Why Do People Think That There Is a Major Link Between Marijuana and Intellectual Disabilities?

Question by Seahawksfan44: Why do people think that there is a major link between Marijuana and Intellectual Disabilities?
As a person that has never smoked a joint of Marijuana in his life due to it being illegal, I am a huge supporter of it being legalized since Marijuana is WAY safer than Alcohol and Tobacco due to the fact that it has milder short term effects and few long term effects (if any!). All I hear about on the news is how ‘Marijuana causes Intellectual Disability, and how it turn any genius into an Intellectually Disabled person’. Well there’s three reasons why I don’t fully believe it yet:

1. I’ve spoken with many pot heads, and they are WAY more aware than those who are drunk. They actually sound like themselves when they speak, just a little more like they are away from reality. Long term pot heads seem to have a worse short term memory, but there long term memory is actually still decent from what it looks like.
2. About the only thing that I’ve noticed is ‘laziness’ in pot heads, and laziness is not the same as what we are talking about here.
3. Short term smokers who don’t abuse it by using it too much (Marijuana addiction is MUCH milder than Tobacco addiction) seem to be more intelligent than they were before they smoked Marijuana.
4. They seem to have a superior attention span after smoking Marijuana.

Tobacco and Alcohol are more likely to cause long term brain damage than Marijuana would in my opinion. If anything, I think that Marijuana is one of the things that can’t cause Intellectual Disability in this society. How come people say that Marijuana causes Intellectual Disability when Marijuana only impairs the brain in the short term?

Best answer:

Answer by guapo
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Answer by summerjo:)
I don’t think it can cause intellectual disability, however researchers have found a link between smoking marijuana at young age heavily can cause drops in IQ. IQ is what determines intelligence in general so that’s the only reason I can think someone can say that. But for someone to go from an IQ of 100 (average) to a 70 (borderline mental retardation) or under is a significant drop that is typically only seen in brain injuries from either a traumatic accident or cardiovascular problem (stroke for example).

You are right the addiction is much milder than tobacco or alcohol because it is mostly psychological. And I appreciate that you have done your research and have a strong stance on your beliefs.

Marijuana does cause upper respiratory infections more often in individuals who smoke regularly, but that is the only illness that I’ve ever found from smoking it. It can also cause attention span issues (which can be an issue for kids who need to graduate high school or college) and a lack of motivation. Anything that causes abnormal functioning of the brain shouldn’t be consumed in any form unless it is to counteract a symptom that is severely distressing to an individual and their family. But like you, I agree that legalization would change a lot of things. Especially if it was regulated like alcohol with age limits and consumption limits. I believe that marijuana would be more natural to give to people who have aggression issues or other psychological problems instead of psychotropic drugs that were created in a lab. But I do not and will smoke marijuana myself.

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