Cannabis and IQ have been a hotly debated topic for many years. Some people are under the opinion that it can cause your intelligence to be lower in comparison to those that don’t consume cannabis. It’s always helpful to look at some of the research behind all of these claims so that you can get a better idea of what it’s all about.
Cannabis And IQ
Throughout the years, more and more people develop the idea that weed lowers IQ, but where do they get this information from? Cannabis is a very complicated plant, and even scientists that study it aren’t completely aware of people develop a low IQ from smoking weed.
Intelligence in itself is an extremely complicated thing to dive into, and there are more and more studies coming out that might point to the fact that there is a relation between IQ and cannabis consumption. That’s not to say that it’s a causal relation.
IQ – What Is It?
Before diving further into the causality between cannabis and IQ, it’s good to understand what IQ is in the first place. IQ refers to the ‘intelligence quotient’ and it’s basically just a method of examination that is used to see how smart people are. Many people think that the IQ test is a controversial one, but it’s long been the famous test that measures one’s intelligence.
There are a lot of different variations of the IQ test. Some of the tests are referred to as something else, but they all basically point to a similar test. The test includes questions to quiz you on your:
Abstract reasoning
Logical reasoning
Verbal reasoning
General knowledge
Two-thirds of people end up getting a score of around 85 to 115. There are around 2.5% of people that get a score of over 130 or under 70.
IQ – What Should I Know About It?
IQ is affected by many different things in life, and it’s a test that doesn’t exactly inform us of what is going on in a person’s brain. It tends to involve a variety of different environmental and physical factors. Intelligence is an extremely complicated concept to understand in itself, let alone test it.
IQ tests might be a way to measure how academically intelligent someone is, but they don’t really provide much information on how creative or socially intelligent someone is. A lot of people place way too much emphasis on IQ levels before anything else, and they mistakenly disregard other forms of intelligence that are just as important to consider.
IQ tests are highly related to the abilities that people develop from environmental factors. While they might measure intelligence to a certain degree, the test comes with a lot of biases attached to it because it fails to test many other things that make up intelligence as a whole.
It has long been realized that IQ places reward in those that created it in the first place. There have been a number of studies that have shown that socioeconomic factors play a large role in the fluctuations of IQ scores instead of genetic factors.
One can argue that this leads to the fact that IQ tests are actually testing the background of a person instead of their intelligence levels.
Why Focus On This?
Because of the many flaws that are associated with IQ tests, it’s very difficult to place a whole lot of trust in them. For that reason, the ability to figure out the relation between cannabis consumption and a lower IQ becomes very difficult to figure out.
In a nutshell, one can assume that cannabis consumption has a relation with lower IQ levels, but if you look at things a little closer, cannabis consumption and lower IQ levels might be caused by the same issue instead of the cannabis causing the lower IQ itself.
Will My IQ Lower From Cannabis Consumption?
It has long been touted that If you heavily use cannabis throughout your adolescent years, this can lead to lower IQ levels over a long period of time. There have been a number of studies that back this hypothesis up, but if you look a little closer, you can clearly see that cannabis might not be the culprit for it.
Weed And Lowered IQ
A study was conducted on around 1,037 13-year old individuals and then when they reached 38. The individuals were interviewed intermittently every couple of years to see if they were still using cannabis..
The study found that the people that were continually using cannabis proved to have a consistent decline in their IQ levels. This study was focused on the people that started consuming cannabis when they were adolescents. The study also showed that people who stopped using cannabis for a certain amount of time didn’t have an IQ level that bounced back to normal. This study pointed to the fact that cannabis can have neurotoxic complications on brains that are still developing during adolescence.
There was another study conducted a little more recently that showed that cannabis consumption in adolescents lowered IQ levels by two points. The study consisted of almost 2,900 papers and the highest IQ change was linked to verbal fluctuations.
Even though this study showed a relationship between cannabis consumption and IQ being reduced, it doesn’t prove that cannabis was the culprit of it. There could be a host of other things causing the decline of the IQ, and it’s extremely difficult to place the blame completely on cannabis use.
Twin Studies
Using twins for studies is a very effective way of figuring out what is causing what because of their similarities in genetics. Even the tiniest differences in upbringing can have large outcomes, and that always needs to be considered when you’re looking into cannabis and IQ.
With twins, if one of them consumes a lot of cannabis and the other one doesn’t consume it at all and has a much lower IQ than the one that doesn’t consume it, that might be better proof that cannabis can cause a lowered IQ level.
One study provides that this wasn’t the case. In one instance, a pair of twins were studied. One of them used cannabis throughout their adolescent years and the other one didn’t use it. It showed that there wasn’t any difference in IQ levels at all. This study was useful in proving that the IQ levels were affected by other things, such as familial and socioeconomic factors.
Another similar study was conducted and it found that people who consumed weed typically had a lower IQ by the time they were 12. It also found that their IQ scores were lower in the following years while they were consuming cannabis, but it wasn’t more prevalent than the ones that didn’t use cannabis. Lastly, the study found that the differences were negligible between the twins that consisted of one that consumed cannabis regularly and one that didn’t consume cannabis.
The study ended up concluding that there are a variety of other factors associated with IQ levels than just cannabis use.
The Link
Both socioeconomic and environmental factors play a large role in the reduction of IQ levels in adolescents. These factors also play a role in adolescents turning to cannabis use. While many people will continue to think that cannabis use is the direct cause of lower IQ levels, they aren’t considering all of the other factors that are related to it.
