The effect of LSD on developing brains

In my Adult Development class, there has been some talk, "... that “older” people are not as sharp as younger people. In other words, casual observations suggest that a person’s intelligence changes for the worse with age."

I understand that we are discussing biological changes within the brain, however I believe there are several mitigators that may have had, or may continue to have, a significant bearing on the outcome of all such research studies.

Historically, those born in the years leading up to the Great Depression and on through until the start of World War II, may have been influenced by the Depression and the huge shift in thinking. Parents of these children may have had a hard time providing for the family so most of the children might have had to quit school and go to work, as every dime could be the difference between going to bed hungry or satisfied. Therefore, children born between roughly 1920 to 1938 were encouraged to work. Only the select few were given the opportunity to go to high school, let alone college.

After WWII, the country was in high spirits and the children of these parents, those born between, say, 1938 to 1950, were then encouraged to "get an education" and "make something of yourself".

Hahaha. But then Rock and Roll came into the picture and "corrupted our youth". (Just kidding. But our parents thought for sure it was the truth.)

The Babyboomers, those born between 1946 and 1966 sort of just threw the rule book away. In 1967, the oldest of those babyboomers was 21. In the early sixties, the popular youth culture became a massive counter-culture. They originated the term "generation gap" and sang songs "t-t-talking 'bout my g-generation".

In 1967, a psychologist named Timothy Leary urged this huge youth counterculture to "Turn on, Tune in, and Drop out." Yes. He advocated the use of LSD and other "psychedelic" drugs to "...go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment... Become sensitive to the... various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. [sic]" (Flashback, Leary, 1983)

So mostly the babyboomers took drugs and danced to the "devil's music". They marched for civil rights or women's lib, or they joined in a thousand protests of the war in Viet Nam. They had a lot of sit-ins, and one "Human-Be-in". And of course there was Woodstock.

So, the adults in the study may have dropped out of school for purely economic reasons (as my parents and some of their friends did) or they were just too stoned to go to school, or to pay attention if they did go to school, like my older brother and his friends. Maybe all those drugs affected their brains. (Naw... Do you think???)