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.”

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by loochy

Please not that the study posted didn't say that "pot smokers are paranoid schizophrenics."

No, they said pot smokers have similar brain abnormalities as paranoid schizophrenics.

They also had a massive study group of 40 subjects, half of which were the control group.

Good science there.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by loochy

? They could join in on the fun. If there's money to be made, they'll get in on it.

There's nothing to be synthesized and therefore nothing they can patent and subsequently monopolize.

It's already illegal federally, it's much cheaper and easier for them to just make every effort to keep it that way.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

There's nothing to be synthesized and therefore nothing they can patent and subsequently monopolize.

It's already illegal federally, it's much cheaper and easier for them to just make every effort to keep it that way.

I'm sure they can engineer some sort of extra potent version.

[FlaChief58]

I have something really important to add to this subject.















Wait, what's the subject?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by loochy

I'm sure they can engineer some sort of extra potent version.

The lumber companies could have used hemp too. Instead they lobbied to make it illegal.

Nobody wants to change their business model if they don't have to.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Flachief58

Wait, what's the subject?

Some study said that weed users may develop brain abnormalities.

[Donger]

DENVER - Denver police are investigating why a woman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher for about 12 minutes before she was shot dead, allegedly by her husband.

Kristine Kirk told the dispatcher that her husband had taken a gun from a safe and she screamed as the sound of a gunshot ended the call, according to a police report.

Police said they are investigating whether marijuana use played a role in the Monday night killing. A dispatcher radioed that the woman said her husband had been smoking marijuana, according to a recording of police radio traffic on Broadcastify.com.

What began as a domestic violence call escalated as Kristine Kirk told the dispatcher that her "husband was hallucinating" and "talking about the end of the world and he wanted her to shoot him," a detective who listened to the 911 call wrote in a police report.

The woman initially told the dispatcher there was a gun in the house, but it was secured in a safe. Then she relayed that her husband's hallucinations were "scaring their three small children," the police report said.

Finally, the woman said that "her husband had retrieved the gun from the safe and she began to scream," then a gunshot was heard on the 911 recording, the detective wrote in a statement supporting the arrest of 47-year-old Richard Kirk in connection with the killing at the family's home at 2112 S. St. Paul Street, near the University of Denver.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by loochy

Some study said that weed users may develop brain abnormalities.

Thanks man, I'm so high right now. ..

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by Donger

DENVER - Denver police are investigating why a woman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher for about 12 minutes before she was shot dead, allegedly by her husband.

Kristine Kirk told the dispatcher that her husband had taken a gun from a safe and she screamed as the sound of a gunshot ended the call, according to a police report.

Police said they are investigating whether marijuana use played a role in the Monday night killing. A dispatcher radioed that the woman said her husband had been smoking marijuana, according to a recording of police radio traffic on Broadcastify.com.

What began as a domestic violence call escalated as Kristine Kirk told the dispatcher that her "husband was hallucinating" and "talking about the end of the world and he wanted her to shoot him," a detective who listened to the 911 call wrote in a police report.

The woman initially told the dispatcher there was a gun in the house, but it was secured in a safe. Then she relayed that her husband's hallucinations were "scaring their three small children," the police report said.

Finally, the woman said that "her husband had retrieved the gun from the safe and she began to scream," then a gunshot was heard on the 911 recording, the detective wrote in a statement supporting the arrest of 47-year-old Richard Kirk in connection with the killing at the family's home at 2112 S. St. Paul Street, near the University of Denver.

hallucinations caused by pot? Yeah sure

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by Flachief58

hallucinations caused by pot? Yeah sure

Had to be laced....

[jd1020]

I always thought it was the other way around.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Donger

What began as a domestic violence call escalated as Kristine Kirk told the dispatcher that her "husband was hallucinating" and "talking about the end of the world and he wanted her to shoot him," a detective who listened to the 911 call wrote in a police report.

As if this dumbass wasn't completely ****ing crazy BEFORE he ever smoked pot.

I wonder if he had a cigarette and some Mt. Dew, too?

Mt. Dew is the DEVIL. It makes people think the world is going to end!

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by Nzoner

Had to be laced....

undoubtedly

[Pablo]

Just let Donger believe what he reads. It's easier that way.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

As if this dumbass wasn't completely ****ing crazy BEFORE he ever smoked pot.

I wonder if he had a cigarette and some Mt. Dew, too?

Mt. Dew is the DEVIL. It makes people think the world is going to end!

I thought you'd like that.