Healthcare
Why Cannabis is Now the Drug of Choice for Smart People – The Higher the IQ, the Higher the Chance of Using Cannabis Says Study
The consumption of marijuana as well as numerous other types of psychedelic substances is more pronounced these days than ever before.
From executives to programmers at Silicon Valley, it’s safe to assume almost everyone is high from something at some point. But it’s become increasingly clear that marijuana is the drug of choice for those with higher IQ’s. This is contrary to the Reefer World stereotypes that prohibitionists have been pushing; they try to claim that marijuana users are lazy, couch potatoes with no ambition in life.
The data tells us – the opposite is true.
In fact, a 2011 study conducted by researchers from the British Medical Journal analyzed the IQ’s of around 8,000 males and females. They were tested four times each, from the time they were 5 to the age of 30. Their findings revealed that people who have higher IQ’s when they were children were more likely to be cannabis users by the time they hit the age of 30.
What was surprising was that the higher their IQ, the higher the probability that they would use cannabis when they got older. High-IQ women were twice as likely to be marijuana users compared to those with low IQ scores while men who had high IQs were 50% more likely to be cannabis users by 30.
But one doesn’t really need studies to understand why more intelligent people use marijuana. There are no clear-cut reasons why, though it makes sense to hypothesize the reasons behind this:
Creativity: Marijuana has been proven to enhance creativity and overall creative thinking. Whether you’re an artist or work at a startup, creative thinking will benefit your intelligence in more ways than one. Just some of the famous creatives who have been known to toke include Bill Gates, Bob Dylan, Carl Sagan, Bill Maher, and Abraham Lincoln to name a few.
Besides, everyone can benefit from the ability of marijuana to help you think outside the box especially when it comes to problem solving.
Studies show that consuming marijuana has an impact on the kind of thinking that we do because it boosts cerebral blood flow in the brain’s frontal regions, which are responsible for creativity (or lack thereof). The chemicals in marijuana are shown to boost divergent thinking, which is what promotes creative & free thoughts, as opposed to convergent thinking, which is associated with problem solving.
Quiet the intelligent mind: Smarter people, and those with higher IQ’s, tend to struggle with many more thoughts and at a much faster pace compared to people with average intelligence. That’s because smart people already know that they are usually surrounded by people who may not be interested in the hard facts or correct way of thinking, making it tiresome to continue debating and arguing with people. This can explain why many smart people are also quieter than others, preferring instead to be alone with their thoughts.
When the thoughts get too much, smart people turn to cannabis to help turn it down a notch or two. THC or CBD compounds can do wonderful things for mental relaxation, helping to shut off the thoughts that typically force them to think about anything and everything in the world, all at once.
Socialize intellectually, intelligently, and responsibly: Smart people know that alcohol is not the best social lubricant – cannabis is. Whereas alcohol can make you act stupid and give you terrible hangovers, marijuana doesn’t. It’s the ideal social lubricant for when you have to rub elbows with people at work, other programmers, artists and creatives, or brainstorm with your peers. Given how socially accepted marijuana is these days, it’s becoming more common for people to bring weed, or even attend get togethers stoned, passing a joint around as you talk politics, business, life – just about anything.
Improved cognitive processes: Marijuana has numerous benefits for the brain and thinking, and many studies prove it. For one, whereas other recreational drugs and alcohol kill and impair the growth of new brain cells, marijuana does the opposite. The formation of these new cells are a great help in improving memory retention, and it also helps to prevent mood disorders. If a person suffers from anxiety, this can also prevent them from thinking properly as it affects executive function, but marijuana can help alleviate that too.
In addition, a study also shows that there is a link between cannabis use and better cognitive performance when it comes to attention, executive function, working memory, psychomotor speed, and verbal learning. In other words, we can say that marijuana helps smart people become even smarter.
