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Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: v01d on February 10, 2012, 12:36 am

Title: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: v01d on February 10, 2012, 12:36 am
hxxp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114221018.htm




Quote
A high childhood IQ may be linked to subsequent illegal drug use, particularly among women, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The authors base their findings on data from just under 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, a large ongoing population based study, which looks at lifetime drug use, socioeconomic factors, and educational attainment.
The IQ scores of the participants were measured at the ages of 5 and 10 years, using a validated scale, and information was gathered on self reported levels of psychological distress and drug use at the age of 16, and again at the age of 30 (drug use only) .
Drug use included cannabis; cocaine; uppers (speed and wiz); downers (blues, tanks, barbiturates); LSD (acid); and heroin.
By the age of 30, around one in three men (35.4%) and one in six women (15.9%) had used cannabis, while 8.6% of men and 3.6% of women had used cocaine, in the previous 12 months.
A similar pattern of use was found for the other drugs, with overall drug use twice as common among men as among women.
When intelligence was factored in, the analysis showed that men with high IQ scores at the age of 5 were around 50% more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores, 25 years later.
The link was even stronger among women, who were more than twice as likely to have used cannabis and cocaine as those with low IQ scores.
The same associations emerged between a high IQ score at the age of 10 and subsequent use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, multiple drug use and cocaine, although this last association was only evident at the age of 30.
The findings held true, irrespective of anxiety/depression during adolescence, parental social class, and lifetime household income.
"Although most studies have suggested that higher child or adolescent IQ prompts the adoption of a healthy lifestyle as an adult, other studies have linked higher childhood IQ scores to excess alcohol intake and alcohol dependency in adulthood," write the authors.
Although it is not yet clear exactly why there should be a link between high IQ and illicit drug use, the authors point to previous research, showing that highly intelligent people are open to experiences and keen on novelty and stimulation.
Other research has also shown that brainy children are often easily bored and suffer at the hands of their peers for being different, "either of which could conceivably increase vulnerability to using drugs as an avoidant coping strategy," explain the authors.

Possible discussion questions:
What do you think?
Are you surprised?
Why did you start doing drugs?
Why do you continue to do drugs?




Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: sons of vipers on February 10, 2012, 12:48 am
Read something like this this a few weeks ago. Makes a lot of sense! I'm a really bright kid, but I find myself drawn to drug use. Granted, I'm not using heroine/meth/crack, etc. But I definitely can see the argument of smart kids getting bored and using drugs to stimulate their brains. I personally gravitate towards psychadelics, and I love learning new things on, or off of them. Just my 2 cents!
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: redforeva on February 12, 2012, 04:30 am
Makes sense
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: bionic1 on February 12, 2012, 07:07 am
I remember when I was in 5th grade, that was when we started the D.A.R.E program at my school. I remember one day, the D.A.R.E officer was talking about the different kinds of drugs, and he said that some drugs make you hallucinate. I specifically remember thinking something along the lines of, "Wow, I'd like to try that." I was intrigued that you could take drugs and see things that aren't there.

I experienced exactly the same!!  ;D
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: divinechemicals on February 12, 2012, 07:50 pm
This makes perfect sense actually. As a child, I took an IQ test and it was somewhere between 120 and 130 (read: quite high). I also won that D.A.R.E. writing contest back in 5th grade, I was such a good little child. I had always bought into the anti-drug paranoia bullshit, because I didn't really care enough to look into it at the time.

But around the transition from high school to college, I started actually doing the research. I think that's the difference. The higher your IQ, the more likely you are to do the research and find out what drugs are okay, and which ones aren't. Like I don't want to insult anyone on the Silk Road because it's totally your choice what you would put into your body, but I would never do anything like heroin or meth, because as far as I can tell from my research, those are legitimately bad drugs. But things like weed, MDMA, shrooms, and LSD have no negative health benefits associated with moderate use. So the higher your IQ, the more likely you are to not listen to the high school health class bullshit and do your own research from legitimate scientific studies.

Not to mention the fact that people with IQs tend to have more stressful lives due to trying to be successful in school and that sort of thing, so they're probably more drawn to the relaxing/fun/party drugs like the ones I mentioned above. I myself am very busy, so it's nice to trip with friends once in a while to enjoy myself. As a matter of fact, I joined an academic club at my university and we all found that every single person in the club uses those types of drugs haha, and thanks to SR I have a consistent supply to anything we want to get. So now we are the best club on campus  ;D
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: happyroller1234 on February 12, 2012, 07:58 pm
As a matter of fact, I joined an academic club at my university and we all found that every single person in the club uses those types of drugs haha, and thanks to SR I have a consistent supply to anything we want to get. So now we are the best club on campus  ;D

RIGHT FUCKING ON!  Haha.
I actually read a few different articles about this over the summer, and I wish I had taken an IQ test as a child.  Perhaps I did?  It'd be interesting to see if "soft" drug use has diminished or increased my intellectual abilities.  And while I know a lot of smart users/addicts, there are also just as many incompetent ones.
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: Tynkk on February 12, 2012, 10:33 pm
Haha I saw that article the other day actually, I thought it was interesting.  I got tested when I was a kid and ended up with a score of 160.
Funny thing though, I didn't use drugs until I was told I wasn't allowed to run anymore (nerve disintegration in my foot) but I pretty much continued because it's fun. 

