>>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/21/obamas-white-house-drug-experts-contradict-his-mar/
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>>Makes you wonder... :)
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>One of the things I wonder though, is whether the drug control staff or the staff of the National Institute on Drug Abuse are entirely unbiased. After all, they have words like 'control' and 'abuse' in their organization names. Not to mention the Drug-Free America Foundation. Would they be out of work if they were shown to be wrong? Do people who are not pre-disposed to a position apply for work at those places?
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>There are certainly other 'foundations' and organizations with different points of view and, I expect much the same sorts of hiring choices. I have to wonder if both sides sometimes just make stuff up about it to bolster their own viewpoints.
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>I'd really like to know more about it though, because if there actually is a study that measured, say thousands of IQs, and then years later after a lot of pot smoking measured them again and found a significant drop, I'm guessing, without the 60s, I could have had an IQ of around 250. ;)
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>Do people who use medical marijuana truly end up more stupid?

You certainly have a point on institutions that might produce findings that jeopardize the organization itself. Of course, if that's true, that could lead to an entirely larger conversation about lobbyists. :)

On the medical marijuana question, that's actually a good one. I don't know if medical THC is going to be different than your garden-variety type of pot, as far as the effects. But many of those who take it say that it's almost a miracle for them, as they previously found little relief in other types of painkillers. I don't know if there's ever going to be any hard empirical data on medical marijuana, but I just don't believe that someone terminally ill and desperately seeking relief is just looking to get high. I know someone who is extremely bi-polar (ran in the family) and has never responded well to medications. The person turned to weed a few times a week, and has held down the same job for a few years now and hasn't had the thrill-seeking incidents that used to plague the person. That's enough for me to believe it has some kind of medical benefit for those situations.