Weed IQ
Weed IQ
Cannabis And IQ – Can Cannabis Lower Your IQ?
Cannabis and IQ have been a hotly debated topic for many years. Some people are under the opinion that it can cause your intelligence to be lower in comparison to those that don’t consume cannabis. It’s always helpful to look at some of the research behind all of these claims so that you can get a better idea of what it’s all about.
Cannabis And IQ
Throughout the years, more and more people develop the idea that weed lowers IQ, but where do they get this information from? Cannabis is a very complicated plant, and even scientists that study it aren’t completely aware of people develop a low IQ from smoking weed.
Intelligence in itself is an extremely complicated thing to dive into, and there are more and more studies coming out that might point to the fact that there is a relation between IQ and cannabis consumption. That’s not to say that it’s a causal relation.
IQ – What Is It?
Before diving further into the causality between cannabis and IQ, it’s good to understand what IQ is in the first place. IQ refers to the ‘intelligence quotient’ and it’s basically just a method of examination that is used to see how smart people are. Many people think that the IQ test is a controversial one, but it’s long been the famous test that measures one’s intelligence.
There are a lot of different variations of the IQ test. Some of the tests are referred to as something else, but they all basically point to a similar test. The test includes questions to quiz you on your:
Two-thirds of people end up getting a score of around 85 to 115. There are around 2.5% of people that get a score of over 130 or under 70.
IQ – What Should I Know About It?
IQ is affected by many different things in life, and it’s a test that doesn’t exactly inform us of what is going on in a person’s brain. It tends to involve a variety of different environmental and physical factors. Intelligence is an extremely complicated concept to understand in itself, let alone test it.
IQ tests might be a way to measure how academically intelligent someone is, but they don’t really provide much information on how creative or socially intelligent someone is. A lot of people place way too much emphasis on IQ levels before anything else, and they mistakenly disregard other forms of intelligence that are just as important to consider.
IQ tests are highly related to the abilities that people develop from environmental factors. While they might measure intelligence to a certain degree, the test comes with a lot of biases attached to it because it fails to test many other things that make up intelligence as a whole.
It has long been realized that IQ places reward in those that created it in the first place. There have been a number of studies that have shown that socioeconomic factors play a large role in the fluctuations of IQ scores instead of genetic factors.
One can argue that this leads to the fact that IQ tests are actually testing the background of a person instead of their intelligence levels.
Why Focus On This?
Because of the many flaws that are associated with IQ tests, it’s very difficult to place a whole lot of trust in them. For that reason, the ability to figure out the relation between cannabis consumption and a lower IQ becomes very difficult to figure out.
In a nutshell, one can assume that cannabis consumption has a relation with lower IQ levels, but if you look at things a little closer, cannabis consumption and lower IQ levels might be caused by the same issue instead of the cannabis causing the lower IQ itself.
Will My IQ Lower From Cannabis Consumption?
It has long been touted that If you heavily use cannabis throughout your adolescent years, this can lead to lower IQ levels over a long period of time. There have been a number of studies that back this hypothesis up, but if you look a little closer, you can clearly see that cannabis might not be the culprit for it.
Weed And Lowered IQ
A study was conducted on around 1,037 13-year old individuals and then when they reached 38. The individuals were interviewed intermittently every couple of years to see if they were still using cannabis..
The study found that the people that were continually using cannabis proved to have a consistent decline in their IQ levels. This study was focused on the people that started consuming cannabis when they were adolescents. The study also showed that people who stopped using cannabis for a certain amount of time didn’t have an IQ level that bounced back to normal. This study pointed to the fact that cannabis can have neurotoxic complications on brains that are still developing during adolescence.
There was another study conducted a little more recently that showed that cannabis consumption in adolescents lowered IQ levels by two points. The study consisted of almost 2,900 papers and the highest IQ change was linked to verbal fluctuations.
Even though this study showed a relationship between cannabis consumption and IQ being reduced, it doesn’t prove that cannabis was the culprit of it. There could be a host of other things causing the decline of the IQ, and it’s extremely difficult to place the blame completely on cannabis use.
Twin Studies
Using twins for studies is a very effective way of figuring out what is causing what because of their similarities in genetics. Even the tiniest differences in upbringing can have large outcomes, and that always needs to be considered when you’re looking into cannabis and IQ.
With twins, if one of them consumes a lot of cannabis and the other one doesn’t consume it at all and has a much lower IQ than the one that doesn’t consume it, that might be better proof that cannabis can cause a lowered IQ level.
One study provides that this wasn’t the case. In one instance, a pair of twins were studied. One of them used cannabis throughout their adolescent years and the other one didn’t use it. It showed that there wasn’t any difference in IQ levels at all. This study was useful in proving that the IQ levels were affected by other things, such as familial and socioeconomic factors.
Another similar study was conducted and it found that people who consumed weed typically had a lower IQ by the time they were 12. It also found that their IQ scores were lower in the following years while they were consuming cannabis, but it wasn’t more prevalent than the ones that didn’t use cannabis. Lastly, the study found that the differences were negligible between the twins that consisted of one that consumed cannabis regularly and one that didn’t consume cannabis.
The study ended up concluding that there are a variety of other factors associated with IQ levels than just cannabis use.
The Link
Both socioeconomic and environmental factors play a large role in the reduction of IQ levels in adolescents. These factors also play a role in adolescents turning to cannabis use. While many people will continue to think that cannabis use is the direct cause of lower IQ levels, they aren’t considering all of the other factors that are related to it.