Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are over 60 percent less likely to complete high school than those who never use. They're also 60 percent less likely to graduate college and seven times more likely to attempt suicide. Those are the startling conclusions of a new study of adolescent cannabis use out today in The Lancet Psychiatry, a British journal of health research.
In a conference call, study co-author Edmund Sillins said that the relationship between cannabis use and negative outcomes is significant even at low levels of use (e.g., less than monthly), and that "the results suggest that there may not be a threshold where use can be deemed safe" for teens.
Correlation and causation.
I think as with most of these things, it's about moderation right? I think even most of those favouring legalization will agree that smoking weed daily is not advisable, especially not for teenagers.
See the second quote in the OP.
Correlation and causation.
Yup correlation =/= causation necessarily but those numbers are significant enough that I think* there might be a grain of truth there.
This is true because my good friend smokes it on a daily basis and it can get quite annoying sometimes. He always wants to get high for everything. There was this one time we had decided to go to a Korean BBQ joint near our area and he was like "hold on I need to get high before we go." I'm like "the hell? Let's just go and eat" and he's all like "I need to get high to enjoy the food."I think as with most of these things, it's about moderation right? I think even most of those favouring legalization will agree that smoking weed daily is not advisable, especially not for teenagers.
This is both true and not true in my case. I smoked a fuckton of dope in high school, among other things, and ended up getting kicked out my final year.
However, I finally got my high school diploma at 21, and I'm currently finishing up my final year of college and if things continue going the way they have been I will graduate with honours. It was more the skipping class to get high than the drug itself that really affected me.
Correlation and causation.
Correlation and causation.
Exactly. These "findings" almost always make more sense when you flip the statements.
"Teenagers who drop out of high school and end up committing suicide are also far more likely to be the type of people to happily try marijuana or other drugs."
This is true because my good friend smokes it on a daily basis and it can get quite annoying sometimes. He always wants to get high for everything. There was this one time we had decided to go to a Korean BBQ joint near our area and he was like "hold on I need to get high before we go." I'm like "the hell? Let's just go and eat" and he's all like "I need to get high to enjoy the food."
Correlation and causation.
They found "clear and consistent associations between frequency of cannabis use during adolescence and most young adult outcomes investigated, even after controlling for 53 potential confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and mental illness."
Correlation and causation.
It's an easy trap to fall into because all the little things in life are better when you're stoned. Problem is, you can end up forgetting about the big things.This is true because my good friend smokes it on a daily basis and it can get quite annoying sometimes. He always wants to get high for everything. There was this one time we had decided to go to a Korean BBQ joint near our area and he was like "hold on I need to get high before we go." I'm like "the hell? Let's just go and eat" and he's all like "I need to get high to enjoy the food."
Sorry, that was unclear. I meant more that the drug didn't really affect my ability to function and think critically when completing assignments. I could still write well and usually got good marks on tests and exams. The problem was I wouldn't GO to the tests or not complete the homework.If you were skipping class to get high, wouldn't that be the drug itself affecting you?
You can control those variables (up to negligible degree),
though.
It smells bad.
Explain. The wording attempts to establish the smoking of marijuana as the cause for not completing school or committing suicide. What evidence do they have for that?
The study was done in two places (Australia and New Zealand) where Marijuana is ILLEGAL. I wonder instead if the type of kids who were always going to drop out were also the type of kids who were willing to break the law and smoke marijuana?
Why don't they wait another year or two and then try this in Colorado or somewhere where marijuana is legal? Wouldn't that make more sense?
They don't say it's "the cause." They just say that, given the statistics, it may not be advisable to deem cannabis use "safe" for teens. In the absence of a more complete understanding, what other conclusion should they reach?
Explain. The wording attempts to establish the smoking of marijuana as the cause for not completing school or committing suicide. What evidence do they have for that?
Marijuana's not legal to people under 21 in Colorado.
Correlation and causation.
They should do a study like this with alcohol next. Then punk rock music. Then skinny jeans.
You can control those variables (up to negligible degree).
http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/9/10...-marijuana-use-associated-with-worse-outcomesResearchers found that, after controlling for 53 factors ranging from socioeconomic differences to mental health, young adults who used marijuana more frequently before age 17 were more likely to have worse outcomes by age 30 for high school completion, university degree attainment, suicide attempts, and other illicit drug use. They found no correlation between adolescent pot use and depression or welfare dependence.
...
In that sense, the study doesn't add much to what public health experts know about marijuana. Prior studies have correlated adolescent pot use to faults in cognitive development. The question for researchers has always been whether that correlation equals causation and this latest study, despite its strong controls, doesn't provide a complete answer.
I made a conscious decision to not start smoking weed until I finished high school. I would ask my hypothetical children to do the same.
