Hi guys, long time smoker, been toking for 4 years now, almost daily and I feel the effects. I'm no longer as sharp as my former self, my memory capacity has decreased and its just been harder for me to learn and retain information. I'm trying to apply for med school right now but I don't want to stop smoking the herb, so conflicted. just want to know you guys inputs.
It doesn't call brain damage but it will reduce your memory and how "sharp" you are. How this happens is THC is soluble in fat, and your cerebral cortex is pretty fatty. The THC builds up over time and binds to the fat in your cerebral cortex, and it slows down how fast the messages sent from the synapses get to the other synapse. yadaddamean?
Being high all the time can lead to that kinda lazy lifestyle combined with a stoners memory. I smoked wayy too much weed in my first year of uni, and I barely passed. Really its about self control, just try to cut back and get familiar with your sober self more often lol.
see i dont think its completely 100% reversible, if the thc is physically clogging up the synapses, it has to be causing atleast minor damage on the physical scale.
Where the fuck did you get that its clogging your synapses? Please don't make up random science babble, I've already posted a report from WebMD on an actual scientific study on long-term marijuana users. THC has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with synapses, it clogs dopamine receptors similarly to cocaine but not as much and not permanently, so it causes euphoria and triggers physical symptoms like increased appetite and relaxed muscles. Whereas cocaine just kind of flips a "feel-good" switch in your brain, but unfortunately leaves your brain feeling dissatisfied when its dopamine receptors are not being affected by it. Invest in a college-level intro psych textbook and read the section on recreational drugs. (WARNING: Doing this will make you want to try every one of those drugs.)
once it's metabolized it's gone. if a beaver builds a dam, water stops, if you tear down the dam, water flows again.
i'm basing my clogging hypothesis on wut this friend said, ok so it doesnt clog up one's synapses, but it does bind to the fat in our brain, the fat in our brain is what provides insulation to the axons (mylin seeth), how well-insulated/mylinated ones axons are is the primary physiological determination of one's intelligence. so if thc is interferring with the mylin in our brain, thats basically increasing the lentancy for electric impulses to travel to and fro, hence reduced mental agility and overall sharpness. I hope for my sake that it is reverseble but as a general observation of the real world we live in, once you cause change to a object, that structure is never quiet the same. again I hope I'm wrong becuase I absolutly love getting high, I consider marijuana the safest drug there is but I can't lie to myself and pretend that its not detrimental to my mental health.
Just try getting into a non-pothead environment and making smoking more of a special occasion or weekly ritual for yourself. It's the day-in-day-out toking that slows you down. You probably have a psychological addiction if stopping isn't easy, so just buy your last bag, smoke half of it with some friends and give the rest of it away to your favorite stoner buddy. It's important that you don't finish the bag but instead make a choice to not finish it, at least that's what people do with cigarettes. If you give some weed away, I'm sure a friend would be willing to smoke you up once a week and then you don't have to buy anymore.
Lol, they do NOT drug test at graduate schools or med schools, they don't even drug test at undergraduate schools.