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US - Drug use not tied to mental decline in middle-age

edgarshade

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Aug 31, 2010
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Reuters

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK | Tue Jan 3, 2012 11:25pm GMT

With reader comments

(Reuters Health) - Middle aged adults whose memories have grown hazy can't blame occasional pot smoking or other light illicit drug use, new research suggests.

In a study of nearly 9,000 Britons whose memory and mental function were tested at age 50, researchers found that those who had used illegal drugs as recently as in their 40s did just as well or slightly better on the tests than peers who had never used drugs.

When the participants were surveyed at age 42 about current or past drug use, marijuana was by far the most common indulgence: six percent said they had used it in the past year, while one-quarter said they had ever used it.

Other drugs they were asked about included amphetamines, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine and ecstasy -- with anywhere from three percent to eight percent of study participants saying they'd ever used those drugs.

While the researchers found no significant difference between drug users and non-users in cognitive tests, they also stress that this doesn't mean illegal drugs harm no one.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/03/us-drugs-middleage-idUKTRE8021JV20120103
 
While the researchers found no significant difference between drug users and non-users in cognitive tests, they also stress that this doesn't mean illegal drugs harm no one.

Translation: Our results aren't politically correct, so here's a politically correct conclusion thrown in without any evidence from the experiment to support it. Happy now, folks?
 
Actually, those who had used illegal drugs did slightly better on cognitive tests than those who had never used illegal drugs.
Translation: Go out and use some drugs right away. It will make you smarter.
 
Did they test them before they started using drugs, though? I remember reading somewhere that people with higher IQ tended to use drugs more (not trying to sound pretentious etc.), so if they only tested them after they used drugs it doesn't really show if it increased/declined.
 
^I would like to know this (for fact's sake) myself.

That being said, ignorance is bliss for a reason.
 
I want to know who is actually surprised by these findings. Chances are those people did not experience a change in opinion after reading this.
 
I want to know who is actually surprised by these findings. Chances are those people did not experience a change in opinion after reading this.

I heavily abused a lot of the lesser-known RCs over the last couple years, and I sure as hell ain't assuming I have no brain damage =D
 
I heavily abused a lot of the lesser-known RCs over the last couple years, and I sure as hell ain't assuming I have no brain damage =D

Yeah but this study is talking in particular about Marijuana, LSD, and Shrooms. Most people who only do those drugs are probably aware they don't cause damage when used on occasion. The people who think they leave crystals in your spinal fluid probably aren't going to have their minds changed by reading this (or anything).
 
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