Smoking Pot Can Make Kids Lazy

Does smoking marijuana make kids lazy?  Scientific evidence says, "yes."  Marijuana Makes for Slackers? Now There’s Evidence by Susan Pinker says,

"... marijuana’s two psychoactive ingredients, tetrohydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), have contrasting effects on the brain. “THC makes you feel high,” said Catharine Winstanley, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia who does research on marijuana, while CBD “is responsible for its analgesic, antiseizure and purported anticancer effects.” 

The results? “Whether they were workers or slackers to begin with,” Dr. Winstanley reported, “even small amounts of THC made them all slackers.”

“Thinking that it’s harmless, that you can smoke cannabis and you’ll be fine, is a false assumption,” said Michael Bloomfield, a University College London professor in psychiatry and one of the UCL study’s authors. “THC alters how willing you are to try things that are more difficult.”

Our children need to know that while 25 states and the District of Columbia have legalized pot for various purposes, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers marijuana as illegal as heroin.  Companies with good jobs and high pay sometimes do drug testing, both in the hiring process and in the work place, doing random drug tests.  I have been drug tested, so this is personal testimony.  Smoking pot can cost your child a good job. On more that one occasion I have had to submit to lie detector tests and I was asked about drug use in these tests.  Even if your children wait to get the drugs out of their system, they might still be tripped up by a lie detector test.  There is an economic incentive in addition to a health incentive to avoid marijuana.

This article appeared in the printed edition on Saturday Sept. 17, 2016, page C2.  This should be available in your public library if you have trouble reading the article online.  Susan Pinker has a column called Mind & Matter in the Wall Street Journal.

We cannot assume our children will absorb our values because they are in our home.  We ought to explicitly state and promote our values to our children, in my opinion.  We need to speak against drug use to protect our children from harm.

Wishing the best for you and your family,
Robert