The results do not support the conclusion. The results suggest higher intelligence correlates with a tendency towards openness and risk taking. Such people (at the extreme of the spectrum) might be more prone to playing Russian Roulette. A study showing greater tendency to try Russian Roulette in those with higher IQ, by Mr. Kirkegaard's logic, would demonstrate that Russian Roulette, in moderation, is not harmful.
It seems a stretch to say that trying drugs but not abusing them is a good thing. Doesn't it make more sense to say that people with higher IQs are better able to limit their drug use and avoid the worst outcomes? A study comparing high IQ drinkers with high IQ teetotalers would be interesting.
Remember we had same relationship with smoking before the anti-smoking campaigns? People with degrees smoke more than proles, then report of Surgeon General about harms of smoking, and pronto, smoking amongst people with degrees dropped quickly where smoking among proles continued to grow and order got reversed.
We should check same correlation in countries where drinking isn't socially encouraged.
We should check phenotypic IQ vs drugs given same genotypic IQ.
I have suspected this for years, but had never investigated it thoroughly. This supports the idea that experimentation with drugs is a marker of openness to experience -- which is associated with greater intelligence. Many years ago as an undergraduate at a university where many students had tried psychedelics and had not tried psychedelics, I made a rule never to seriously date any woman who lacked this sort of openness (to trying/had tried). Mostly, I was picking up on the almost "knee-jerk" reaction of some folks to the mention of psychedelics. When speaking with some of the will-never-try types, I got the sense that they were not independent thinkers. The rule was: she had to be an atheist, and open to experience...both of which seem to be indicators of higher intelligence. Great article!
People who occasionally dabble in drugs likely have higher levels of executive function. That could explain why they aren't regular users. This doesn't mean drugs make you smart though.
If language matters, perhaps we adopt the phrase "drug misuse" since we can't "abuse" an inanimate object as the phrase "drug abuse" suggests... its use takes the focus off the "user" and puts it on the inanimate object, the drug... it's just another coddling technique in the failed "war" on addiction (or as the coddlers might say; "war on drugs")
The results do not support the conclusion. The results suggest higher intelligence correlates with a tendency towards openness and risk taking. Such people (at the extreme of the spectrum) might be more prone to playing Russian Roulette. A study showing greater tendency to try Russian Roulette in those with higher IQ, by Mr. Kirkegaard's logic, would demonstrate that Russian Roulette, in moderation, is not harmful.
It seems a stretch to say that trying drugs but not abusing them is a good thing. Doesn't it make more sense to say that people with higher IQs are better able to limit their drug use and avoid the worst outcomes? A study comparing high IQ drinkers with high IQ teetotalers would be interesting.
Remember we had same relationship with smoking before the anti-smoking campaigns? People with degrees smoke more than proles, then report of Surgeon General about harms of smoking, and pronto, smoking amongst people with degrees dropped quickly where smoking among proles continued to grow and order got reversed.
We should check same correlation in countries where drinking isn't socially encouraged.
We should check phenotypic IQ vs drugs given same genotypic IQ.
I have suspected this for years, but had never investigated it thoroughly. This supports the idea that experimentation with drugs is a marker of openness to experience -- which is associated with greater intelligence. Many years ago as an undergraduate at a university where many students had tried psychedelics and had not tried psychedelics, I made a rule never to seriously date any woman who lacked this sort of openness (to trying/had tried). Mostly, I was picking up on the almost "knee-jerk" reaction of some folks to the mention of psychedelics. When speaking with some of the will-never-try types, I got the sense that they were not independent thinkers. The rule was: she had to be an atheist, and open to experience...both of which seem to be indicators of higher intelligence. Great article!
People who occasionally dabble in drugs likely have higher levels of executive function. That could explain why they aren't regular users. This doesn't mean drugs make you smart though.
If language matters, perhaps we adopt the phrase "drug misuse" since we can't "abuse" an inanimate object as the phrase "drug abuse" suggests... its use takes the focus off the "user" and puts it on the inanimate object, the drug... it's just another coddling technique in the failed "war" on addiction (or as the coddlers might say; "war on drugs")
High IQ people have more money and psychedelics are expensive.
The optimal drug policy is Singapore, but it’s not politically feasible in most of the world.
For the west the optimum is something like tax/regulate soft/common drugs and make hard/uncommon drugs illegal.
Enforcement in some jurisdiction should focus more on dealers than users and others are too soft on the users who have become a public safety menance.
There is a nontrivial overlap with mental health institutionalization policy and drug addiction (a lot of these people shouldn’t be on the streets).