… School. Yeah, that’s the one.
The Guardian report that, in what may be the least surprising scientific discovery ever, a study by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has found that teenagers who use cannabis daily before the age of 17 are more likely than their peers to fall behind in various key areas.
Much like your mate who can scrape the resin from a bong in no time flat but hasn’t worn clean socks or underwear in months, those who smoke pot regularly as teenagers seem to adapt poorly to the demands of adult life.
The report – which combines data from three long range studies of 3700 cannabis users – found that youngsters who smoke pot on a daily basis are 60% less likely than their more straight-edge peers to graduate from high school or university.
The study concluded that daily teenage pot smokers are seven times more likely to attempt suicide and eight times more likely to try other illicit drugs when compared with non-users. It also found strong later-life links with other factors like depression and welfare dependence.
Keep in mind that the key word here is “daily” – that’s a bloody enormous amount of pot for someone in high school, especially when most seriously committed stoners don’t reach their peak level of daily baked-itude until they move into their first share house, and even most of them slow down after a while.
How many pot do Australians actually smoke? UN figures released earlier this year confirmed that Australia leads the world in terms of ecstasy consumption, and that the rate of cannabis use among the adult population sits at around 10.8%. The Guardian’s piece claims that approximately 1% of Australians in the 14-19 age range are daily cannabis smokers, while 4% use it weekly.
Dr Alex Wodak of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation said that, while evidence regarding the harms of frequent marijuana use was “compelling”, he likewise feels that daily use of the drug before the age of 17 would be “pretty uncommon.” “Daily use of any strong, psychoactive drug at any age, particularly at a young age, is not a good thing,” he added, “so I’m not surprised by the finding.”
In summary, then, everything you assumed to be true anyway pretty much turns out to be true. Thanks, science.