Conclusion
While people of all kinds of intelligence levels use marijuana and can benefit from it, it’s clear that all users know that cannabis can be good for them. We know that marijuana is the key to living a healthy, balanced lifestyle especially when we’re prone to so much pressure and stress at work, we know that it can help us become better people in and out of the office, and we also know that it’s far healthier for us than other drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Smart people also know so much more about the available forms of “escape” out there, and they know more than their peers about the best, safest, and healthiest ways to cope with day-to-day life. It’s marijuana, no doubt.
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed that cannabis odor does not constitute probable cause to search a vehicle.
If Minnesota police search a vehicle solely based upon the smell of pot, they can’t justify searching a vehicle, even if there is evidence found of other alleged crimes. Even after appealing a lower court decision to suppress the evidence—twice—the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed, and the dismissal of his charges stands.
In a ruling filed regarding a case the State of Minnesota Court of Appeals on Sept. 13, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed that cannabis odor does not constitute probable cause to search a vehicle.
The case has been ongoing for two years. On July 5, 2021, just before 10 p.m., a Litchfield police officer stopped a car for an obscure local law: the light bar mounted on the vehicle’s grill had more auxiliary driving lights than are permitted under Minnesota law. The officer asked the driver, Adam Lloyd Torgerson, for his license and registration. Torgerson, his wife, and his child were present in the vehicle. The officer stated that he smelled pot and asked Torgerson if there was any reason for the odor, which he initially denied. But cops found a lot more than just pot.
A backup officer was called in. The couple denied possessing any pot, but Torgerson admitted to smoking weed in the past. The second officer stated that the weed odor gave them probable cause to search the vehicle and ordered them to exit the vehicle. The first officer searched the vehicle and found a film canister, three pipes, and a small plastic bag in the center console. The plastic bag contained a white powder and the film canister contained meth, which was confirmed in a field test.
Torgenson was charged with possession of meth pipe in the presence of a minor and fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance after the unwarranted search of Torgerson’s vehicle.
Police Aren’t Allowed to Do That, Multiple Courts Rule
But the search had one major problem—cops weren’t searching for a meth pipe. They only searched his car because they could smell pot, and the meth and paraphernalia were a surprise for everyone. Still, they had no grounds to search the vehicle. The man’s charges were later dismissed after the district court determined the odor of cannabis alone was insufficient basis for probable cause to search the vehicle, regardless of whatever other drug paraphernalia they found.
The state appealed the case, but the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision. The case was appealed a second time, this time to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which agreed with the lower court’s ruling.
“This search was justified only by the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle,” the Minnesota Supreme Court decision reads. “Torgerson moved to suppress the evidence found during the search, arguing that the odor of marijuana, alone, is insufficient to create the requisite probable cause to search a vehicle under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. The district court granted Torgerson’s motion, suppressed the evidence, and dismissed the complaint. The State appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s suppression order. Because we conclude that the odor of marijuana emanating from a vehicle, alone, is insufficient to create the requisite probable cause to search a vehicle under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, we affirm.”
It amounts to basic human rights that apply—regardless of whether or not a person is addicted to drugs.
Other States do Precisely the Same Regarding Pot Odor as Probably Cause
An Illinois judge ruled in 2021 that the odor of cannabis is not sufficient grounds for police to search a vehicle without a warrant during a traffic stop.
Daniel J. Dalton, Associate Judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit, issued a ruling in response to a motion to suppress evidence in the case of Vincent Molina, a medical cannabis patient arrested for cannabis possession last year.
In that case, Molina was arrested despite the decriminalization of small amounts of cannabis in Illinois in 2019 with the passage of the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.
In some states, the issue of probable cause and cannabis was defined through bills.
Last April, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill that reduces the penalties for public cannabis consumption and bars police from using the odor of cannabis as the basis for the search of an individual or auto. Under Maryland’s House Bill 1071, law enforcement officers would be prohibited from using the odor of raw or burnt cannabis as probable cause to search a person or vehicle.
The rulings represent the rights of citizens when they are pulled over by police, even if there are hard drugs involved.
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
Pot Odor Does Not Justify Probable Cause for Vehicle Searches, Minnesota Court Affirms
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
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