Having noted earlier this week that marijuana users sometimes do rather foolish things, I was pleased to find this today:

Experienced marijuana users perform tasks as accurately after having smoked cannabis as they do sober, according to clinical trial data published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology.

Investigators at New York State’s Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University assessed the impact of acute cannabis intoxication on the decision-making abilities of 36 subjects, as assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task performance test. [NORML News]

It is an article of faith among those seeking to purge this precious plant from the planet that it shrinks your brain, figuratively if not literally. American tax dollars have paid for announcements that marijuana could cause you to shoot your best friend, run over a toddler on a tricycle, get pregnant at a party, get your hand stuck in your mouth, and on and on.

Of course, Joey Stoner needn't consult peer-reviewed research to confirm that he hasn’t accidentally killed anyone lately. Still, it's powerfully frustrating that marijuana consumers must defend their own competence against baseless and derogatory characterizations issued by sanctimonious bureaucrats who are, themselves, incompetent in every sense of the word.

Having already flunked math, science, history and social studies, it is those who wage endless war on this useful plant that are truly deserving of a scientific performance evaluation.