Monday, August 27, 2012 -

    Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London Confirms Cannabis Is Safe For Adults.

    REEFER MADNESS ALERT!

    New Study Of NZ Teens Shows Cannabis Reduces IQ.  

    It started to appear early this morning and has been variously attributed to the University of Queensland in Australia and Duke University in Durham, Carolina, USA.  It concerns a study of 1000 people in New Zealand over a period of 25 years, from age 13 to age 38. The headline claim is that “The most persistent adolescent-onset cannabis users evidenced an average eight-point IQ decline from childhood to adulthood”.

    I haven’t been able to establish an original source yet but you can bet that this is going to hit the mainstream headlines very soon.  The BBC has already called me about a possible radio interview  tomorrow.

    Existing sources are: Herald.ie MSN NZ

    So what does it mean?

    It’s nothing new really.  We already know that cannabis as with any psychoactive substance can be harmful to the developing brain.  I’m pretty confident that equivalent results with alcohol used from age 13 would be much more damaging.

    The vital and important point about this is that it sheds light, yet again, on the appallingly irresponsible policy of prohibition.  Our governments are failing entirely to provide any protection to our children against cannabis dealers.  All the evidence is that where cannabis is legally available to adults through a properly regulated system, use by children falls and age at first use increases.

    However, one exciting quote has emerged in early reports.  This is a very important nugget of information that highlights the truth about cannabis and could prove immensely valuable to our cause:

    Professor Terrie Moffitt, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, who took part in the study, said:

    “It’s such a special study that I’m fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains.”

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    • Focusonpeace

      Doesn’t this highlight the dangers of prohibition? When you disallow any type of regulation it makes it easier for kids to obtain. If using cannabis is more risky for some under 18′s, then it strengthens the argument for legal regulation. ”Cannabis Reduces IQ” Need to see some proof to believe that, but if true then another reason why cannabis needs to be legally regulated instead of being controlled by criminals.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Derek-Williams/1072934911 Derek Williams

      Cannabis is bad for kids, therefore spend a lot of moeny to ensure it’s supplied by unaccountable people from unknown venues at unknown strengths and purities under a regime that’s seen the age of first use drop pretty well year on year and, if we are to believe the prohibition supporters, the THC content increase greatly at the expense of CBD.

      Prohibition didn’t set out to protect kids, it set out to prevent adults using cannabis. Kids are just collateral damage.

    • dragon83uk

      It would be interesting to see the study so we could see just how many out of that thousand were considered ”
      The most persistent adolescent-onset cannabis users” and what the criteria was for placing them in that category. Obviously adolescent plasticity means that any drug usage is bad during the formative years. However it would be interesting to get some bearing on how cannabis stacks up against different drugs and other negatives factors that can have an effect.

    • ChristopherSawtell
    • steve a

      Isn’t it truly amazing how quickly the lads and lasses in the gutter media (I don’t think dishonest journalism is the exclusive province of the printed newspaper any more) all jumped on it.

      How old was Call Me Dave or that American president bloke when they had their first spliff? Over 18 I hope or neither of them would had made it to the places they have reached otherwise.

      Of course we should keep it away from children. Unfortunately only idiots and criminals seem to think that allowing children unrestricted access to anonymous poisons is an OK thing to do and these are the same people who are making or supporting the rules. It is not just the drugs that are dangerous to our hopes for the future, it is the media, the opinion formers and and the politicians who are paid to support the status quo as well. So, until we educate or arrest the these dangerous adults our precious children will still remain at maximum risk.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Great comment J.Smith. Thanks

    • stickybud

      Listen to it here:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01m5grw/Today_28_08_2012/

      on BBC iPlayer, from 1:33:45. Justin Webb has an appropriately inquisitive approach, and almost sceptical overtone. Terrie Moffitt confirms the evidence of a “tiny, tiny number”, with a genetic predisposition, being at risk from mental health problems. She should tell the Daily Mail and David Camoron.

    • cshaws
    • georgeclear

      “I’m fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains” .. sackable offence if Prof Nutt is anything to go by!.. Nice to hear it said out loud by a true expert in the field.

    • maxwood

      THINK: youngsters who use cannabis “frequently” perforce undergo a selective alienation and self-remotement from school, society at large, mentors etc. because of– what else– the sheer central issue of escaping detection, accusation, punishment, blacklisting etc., and the result would logically be a whole bargeload of education deficits to be interpreted by testers later as intelligence decline and conveniently blamed on the cannabis. Though the source given above (MSN/nz) does not mention tobacco, It figures that younger persons experimenting with cannabis would be more easily manipulated into using tobacco also, with results conveniently blamed on cannabis.

    • Focusonpeace

      Nicely said maX!

    • http://twitter.com/ljscurtains ian jones

      iq reduced…. i thought it was psychosis it caused……. in 20 years study they couldnt find proof of that so they had better come up with something eh 

    • http://www.facebook.com/bob.cruse.3 Bob Cruse

       the BBC is little more than a (propaganda) mouthpiece for the UK government when it comes to policies