Could it be that people with higher IQs are more likely to question things they have been told, rather than just accepting them at face value? i.e. "Drugs are bad. They hurt you."  "Well, when I tried pot the first time I didn't magically transform into a serial criminal, so I wonder what else they've exaggerated on?" type of thing.
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: Tynkk on February 12, 2012, 11:00 pm
Haha I saw that article the other day actually, I thought it was interesting.  I got tested when I was a kid and ended up with a score of 160.
Funny thing though, I didn't use drugs until I was told I wasn't allowed to run anymore (nerve disintegration in my foot) but I pretty much continued because it's fun. 

Could it be that people with higher IQs are more likely to question things they have been told, rather than just accepting them at face value? i.e. "Drugs are bad. They hurt you."  "Well, when I tried pot the first time I didn't magically transform into a serial criminal, so I wonder what else they've exaggerated on?" type of thing.

Questioning authority is a huge part of it IMO. What was that quote by Einstein, to never stop questioning or something like that. One of the smartest humans ever, and he urges people to question, question, question.

So in general, I think the smarter a person is, the more likely they are to question things, and the more one questions things, the more likely they are to try drugs, because at some point, they'd question the drug hysteria and maybe wanna find out for themselves. Or something to that effect.

Fair point, I suppose the term is "great thinkers" not "great sheep".  :P
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: Angelology on February 13, 2012, 01:15 am
hxxp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114221018.htm




Quote
A high childhood IQ may be linked to subsequent illegal drug use, particularly among women, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The authors base their findings on data from just under 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, a large ongoing population based study, which looks at lifetime drug use, socioeconomic factors, and educational attainment.
The IQ scores of the participants were measured at the ages of 5 and 10 years, using a validated scale, and information was gathered on self reported levels of psychological distress and drug use at the age of 16, and again at the age of 30 (drug use only) .
Drug use included cannabis; cocaine; uppers (speed and wiz); downers (blues, tanks, barbiturates); LSD (acid); and heroin.
By the age of 30, around one in three men (35.4%) and one in six women (15.9%) had used cannabis, while 8.6% of men and 3.6% of women had used cocaine, in the previous 12 months.
A similar pattern of use was found for the other drugs, with overall drug use twice as common among men as among women.
When intelligence was factored in, the analysis showed that men with high IQ scores at the age of 5 were around 50% more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores, 25 years later.
The link was even stronger among women, who were more than twice as likely to have used cannabis and cocaine as those with low IQ scores.
The same associations emerged between a high IQ score at the age of 10 and subsequent use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, multiple drug use and cocaine, although this last association was only evident at the age of 30.
The findings held true, irrespective of anxiety/depression during adolescence, parental social class, and lifetime household income.
"Although most studies have suggested that higher child or adolescent IQ prompts the adoption of a healthy lifestyle as an adult, other studies have linked higher childhood IQ scores to excess alcohol intake and alcohol dependency in adulthood," write the authors.
Although it is not yet clear exactly why there should be a link between high IQ and illicit drug use, the authors point to previous research, showing that highly intelligent people are open to experiences and keen on novelty and stimulation.
Other research has also shown that brainy children are often easily bored and suffer at the hands of their peers for being different, "either of which could conceivably increase vulnerability to using drugs as an avoidant coping strategy," explain the authors.

