Marijuana May Shrink Parts of the Brain ARTICLE

uRbAnDieSeL*ATL · Jun 3, 2008

MONDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- People who use marijuana for a long time can develop abnormalities in their brains, Australian researchers report.
Although growing literature suggests that long-term marijuana use is associated with a wide range of adverse health consequences, many people believe it is relatively harmless and should be legalized, the researchers noted.
"However, this study shows long-term, heavy cannabis use causes significant brain injury, memory loss, difficulties learning new information, and psychotic symptoms, such as delusions of persecution [paranoia], delusions of mind-reading, and bizarre social behaviors in even non-vulnerable users," said lead researcher Murat Yucel, from the ORYGEN Research Centre and the Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne.
This new evidence plays an important role in further understanding the effects of marijuana and its impact on brain functioning, Yucel said. "The study is the first to show that long-term cannabis use can adversely affect all users, not just those in the high-risk categories such as the young, or those susceptible to mental illness, as previously thought," he said.
The report was published in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
In the study, Yucel's team did high-resolution MRIs on 15 men who smoked more than five joints a day for more than 10 years. They compared those with scans of 16 men who did not use marijuana.
In addition, all the men took verbal memory tests and were examined for symptoms of psychiatric disorders.
"The more marijuana used, the more these individuals were likely to show reduced brain volumes in the hippocampus and amygdala, as well as being more likely to develop symptoms of psychotic disorders and to have significant memory impairment," Yucel said.
In fact, the hippocampus of marijuana users was 12 percent smaller, and the amygdala was 7.1 percent smaller than among nonusers. In addition, men who used marijuana also had symptoms of psychiatric disorders, Yucel's group found.
The hippocampus is associated with the regulation of emotion and memory, while the amygdala controls fear and aggression.
"There is ongoing controversy concerning the long-term effects of cannabis on the brain," Yucel said. "These findings challenge the widespread perception of cannabis as having limited or no harmful effects on brain and behavior. Although modest use may not lead to significant neurotoxic effects, these results suggest that heavy daily use might indeed be toxic to human brain tissue."
One expert agrees that heavy marijuana use can have negative effects on the brain.
"These findings are not surprising," said Dr. Adam Bisaga, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and an addiction psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute. "Chronic use of large amounts of any substance that is affecting neural transmission will most likely invoke adaptive changes and lead to the reorganization of neural networks, and possibly affect brain structures."
Heavy users of marijuana probably represent only a very small proportion of users, Bisaga said.
"It is not clear if any clinically significant changes can be seen in recreational, infrequent marijuana users, who were not studied here. These findings suggest that public health education, as well as screening, early recognition, and treatment of cannabis dependence, may prevent the progression of the disease and the loss of brain function and related psychiatric complications," Bisaga said.
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dunno what to really say bout this.. what yall think

Diceman · Jun 3, 2008

More bullshit ontop of the pile? Just gonna be forgotten about in a couple weeks if not days

Highbinder · Jun 3, 2008

I'd like to know who conducted the tests, more about the subjects (their jobs, their hobbies, whether or not they were stimulating their brains or just apathetic slobs), who sponsored (paid) for the experiment, who exactly wrote the article and what publication it was printed in (and who they affiliate with), and finally more specific results (more than 5 joints can mean anything, could mean thirty 1/2 gram joints or 5 1/2 gram joints, or a dozen 3 gram blunts, etc) more than one test (to see correlations under similar circumstances) and over a wider group of subjects.

But yeah.

Davy Jones · Jun 3, 2008

five joints a day for more than 10 years.
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(their jobs, their hobbies, whether or not they were stimulating their brains or just apathetic slobs),
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Five joints a day for over 10 years is pretty much being constantly high for 10 years straight, I would have to speculate, that is thier hobby / accupation. First off I dont know how you could hold down a good job, you certainly would have to...5 doobies my size easily kills a 1/4 oz.

Having said that, I believe there might be some truth to it, I mean I kinda wanted to say something else after reading, but got side tracked.

4twizzy. · Jun 3, 2008

once again i think this all falls down to the responsible use .....

Livingalife · Jun 3, 2008

Whooptie fucking doo. Alcohol DESTROYs ur brain and makes u retarded. I've binge drinked for days stopped. And after that I had trouble telling stories, remembering shit, making sentences, all sorts of shit. Weed don't do that.

pavlakos · Jun 3, 2008

bull. why is mind reading bad again? lol. id fucking love to get so high i can read peoples minds.

Weedman90.OG 01 · Jun 3, 2008

If this is true my brain is size of squirrel.

dbpwattack · Jun 3, 2008

shrinking of the brain? given that marijuana effects the hippocampus section of the brain and the ego is housed there...... it's the ego that is dying.

aaronman · Jun 3, 2008

Wow, using a drug excessively for 10 straight years is bad for you?

Any legal drug administered like this would shrink your brain too...

I'd like to see the in depth research. How did they monitor use, how much was in each J, who were the subjects, were they high when they did the tests...

The "psychotic" actions of the subjects appear normal for a stoned person around a bunch of biased scientists. The marijuana subjects felt persecuted (paranoid), could "read minds" of researchers as being assholes, and bizarre social behavior of not wanting to be around the creepy researchers.

bkadoctaj · Jun 3, 2008

haha Notice us getting all huffy about it. It's just an article, not the word of God, and of course this is a scientific analysis, totally excluding any analysis of true sense of well-being.

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Marijuana May Shrink Parts of the Brain ARTICLE

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Marijuana May Shrink Parts of the Brain *ARTICLE*

uRbAnDieSeL*ATL oh so h3tty

Diceman Draped up, dripped out Gold Member

Highbinder Jumpin&#39; Blues Old School

Davy Jones arrrr....................

4twizzy. Registered User Of MJ

Livingalife Recreational Smoker

pavlakos Unmasked

Weedman90.OG 01 Banned

dbpwattack Where are you in remember

aaronman n'wah

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Marijuana May Shrink Parts of the Brain ARTICLE

uRbAnDieSeLATL oh so h3tty*

Diceman Draped up, dripped out
Gold Member

Highbinder Jumpin' Blues
Old School