Smarter Kids Use Drugs

[dales]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/ar ... d=10766554

Brightest kids 'more likely to take drugs'
5:45 AM Thursday Nov 17, 2011 Share274 Email
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Intelligent children are more likely than their less intelligent peers to use illegal drugs in later life, according to a study which has found a link between high IQ scores and drug use.

Children who were in the top third in terms of IQ when aged 5 and 10 were found to be at significantly increased risk of taking illegal drugs such as cannabis and cocaine when they became older.

The study was based on interviews with nearly 8000 people who were part of the 1970 British Cohort Study, which involved measuring IQ scores when each child was 5 and 10, and asking them about their drug habits when they were 16 and 30.

By the age of 30, around one in three men (35.4 per cent) and one in six women (15.9 per cent) had used cannabis while 8.6 per cent of men and 3.6 per cent of women had used cocaine in the previous 12 months, the study found.

A similar pattern was found for other drugs, such as barbiturates, LSD and heroin. Boys in the top third in terms of IQ when aged 5 were about 50 per cent more likely than the bottom third to have used drugs such as amphetamines and Ecstasy when aged 30.

The effect was even stronger among women. High-IQ women were more than twice as likely as low-IQ women to have used cannabis and cocaine in the past year, for instance.

Dr James White of Cardiff University, who led the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, said that because the effect could be picked up at the age of 5, before schooling, it might be independent of education.

"The study just looked at whether you had or had not used drugs in the last year. We don't know the level of usage and we don't know the harm of low-level drug use.

White suggested that one possible explanation was that more intelligent people were more likely to get bored or to suffer at the hands of their peers, either of which could lead to experimenting with drugs.

Overall, he added, high-IQ people were more likely to have healthier lifestyles because they were better informed about diet and exercise.

- Independent

[Andrew D]

If you can't figure out how to get your hands on them, you're less likely to use them ....

[dales]

Just a phone call away for me, Andrew.

[Gob]

Could it be that intelligent people are less likely to swallow the "drugs, if you even look at them they will kill you" garbage put out by the authoritarians, and are more likely to be inquisitive?

[BoSoxGal]

Aha! At last, my excuse!

[Andrew D]

White suggested that one possible explanation was that more intelligent people were more likely to get bored or to suffer at the hands of their peers, either of which could lead to experimenting with drugs.

The number-one cause of the use of mind-altering substances (including alcohol, which ought to be called a "drug" but often is not):

Boredom.

[Guinevere]

I don't know about that -- I'd be there is another factor involved -- someone needs to dig into those numbers a little deeper.

I'm one of the smart kids, my sister is one of the smart kids, my friends are all the smart kids --- and none of us do or have done drugs of any kind (excluding Andrew's comment about alcohol -- and none of us abuse it). Hell as far as I know, I've never even been in a room where drugs were being done -- with the sole exception of one ex-boyfriend who pretty much ended up being a low-level pot dealer and addict himself (and tanked his life in the process).

[Rick]

Intelligent children are more likely than their less intelligent peers to use illegal drugs in later life, according to a study which has found a link between high IQ scores and drug use.

Proly cause their dumber cousins are already using or have died from using.

That and the smarter (LOL) folks more than likely have a larger amount of "disposable" income...

[Andrew D]

Wouldn't the main reason for wanting to alter the state of one's consciousness be that the present state of one's consciousness is uninteresting?

Sure, one's reason for wanting to alter the state of one's consciousness might be that the present state of one's consciousness is depressing. Or uncontrollable. Etc.

But from my observations (which are extensive), many more people are bored than depressed or out of control.

Oddly, perhaps, I have arrived at a point where consciousness-altering substances are themselves boring.

[Rick]

I'm not that existential, when I'm bored I start getting sleepy...

[Guinevere]

I guess its that I think life and the world is endlessly fascinating. Of course, I am too, but that's a whole different topic....

[Gob]

Wouldn't the main reason for wanting to alter the state of one's consciousness be that the present state of one's consciousness is uninteresting?

Quite the opposite one would assume. If you have an interesting conciousness you may want to try other states of conciousness for comparison, inquisitiveness, or excitement.

[loCAtek]

Erm, I'm with AndrewD, when I'm bored I drink.

[BoSoxGal]

Most of the folks I know who have tried various drugs recreationally are highly intelligent and did so not out of boredom, but out of curiosity. Additionally, the use of certain drugs can enhance and/or add a different dimension to certain intellectual experiences - I've read some classic world literature texts under the influence of marijuana and had insights that led to really great critical academic papers.

I know plenty of professors, lawyers, judges, doctors, etc. who are current or former recreational drug users. There is nothing wrong with lifelong abstinence, but it's not morally superior, IMHO.

[Gob]

5 things acomplished while high

#5.Francis Crick Discovers DNA Thanks to LSD
#4.Freud and Cocaine Invent Psychoanalysis
#3.Dock Ellis Trips His Way to a No-Hitter
#2.A Coke Addict Makes a Coke-Flavored Cola and Calls it Coke
#1.Moses Takes 'Shrooms, Shits Out Ten Commandments

[loCAtek]

Hmmmm for number one, I went to Wiki, which only had one recently added sentence;

Benny Shanon, a psychology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, proposed that Moses may have been high on hallucinogenic mushrooms at the time he received the Ten Commandments.[13]

[13] is sited as; ^ "'Moses was high on hallucinogenic drug when he received Ten Commandments,' claims top academic". Daily Mail (London). 2008-03-05. [Uh-oh]

Follow that link and, you find out that that top academic was high at the time;

Psychology professor Benny Shanon says it was likely Moses was hallucinating under the influence of a mind-altering drug at the time of his biblical achievements.
...
The professor, who came up with his theory after experiencing firsthand the effects of a hallucinogenic brew used in religious rituals in Brazil, said the story of Moses and the burning bush also had the hallmarks of a psychedelic experience.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1eIrFIjmm

One high-guy does not a reliable source make.

[Andrew D]

Wouldn't the main reason for wanting to alter the state of one's consciousness be that the present state of one's consciousness is uninteresting?

Quite the opposite one would assume. If you have an interesting conciousness you may want to try other states of conciousness for comparison, inquisitiveness, or excitement.

With respect to experimentation, that may be. I had in mind a person who already knows what her or his consciousness is like on marijuana or cocaine or whatever and prefers it to one's ordinary state of consciousness.

[Gob]

With respect to experimentation, that may be. I had in mind a person who already knows what her or his consciousness is like on marijuana or cocaine or whatever and prefers it to one's ordinary state of consciousness.

I agree. Though pleasure, rather than boredom, could/may be the driving factor in that case.

[loCAtek]

So, if you're dumb, you don't do drugs? Sorry, my three addicted to the point of death, uncles were not what you'd call smart characters.


Well, I figured out this much from Wiki;

Methodology and scope [of the 1970 British Cohort Study]

The primary method of data collection are face-to-face interviews (with the parents), self-completion questionnaires as well as psychological and educational measurements. The sample size included about 17,000 babies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland born in 1970.[3]

According to the article the sample has appeared to shrink but you might also conclude from it that the UK is a pretty boring place

Now, in my country, the demographics for drug users is quite the opposite;

Drug use rates have historically been highly correlated with educational status, and remain so. College graduates have the lowest rates of current drug use (4.8%).

Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... z1eNsnmNpj