BREAKING NEWS!: Casual marijuana use linked with brain abnormalities

[Tribal Warfare]

Casual marijuana use linked with brain abnormalities, study finds

Casual marijuana use may come with some not-so-casual side effects.

For the first time, researchers at Northwestern University have analyzed the relationship between casual use of marijuana and brain changes – and found that young adults who used cannabis just once or twice a week showed significant abnormalities in two important brain structures.

The study’s findings, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, are similar to those of past research linking chronic, long-term marijuana use with mental illness and changes in brain development.

Dr. Hans Breiter, co-senior study author, said he was inspired to look at the effects of casual marijuana use after previous work in his lab found that heavy cannabis use caused similar brain abnormalities to those seen in patients with schizophrenia.

"The interaction of marijuana with brain development could be a significant problem."

- Dr. Hans Breiter, co-senior study author

“There were abnormalities in their working memory, which is fundamental to everything you do,” Breiter, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told FoxNews.com. “When you make judgments or decisions, plan things, do mathematics – anything you do always involves working memory. It’s one of the core fundamental aspects of our brains that we use every day. So given those findings, we decided we need to look at casual, recreational use.”

For their most recent study, Breiter and his team analyzed a very small sample of patients between the ages of 18 and 25: 20 marijuana users and 20 well-matched control subjects. The marijuana users had a wide range of usage routines, with some using the drug just once or twice a week and others using it every single day.

Utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers analyzed the participants’ brains, focusing on the nucleus accumbens (NAC) and the amygdala – two key brain regions responsible for processing emotions, making decisions and motivation. They looked at these brain structures in three different ways, measuring their density, volume and shape.

According to Breiter, all three were abnormal in the casual marijuana users.

“For the NAC, all three measures were abnormal, and they were abnormal in a dose-dependent way, meaning the changes were greater with the amount of marijuana used,” Breiter said. “The amygdala had abnormalities for shape and density, and only volume correlated with use. But if you looked at all three types of measures, it showed the relationships between them were quite abnormal in the marijuana users, compared to the normal controls.”

Because these brain regions are central for motivation, the findings from Northwestern help support the well-known theory that marijuana use leads to a condition called amotivation. Also called amotivational syndrome, this psychological condition causes people to become less oriented towards their goals and purposes in life, as well as seem less focused in general.

Given these eye-opening results, Breiter said that more research is needed to look into marijuana’s effects on the brain – even in those who use the drug only once or twice a month.

“We need to see what happens longitudinally,” Breiter said. “What happens as you follow people over time? What happens if they stop using – do these bad effects continue? What happens if you can intervene early?...My worry is we haven’t studied this compound and here we are looking to change legislation on it.”

Although Breiter’s team members did not examine the patients’ cognitive symptoms, they do believe that the brain abnormalities seen in their study could lead to substantial effects on brain development and behavior, especially given the young ages of the participants. Breiter also acknowledged the problems of analyzing a very small study sample – but said that their findings should still serve as a wake-up call to others.

“This study is just a beginning pilot study, but at the same time, the results that came out are the same as a canary in a coal mine,” Breiter said. “...The interaction of marijuana with brain development could be a significant problem.”

[teedubya]

My IQ was too high anyway... I'm trying to lower my IQ enough so that I'll finally get accepted into the police force. I only have to drop another 40 points or so.

[nychief]

Welp, case closed.

[BigMeatballDave]

Alcohol causes cirrhosis.

Are we done here?

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Casual marijuana use linked with brain abnormalities, study finds

Is it possible that the brain abnormalities were already there but people with that brain abnormality are more likely to want to smoke pot?
The brain abnormality is leading to the pot smoking and not the other way around?

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I was going to go to Denver this weekend to the first ever LEGAL Cannabis Cup... but this news changes everything. heh

Actually it's the second ever legal cannabis cup. But hey, what the **** does that matter. If I see a guy that looks like Penn Jillette, I'll make sure to throw a bud his way.

[POND_OF_RED]

I was worried until I realized the side effects were only found in casual smokers.

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

Is it possible that the brain abnormalities were already there but people with that brain abnormality are more likely to want to smoke pot?
The brain abnormality is leading to the pot smoking and not the other way around?

Headline: People with Abnormal Brains Attracted to Weed

That's possible as well, but it doesn't sound much better.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by BCD

Alcohol causes cirrhosis.

Are we done here?

shhhhhh
Pot is bad.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

Headline: People with Abnormal Brains Attracted to Weed

That's possible as well, but it doesn't sound much better.

The big difference is that you can continued getting stoned without worrying that it is damaging your brain. Actually you now have an excuse--you need to spark up, and it is due to a disease.

[Dayze]

wut?

[CoMoChief]

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

When you're stoned....you forget shit.

end of article.

[ChiefGator]

The results don't really come as much of a surprise, and completely jive with my personal experience. I quit smoking pot since I felt my motivation and focus were being affected even when I wasn't stoned. Since I stopped, though, I haven't felt affected. Point is, it would be more interesting to have these people stop smoking for a year and see the result. I don't think it is as 'permanent' as they think.

Never heard of 'amotivational syndrome' before. Funny.

Going to pop open another one of my health drinks I call beer now.

[InChiefsHeaven]

My worry is we haven’t studied this compound and here we are looking to change legislation on it.

How interesting, the timing of this study. Political agenda anyone?

All I know is, I never smoked pot but I had a lot of friends who did, some more than others. Granted, it's a small sample, but they've all quit due to work reasons, it's illegal, whatever. They are all successful, well rounded people. It short, the pot smoking they did in their teens and twenties does not seem to have had an adverse affect on their ability to live happy, productive healthy lives. None of them are brain dead or overly forgetful or whatever.

That's my scientific study.

[loochy]

Nope. Pot can only cure cancer and make rainbows. It's impossible for any sort of bad thing to happen from using wonderful weed.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by InChiefsHell

How interesting, the timing of this study. Political agenda anyone?

All I know is, I never smoked pot but I had a lot of friends who did, some more than others. Granted, it's a small sample, but they've all quit due to work reasons, it's illegal, whatever. They are all successful, well rounded people. It short, the pot smoking they did in their teens and twenties does not seem to have had an adverse affect on their ability to live happy, productive healthy lives. None of them are brain dead or overly forgetful or whatever.

That's my scientific study.

I could say the exact same thing about drinking insane amounts of alcohol in late teens and early 20s.