Marijuana Permanently Reduces the I.Q. of young Users

A study has claimed that regular cannabis smokers under 18 years old generally suffer a permanent drop in IQ.

The research, which looked at 1,000 people in New Zealand from childhood to the age of 38, came to the conclusion that cannabis had a detrimental effect on the still-developing brains of teenagers, reports BBC News.

Professor Terrie Moffitt of King's College London, who was part of the international research team, explained: "This work took an amazing scientific effort.

"We followed almost 1,000 participants, we tested their mental abilities as kids before they ever tried cannabis, and we tested them again 25 years later after some participants became chronic users."

On average, individuals who persistently used cannabis in their adolescent years lost eight IQ points. The loss in IQ is never recovered, even if the user no longer smokes cannabis.

Moffitt continued: "Participants were frank about their substance abuse habits because they trust our confidentiality guarantee, and 96% of the original participants stuck with the study from 1972 to today.

"It is such a special study that I'm fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains."

Thanks to Digital Spy x