[quote]This is your brain on drugs –- only now, with real pictures.
Two neural regions key to emotions and motivation become misshapen or abnormally large after repeated pot smoking, scientists reported Tuesday. They call their study the first “to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes.”
No need for that iconic, anti-drug image from the '80s -– a piping-hot pan and a frying egg –- to make the latest visual point. To bolster this claim, researchers used an MRI machine and the brains of 40 live people. They assert that the more joints a person smokes, the more those two neural hubs get “damaged.”
“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,” said Dr. Hans Breiter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a study co-author.[/quote]
[quote]This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes. It showed the degree of brain abnormalities in these regions is directly related to the number of joints a person smoked per week. The more joints a person smoked, the more abnormal the shape, volume and density of the brain regions.
"This study raises a strong challenge to the idea that casual marijuana use isn't associated with bad consequences," said corresponding and co-senior study author Hans Breiter, M.D. He is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
"Some of these people only used marijuana to get high once or twice a week," Breiter said. "People think a little recreational use shouldn't cause a problem, if someone is doing OK with work or school. Our data directly says this is not the case."
The study will be published April 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Scientists examined the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala—key regions for emotion and motivation, and associated with addiction—in the brains of casual marijuana users and non-users. Researchers analyzed three measures: volume, shape and density of grey matter (i.e., where most cells are located in brain tissue) to obtain a comprehensive view of how each region was affected.[/quote]
[url]http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/marijuana-re-shapes-brains-users-study-claims-n81126[/url]
[url]http://time.com/61940/recreational-pot-use-harmful-to-young-peoples-brains/[/url]
[url]http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-casual-marijuana-linked-brain-abnormalities.html[/url]
This says reshapes. not damages. In the source, that is.
[QUOTE=FurrehFaux;44555412]This says reshapes. not damages. In the source, that is.[/QUOTE]
You mean the same source that says
[QUOTE]They assert that the more joints a person smokes, the more those two neural hubs get “damaged.”
“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,” said Dr. Hans Breiter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a study co-author.[/QUOTE]
And still zero deaths in recorded history ever attributed to smoking cannabis. Deal w/ it nerds.
"[I]Marijuana actually does harm your body[/I]" who would've known!
Clearly scientists are only to be trusted when they are saying good things about marijuana.
Soon DD dumbrates the entire thread.
[QUOTE=FurrehFaux;44555412]This says reshapes. not damages. In the source, that is.[/QUOTE]
I tend to err on the side of assuming that brain 'abnormalities' linked to cognitive issues are bad things and would be considered 'damage', but that's just me.
Not that this study is going to do much of anything. Those that want to smoke will continue to smoke and find some way to question the legitimacy of any finding indicating possible harm.
interesting study, but as they point out themselves it's a very small sample (20 smokers, 20 non-smokers) and even if they've observed "structural changes" they don't articulate what these changes actually mean for the person.
i think it's a bit silly to definitely comment one way or the other on the harmfulness of weed considering how evidently it's not yet fully-researched. but people who smoke accept the risks thereof, and it's not that different from someone who chooses to smoke tobacco or drink on a regular basis.
Isn't 20 people a relatively small sample size to extrapolate that everyone who does smoke regularly must have some sort of "damage" ?
Speaking of damage, what kind are we talking about? THC doesn't release free radicals or other toxic agents as I know of, so what does it actually do that makes certain areas enlargened?
"The changes in brain structures indicate the marijuana users' brains are adapting to low-level exposure to marijuana, the scientists said."
So what, additional neurons are created cause we do x thing? That is hardly news.
"Drugs of abuse can cause more dopamine release than natural rewards like food, sex and social interaction," Gilman said. "In those you also get a burst of dopamine but not as much as in many drugs of abuse. That is why drugs take on so much salience, and everything else loses its importance."
This part also doesn't make sense, it would if they had gone for strictly science, but instead "hurr drugs ruins you, makes itself the most important thing in life"
I dunno about this, I've only met one person who decided drugs < life.
[editline]16th April 2014[/editline]
To add onto my first point, maybe the people already had the tendency to rely on addictive activites, and thus already had to some point, "damaged" (Read : Enlargened brain areas) their brain?
No shit? You cant do drugs and not expect negative effects
[QUOTE=catbarf;44555444]I tend to err on the side of assuming that brain 'abnormalities' linked to cognitive issues are bad things and would be considered 'damage', but that's just me.
Not that this study is going to do much of anything. Those that want to smoke will continue to smoke and find some way to question the legitimacy of any finding indicating possible harm.[/QUOTE]
no, we won't. like i just said people who smoke accept any risks involved. people choose to do a lot of things in life that are potentially or definitely self-harmful, it's just a matter of weighing the pros against the cons.