Possible discussion questions:
What do you think?
Are you surprised?
Why did you start doing drugs?
Why do you continue to do drugs?
What do you think?Probably fake, I have a high IQ but most of my friends are a lot... lower. I think it depends on the drug.
Are you surprised?No.
Why did you start doing drugs?I dont do drugs.
Why do you continue to do drugs?^ Weeds not a drug.
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: v01d on February 13, 2012, 02:45 am
Weeds not a drug.
Words can hardly describe how much I hate when people say this. It's a substance that when inhaled/eaten/iv'd/im'd/applied topically/plugged or any other form of entering your body affects the way it functions. Caffeine is a drug. Tobacco is a drug. Weed is a drug. I don't care if it grows in your backyard or if its formed in a lab, it's still a drug.
Maybe you should give datura or nightshade a whirl sometime, they are just plants after all.
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: gtg424 on February 13, 2012, 05:05 am
Makes sense to me, I was a smart fucking kid and I do drugs!
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: sourman on February 13, 2012, 06:12 am
Definitely makes sense. I was diagnosed with every highly subjective, bullshit psychological/neurological disorder popular at the time because I was "different" as a child. Being labeled as a psycho retard--let's be honest, that's the connotation that goes along with such diagnoses--did way more harm to me than anything else I had to endure. After I grew up and got my self-esteem back, I realized just how laughable this all is. Every single person out there that is capable of doing something exceptional has symptoms of everything from autism to bipolar depression. Some psychiatrists just read the DSM-IV verbatim and look for any reason to medicate your ass. The higher your intelligence, the more likely you are to be shunned by others (at least initially). You also tend to understand the effects of drugs better, as well as having a higher level of self-awareness. Naturally, you're gonna try something to help balance out your sometimes overactive mind. Only problem is, people with high IQs sometimes have poor self control. If they don't end up addicted to drugs, they'll find something else. Hey, I wish I had an addictive hobby that helped me as much as weed does, but most people aren't that lucky. I'd rather smoke weed every day and be successful and happy like I am now than be some loner playing MMORPGs all day in his mom's basement.
Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: pine on February 13, 2012, 11:19 am
The intelligence of the drug community ranges from incredible genius to fucking stupid.

On average, I'd say the I.Q of the drug community is exactly the same as the population, that is: 100.

You get this all the time with surveys, they study coffee, tobacco, you name it, and then extrapolate that X makes you smarter/more stupid.

The majority of those surveys have serious sampling problems. Take the idea that Omega-3 fish oils make you smarter for example. Do you seriously think any of those investigations examined people outside a certain socioeconomic class?

I'm not talking about simplistic upper/middle/working class distinctions here. The differences between those classes in the United States is completely trivial in comparison to the difference between the poorest member of the American working class with a working class man or woman in Liberia, Africa.

It's a well known fact that in successful economies, people are on average smarter, as measured by the IQ test. The average Swede or Norwegian has a higher IQ than somebody from the Congo or Burma. As a result the IQ standard '100' isn't the same '100' across the world.

This is not because of race or ethnicity. 2nd and 3rd generation Congolese and Burmese in America have the same IQ as the average American.

IQ really measures your 'adaption to your environment'. The kinds of questions that Congolese and Burmese face are very unlikely to be found inside an IQ test. It's entirely the wrong metric to measure their smarts. So this is *really* about the level of economic advancement your country is at. This is why the IQ test isn't static, it changes over time. The IQ '100' in 1900 isn't the same IQ '100' in 2000. Check it out, I'm not fibbing here, it actually increases from year to year.

I think the real measure of intelligence is your actions. I see a whole lot of 'smart' people earning fuck all money. I also see street smart savvy business people who generally have dozens of people who are supposedly smarter working for them. Smarts = Results.



Title: Re: "High Childhood IQ Linked to Subsequent Illicit Drug Use, Research Suggests"
Post by: sourman on February 13, 2012, 12:47 pm
^Agreed. Medical studies are notorious for using small sample sizes that don't reflect a true cross section of whatever population they want to study. Some studies lack much needed controls, while others are outright fraud. Government commissioned studies are especially laughable, and that's not limited to the infamous "pot kills braincells" crap. When they pay you to look for a result, that's the result the study will show.

You want marijuana smoke to kill brain cells? No problem! We'll force monkeys to inhale more smoke than oxygen until cerebral hypoxia, and not weed, results in death of brain tissue. Hey, according to the US government, holding my phone while I drive is the equivalent of being intoxicated. So I'm fine if I hold a cup of coffee while speaking to multiple passengers, but once I physically pick up a cell phone with my hand, I am a... dun dun dunnnn... drunk driver. I can even drive while fumbling with some crappy, unreliable bluetooth handset, and I'm fine as long as I don't hold the phone in my hand. Some people just have extremely poor attention spans. They shouldn't be allowed to drive period, let alone while using a cell phone, applying make up, blinking, breathing, etc. People may or may not be CREATED equal, but they sure as hell do not end up that way. Instead of legislating distractions out of existence, why not make it harder to get the damn license in the first place? There are studies, and then there's common sense.

For every academic research study out there that claims something outrageous or just plain stupid, there's always another one (that isn't reported on of course) that contradicts it. We would all be walking cancer tumors by now if even half the stuff claimed in these things were true. Sometimes the media will just take a few sensational quotes from the study, use them out of context, and claim things that were never even concluded in the study.