involves a small number of patients, depends on the accuracy of patient report of their own adolescent pot and alcohol use and the accuracy of the family history obtained.

Really..A Surprise
 

Is anyone really surprised that Pot has a very bad effect on the body including the shrinkage of the brain, possible birth defects, etc. etc. There always is an attempt to say it is better than acholol which somehow means one bad thing is not as bad as another bad thing. As an aside alcholol is a drug that effect EVERY ORGAN in the body unlike other drugs that effect isolated portions of the body and organs. I know I speak out everytime these drug points come up but only in hopes it may reach just 1 of the readers who take the subject serious. :rant-rave:

Your last sentence is correct. However, you forgot to mention that if you are a regular pot smoker, your risk of developing a psychosis is doubled.

Correlation is not causation: That's what the tobacco companies used to say about cigarette smoking and lung disease.

study shows Legalizing Medical Marijuana Doesn't Increase Use Among Adolescents

Legalizing medical marijuana doesn't increase use among adolescents, study says -- ScienceDaily

I find it amazing how " intelligent" people can read a report, without any personal knowledge, and reach a conclusion that Only fits their agenda. Then they publish this much slanted opinion as gospel. I guess there are those that believe because it's on the internet, it must be true!

ouch! if that refers to me....you seem to be making a conclusion about me without personal knowledge as well.

Just another example of Reefer Madness. UUUUOOOOHHH. Look out.

A glass or two of wine a day is good for you but......wait for it....the government TAXES wine. Hummm. A connection?

Wait until marijuana is legal. There will be studies that say it is good for you.

Why? The government collects taxes on it.

Me and the other guys in my head are debating this. We will have to get back to you.

If you will read my opening post you will see that I didn't say anything about medical marijuana.