Posted on 08/30/2014 1:11:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The paper will be published Wednesday, August 27, 2014 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
... researchers used an MRI machine and the brains of 40 people between the ages of 18 and 25. They claim that the more marijuana a person smokes, the more those two neural regions get "damaged."
Dr. Hans Breiter, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, co-authored the study. He says, "Anytime you find there's a relationship to the amount of marijuana consumed and you see differences of core brain regions involved in processing of rewards, the making of decisions, the ability to assess emotions, that is a serious issue."
Co-senior author of the study, Anne Blood says, "There is this general perspective out there that using marijuana recreationally is not a problem - that it is a safe drug. We are seeing that this is not the case."
The research team included experts from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School helped reach their conclusion by comparing MRI images from the brains of 20 recreational pot smokers (who smoke around 11 joints per week) and the brains of 20 non-users. All 40 people fell into a similar demographic in terms of age, education level, personality, alcohol use and general anxiety levels.
Scientist measured two different regions in the brains of the marijuana users. They looked for differences in the sizes and shapes of their nucleus accumbens, which affects pleasure and reward, and their amygdalas, which handles emotional memory and the assessment of negative consequences. These areas in marijuana users were large than in those who did not smoke.
... "When we saw that there was a consistent abnormality and that it was directly related to the amount of cannabis one took in, it gave us some significant pause.
(Excerpt) Read more at designntrend.com ...
riiight.. Booze has proven to be a destructive influence on youth and adults alike, it’s addictive and controlled yet we still have issues with DWI/DUI and alcoholism and under-aged drinking so, just to be “consistent” we need to add pot to the equation because potheads need legitimacy.
“recreational pot smokers (who smoke around 11 joints per week) “
THAT’S “recreational” use? With today’s high THC pot, if I smocked 11 joints a week, I’d be totally blitzed all the time! Before I quit, over 30 years ago, a few tokes got me high. 11 joints a week?
If he did smoke maybe he’d have even more success...financially, socially, professionally and so forth.
What came first, the dope or the dope?
No psych text book I have read so far has approved of Marijuana and all were written by liberals. Newer versions may be updated.
Of course, no one knows what he might have been like if he hadn't smoked marijuana. Maybe he could have been the next Bill Gates and employ 120,000 people?
Smoking pot might be like pugilistic dementia and boxing. Some boxers take a lot of blows to the head in their careers without brain damage but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Does he smoke all day? Probably like an after dinner drink? There are high functioning alcoholics, too. Doesn’t mean they would not be better off not drinking 24/7. If you have been doing the same job for 20 years, what wouldn’t you already know?
These people are called Democrats. The Democrats want there to be more of them, whose only civic responsibility is to vote for Democrats on Election Day.
Not very scientific but my own personal experience is yes. It definitely affected me and to this day. The last time I smoked it was 32 years ago.
Also, another interesting observation back when I started smoking it — I initially had an immunity to its effects. It took several times smoking it to get high. But after that, the high came immediately. I suspect that the same thing would happen if I were to smoke it today — 32 years later.
There was definitely “a change.”
Carl Sagan say’s he made quite a number of his discoveries while smoking pot.
Guess it depends upon how you look at it. Stoners being stoned keeps them out of the voting booth. Smoke on stoners smoke on!
Clearly that man belongs in a cage. /s
Well then, we’ll have to recriminalize alcohol. Gotta be consistent and protect the People, after all.
But, he was discovering billions and billions of stars. Before pot came along, it was only a few million.
One of his more significant findings was Taco Bell is a 5-star restaurant.
Ruh-roh, so does tobacco.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/cigarette-smoking-may-cause-physical-262784
Pot destroys your brain, anyone who’s been around anyone who has smoked pot for a while knows this for a fact.
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