Posted on 06/23/2011 1:20:37 AM PDT by AustralianConservative
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C... Smoking marijuana affects peoples’ impulsivity, attention, memory, cognition and decision-making abilities. That’s been scientifically proven.
Recent research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center draws on the findings of previously published studies to further understanding about how marijuana affects the brains of chronic users, with specific focus on how the drug affects the decision-making process.
These findings are important because they demonstrate a potential, negative side effect of chronic marijuana use.
“Understanding how marijuana influences the perception of what is ‘negative’ may help explain continued marijuana use and aid in the development of effective strategies for treatment therapies,” said lead author Michael J. Wesley, Ph.D., department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist. “Published data suggests that marijuana use is increasing, both recreationally and medicinally. However, the misperception that it’s harmless is also rising. It’s imperative that we begin analyzing the effects of long term, heavy marijuana use.”
Published by “Psychiatry Research” in the January 2011 issue, Wesley’s study was supported with grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Wesley and his co-researchers on the study are attending the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) this week in Florida. Wesley presented preliminary findings from the study last year at the conference and expects that his study and others similar to it will be a topic of discussion this year.
NIDA reported last December that regular marijuana use is on the rise among teenagers, citing an increase of more than 10 percent in students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade. In addition, NIDA’s 2010 Monitoring the Future study surveyed 46,482 students in 396 public and private schools across 48 states and corroborated the results of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, also released last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at newswise.com ...
That photo is science.
Then sell me some more expensive toxic chemicals to counteract the first set.
Just rub a little cat crap behind each year and people will leave you along.
We already knew drug users were stupid but thanks for the confirmation.
obama?
Definitely obamanomics!
“we already knew drug users were stupid”
Oooooo.... the FR cannabis libertarians will get you for that! Permanent adolescents, arise and smite your critics!
;^)
So let's look at the "research"...since it's been out since January.
Poor decision-making by chronic marijuana users is associated with decreased functional responsiveness to negative consequences
Abstract
Chronic marijuana users (MJ Users) perform poorly on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a complex decisionmaking task in which monetary wins and losses guide strategy development. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study sought to determine if the poor performance of MJ Users was related to differences in brain activity while evaluating wins and losses during the strategy development phase of the IGT. MJ Users (16) and Controls (16) performed a modified IGT in an MRI scanner. Performance was tracked and functional activity in response to early wins and losses was examined. While the MJ Users continued to perform poorly at the end of the task, there was no difference in group performance during the initial strategy development phase. During this phase, before the emergence of behavioral differences, Controls exhibited significantly greater activity in response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial frontal cortex, precuneus, superior parietal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum as compared to MJ Users. Furthermore, in Controls, but not MJ Users, the functional response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and rostral prefrontal cortex positively correlated with performance over time. These data suggest MJ Users are less sensitive to negative feedback during strategy development.
This work was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse grants DA007246 (MJW), DA020074 (LJP), and DA06634 (LJP). The authors thank Mack D. Miller, Hilary R. Smith and Thomas J.R. Beveridge for their comments on this manuscript and Marla Torrence for her assistance in recruitment and processing of the participants. None of the authors have any financial conflict of interest in the performance or publication of this research.
Now why didn't they make the same statement about where they work?
That is who pays them, isn't it?
Let's gamble with play money!
I know. I’ve heard all the arguments, the comparisons to booze, the “make it legal and remove the profits” tilt, the “nobody can tell me what to put into my body” theme, all of it and it just don’t fly.
Too often the “Free the Cannabis” crowd cannot distinguish libertarian from libertine.
So what is your solution? Or are you under the impression that the WOsD is actually working despite all evidence to the contrary.
Socialists love drug legalization.
Yeah, there's nothing like bandying about a good old fashioned shibboleth mixed with a dash of demagoguery.
The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise by Milton Friedman
There are some general features of a socialist enterprise, whether it's the Post Office, schools, or the war on drugs. The enterprise is inefficicnt, expensive, very advantageous to a small group of people, and harmful to a lot of people. That was true of socialism in Russia, it was true of socialism in Poland, and it's true of socialism in the United States.
Conducting a defensive battles is a sure loser and trying to combat drug use by searching vehicles at the border is a last ditch defense effort. It produces some notable wins while being over run by the enemy.
And chasing down some drug thugs and grabbing their cash, even if it's millions of dollars, isn't going to make much of a dent in a multi-billion dollar industry.
“Or are you under the impression that the WOsD is actually working despite all evidence to the contrary.”
What War? 9-11 happens and the U.S. commits its self to spending hundreds of billions of dollars every year into an unknown future to prevent a recurrence and punish the groups responsible no matter where they reside.
The damage to lives and the monetary costs of the country having a drugged and stupid subset of the populace is far, far greater than 9-11.
Yet the lowest and simplest level of the so called War on Drugs, searching vehicles at the southern border is conducted in a hit and miss fashion. Admittedly the vast majority of drugs do get through because the vast majority of vehicles are not searched and unless there has been a change, trains are never searched.
Some war! “B-B” guns against tanks.
At the moment there simply isn't the national will to do what must be done.
Every single Mexican railcar entering the USA is now x-rayed. Train Companies now pay fines of $500 per ounce of drugs found in their cars. One train company (UP, I think) currently owes the feds $400 million in fines for contraband found in their traincars.
That’s progress. Wonder how much of that $400 million fine will be forgiven?
Most of it. The article I read said that one fine of millions of dollars was settled for $40,000.
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