michaelleung: No, I was asking for studies about the link between marijuana use and apathy.
Also, your generalisation that left-wing people are generally atheist is laughable.
XmXFLUXmX: Again with the sarcasm, how about confronting my ideas head on with evidence of your own? I can keep shoveling evidence on you, but it doesn't seem to be having any affect, other than you just keep resorting to ego defense maneuvers.
Also, here is this:
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/nc/nc1g.htm CTRL+ F for " Amotivational syndrome"
As with alcoholism, it is quite often impossible to distinguish whether the described effects result from drug use or represent personality traits or changes which would have been present without the drug use.
So this study isn't entirely sure if marijuana causes these mental changes or not? Oooh boy. Strap in.
When marihuana consumption was irregular, mental deterioration was not evidenced (Freedman and Rockmore, 1946) in 310 users with an average history of seven years of use.
So if you had a joint every once in a while, there is no evidence of mental deterioration. What the hell kind of study is this?
Sixty-seven heavy users in New York showed no evidence of dementia attributable to drug use although they did have underlying personality disorders. Another investigation (Mayor's Committee, 1944) of individuals who used a daily average of seven marihuana cigarettes (two to 18 range) for average of eight years (two-and-a-half to 16 range) showed no evidence of brain damage or mental deterioration.
So serious tokers with underlying disorders don't have any mental problems attributed to weed? Looks like marijuana isn't so bad after all.
However, Miras believes that this effect is related to the quantity and frequency of hashish use. He describes three categories of long-term hashish users. Type A uses low doses intermittently and is socially and mentally unaffected. Type B1 uses low doses daily and no interference is caused in function. Type B 2 uses high doses daily causing dependence and performance decrements. Type C uses very high doses daily allegedly causing mental deterioration and abnormal behavior described above. Fink and Dornbush (1971) are currently intensively studying this population. The results will be described in a later section.
So if you smoke an insane amount of weed a day, you have mental issues? That's nothing - people who drink a lot every day (whisky for breakfast, lunch, dinner, that kind of thing) would also have mental issues. And liver issues. And probably relationship issues. People who have a tiny bit of weed daily don't have any problems functioning, it seems.
In Western countries, Bromberg (1939) and Allentuck and Bowman (1952) reported on acute psychotic episodes with clear-cut onset during the marihuana intoxication. Most symptoms cleared within a few days although several had a, prolonged illness. These rare acute psychotic episodes, discussed earlier, have been described recently by a variety of authors in scattered countries (Smith, 1968; Weil, 1970; Bialos, 1970; Keeler, 1967; Milman, 1971; Pesyko, 1970 Kaplan, 1971; Prince et al., 1970; Baker and Lucas, 1969; Grossman, 1969; Beaubrim, 1971; Spencer, 1970).
Some of these reported cases are quite transient and clear rapidly with support of others and may be more like acute panic reaction than psychosis. Still others appear to fit the picture of transient toxic psychosis.
So psychotic symptoms go away after a while for most people anyways! That's probably like having a seriously bad hangover. And for those that don't, they can still be treated anyway. Not exactly the evil drug that causes apathy here.
Kornhaber (1971) believes that at least twice daily marihuana use for a year, in a 13-to-18-yearold population, has a deleterious effect upon the developing adolescent. The intoxicated state facilitates a regression from logical-mathematical thought processes to a more primitive conceptual mode of fantasy and magical thinking and impairs learning ability and judgment by decreasing attention and concentration. Thus, the developing youth turns away from reality toward fantasy and from structure and activity to passive dependency.
To be fair, if you're letting 13 year olds smoke weed, that's kind of... not right.
First,, persons who already exhibit these, traits may simply be attracted to the use of cannabis. Sociologists tend to favor this explanation, arguing that the relationship between cannabis use and various behavioral indicators is not causal, but simply one manifestation of a general pattern of youthful deviance or rebellion (Goode, 1970).
Utilizing a large sample, Johnson (1971) found that marihuana use is associated with impaired school performance and several forms of deviance; however, other indicators such as premarital sex and high school truancy predicted the dependent variable as well or better. Tobacco and alcohol use were nearly as good predictors as marihuana.
So essentially, marijuana's effect on people in the context of amotivational syndrome is similar to smoking tobacco or alcohol? Oh, no! We must ban those too!
A second related explanation is that the illegal. context in which the drug is taken forces the adoption of a nonconforming life style. The users is thus further alienated from the dominant culture through his close ties with the cannabis-using group.
So make it legal. Then it won't be "cool" anymore.
Third, cannabis use and associated activities may largely substitute for other interests. The individual may focus so much of his time and energy on cannabis that he has little time for other endeavors.
I do that when I browse the Internet at 4 in the morning. People engrossed into any activity they enjoy are often like that.
In summary, if cannabis use produces personality and behavior changes via one or more of the above mechanisms, the extent of such changes is likely to be strongly related to the amount consumed and the age of the user. According to evidence found in Western literature, frequent use may be quite disruptive during the formative years of adolescence.
On the other hand, the Eastern literature indicates that, although the very heavy user (200 mg. THC or more per day) is largely incapacitated, manual laborers often function adequately while consuming amounts containing 30 to 50 mg. THC per day (Roland and Teste, 1958; Chopra and Chopra, 1939). Similarly, many musicians and entertainers in the United States have lived productive lives while using marihuana (Winick, 1960).
So marijuana depends on the person. Some do well with it, some don't do as well with it. Others can't live without it, others do quite well with small amounts.
This study of yours seems to agree with me more than it does with you. Have you actually read the study or did you just post the first thing that showed up on Google?
Fun fact: the people who commissioned this study, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse were appointed by the US government to look into the effects of marijuana and its role in shaping American drug policy. The commission came to the conclusion that there was no real evidence that marijuana ruins lives or society. The commission also came to the conclusion that it wasn't right to send people to jail for smoking weed, opting to decriminalise it instead. They found it was roughly the same as alcohol as a drug (which, obviously is legal).
Nixon didn't follow anything the commission said.