“I swear to god dude, if I hadn’t smoked so much weed in highschool, I’d be a goddamned ROCKET SURGEON or something man…â€
“Huh, huh. Yeah me too bro, me too… You uhh… Done with the bong there man?†Is a conversation millions of stoners have had at some point in their lives.
Scary thing is an epic, nearly 40-year long study has just been concluded that shows without a doubt that if you smoked weed on the reg during your teenage years, it would have had a different and more damaging effect on your brain than your buddy Bonzo, who only started smoking after 18.
To quote the study, which I originally read about here:
Around 5% of the group [that were tested] used cannabis at least once a week in adolescence or were considered dependent on it. Between the age of 13 and 38, when all members of the group were given a range of psychological tests, the IQ of those who had been habitual cannabis users in their youth had dropped by eight points on average.
So what right? Eight points hardly sounds like much. But the article I read goes on to say that 8 points on a scale where the average is 100 can mean moving from being in the 50th to the 29th percentile.
Also, giving it up made hardly any difference. It’s all about how young and tender your brain was when you lit your first 50 joints.
The message here is simple kids. If you aren’t phased by the idea of a life of distinct mediocrity working at the video store, flipping burgers at McDonalds or blogging, then by all means hit that bong.
But if your brain is something you’d prefer to damage as little as possible, maybe hold off from regular marijuana use until after you’re 18, mmmm-kay?
Atta boy.
-ST