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;44555440]Soon DD dumbrates the entire thread.[/QUOTE]
No. I can't speak for everyone but most of us are fucking intelligent drug users and like to understand exactly what we are doing to our bodies.
DD's all about accurate information bb
Now if we choose to keep smoking anyway, that's a different matter
[QUOTE=jediken21;44555427]And still zero deaths in recorded history ever attributed to smoking cannabis. Deal w/ it nerds.[/QUOTE]
sadly not anymore
we just had someone driving under the influence kill someone in a car accident here in washington in the past 6 months
Isn't the part that emotions and shit cone from te same part that skills and stuff come from? Like the one that chanes shape depending on which skills you use and which ones you don't?
My spelling part is small
[QUOTE=A_Pigeon;44555583]Isn't the part that emotions and shit cone from te same part that skills and stuff come from? Like the one that chanes shape depending on which skills you use and which ones you don't?
My spelling part is small[/QUOTE]
IIRC, the brain has different area's specialized for different things you are doing, emotions being one center in the brain and stomach, while skills would be spread about depending on what they involved doing.
[QUOTE=AJ10017;44555512]No shit? You cant do drugs and not expect negative effects[/QUOTE]
Try telling that to most Marijuana users. Many are adamant that marijuana has absolutely zero negative effects. This study, however, has too small of a sample size and the results are less than conclusive, at least for me to draw an explicit decision on whether or not they're safe to consume.
Wouldn't they need to do a longitudinal study to prove causation, or am I missing something?
[QUOTE=postmanX3;44555517]no, we won't. like i just said people who smoke accept any risks involved. people choose to do a lot of things in life that are potentially or definitely self-harmful, it's just a matter of weighing the pros against the cons.[/QUOTE]
You've got a growing list of 'disagrees' on the OP that sure seem to indicate reactionary denial rather than an open-minded view of the possible danger. And then there's dismissive posts like this:
[quote]And still zero deaths in recorded history ever attributed to smoking cannabis. Deal w/ it nerds. [/quote]
Sorry to paint with a broad brush in my last post but you really can't deny that there are a lot of weed smokers who are convinced that it's harmless and won't accept any evidence to the contrary.
The idiotic generalizations that have been made in this thread make me want to vomit.
All stimuli and substances alter your brain chemistry in some fashion. Why do the results of this study come as a surprise?
[editline]fuck off[/editline]
The people rating me dumb apparently do not understand the concept of neuroplasticity.
now watch as this is used as an argument to keep it illegal while alcohol and tobacco remain legal even though it's well known that they shit all over your brain in terrible ways.
[QUOTE=Duck M.;44555616]Try telling that to most Marijuana users. Many are adamant that marijuana has absolutely zero negative effects. This study, however, has too small of a sample size and the results are less than conclusive, at least for me to draw an explicit decision on whether or not they're safe to consume.[/QUOTE]
Smoking pot (or any byproduct of combustion) can also cause cancer just like smoking, though it has a little less carcinogens than cigarettes
Great, that's my main reason for smoking and drinking in the first place
I can see it. I mean I'm still gonna consume it in one way or another but I've met people who have become stupid over several years because of so much fucking weed. Those stereotypical potheads are indeed real, and their brains are definitely not in the best shape.
Drugs are less fun when you're binging anyway.
[QUOTE=AJ10017;44555746]Smoking pot (or any byproduct of combustion) can also cause cancer just like smoking, though it has a little less carcinogens than cigarettes[/QUOTE]
A [I]lot[/I] less. Tobacco companies add all sorts of nasty chemicals to the tobacco in their cigarettes.
[QUOTE=Furioso;44555680]The idiotic generalizations that have been made in this thread make me want to vomit.
All stimuli and substances alter your brain chemistry in some fashion. Why do the results of this study come as a surprise?[/QUOTE]
The two parts of the post seem to contradict.
I don't understand.
[QUOTE=Doom64hunter;44555894]The two parts of the post seem to contradict.
I don't understand.[/QUOTE]
"All stimuli and substances alter your brain chemistry in some fashion."
This is not a generalization. This is a fact.
[QUOTE=AJ10017;44555746]Smoking pot (or any byproduct of combustion) can also cause cancer just like smoking, though it has a little less carcinogens than cigarettes[/QUOTE]
That's why, vaporizers.
would be great to read the actual paper rather than what other people are reporting about the paper
[QUOTE=BLOODGA$M;44555727]now watch as this is used as an argument to keep it illegal while alcohol and tobacco remain legal even though it's well known that they shit all over your brain in terrible ways.[/QUOTE]
Fuck; right when it was gonna get legalized in Florida...
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