Regular pot smokers have shrunken brains, study says

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   Stacie Lposted 10 years ago

   Experimental mice have been telling us this for years, but pot-smoking humans didn't want to believe it could happen to them: Compared with a person who never smoked marijuana, someone who uses marijuana regularly has, on average, less gray matter in his orbital frontal cortex, a region that is a key node in the brain's reward, motivation, decision-making and addictive behaviors network.
   
   http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/regula … /ar-AA7uny
   So all the states legalizing marijuana use are going to produce lower IQ people?

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Probably, although the jury is still out on the question.
      
      But does that mean our society should not allow the freedom to shrink one's own brain?

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         Stacie Lposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Seeing how the government works, they'll soon declare the "pot-head syndrome" and make it a disease!

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            Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Something else for which folks can collect SSI, except the government wants to eliminate Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income. I wonder if insurance companies will fight the diagnosis then?

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            GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            That is so funny... until you realize the truth of the possibility.
            
            GA

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         GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         The jury is not out on your question. Of course society will want to regulate that freedom - because children of pot smokers will be brought into the discussion, and we just have to "save the children."
         
         GA

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      aguasilverposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well I have been 'studying' the problem for over 40 years, and frankly it's never seemed to affect me that way, my IQ seems high (by comparison to normal) I've run quite large corporations, started a church group, raised a family, produced a son who has devoted his life to helping kids from dysfunctional families in NYC, have a daughter who is amazingly smart and has great articulation and creative skills, and I've never been arrested!
      
      Why is everyone afraid that freedom will produce problems for those still enslaved in the system?
      
      A top cop who retired and then came out in favor of legalization stated it correctly:
      
      "The polices job is to protect you from others who want to harm you, not from yourself"
      
      Mary J has stupendous cancer cure capabilities and is much safer than alcohol for recreational drug use.
      
      Lighten up people, in fact light up, it will do you good!

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   Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years ago

   Why not give the other findings...
   
   Link was dead but found at
   
   www DOT latimes DOT com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-regular-marijuana-shrinks-brain-20141110-story.html
   
   I am very allergic to marijuana, but feel it may be helpful in some medical cases; and I see the next finding of the study quoted:
   
   "More ambiguously, in regular pot smokers, that region is better connected than it is in non-users: the flow of signal traffic is speedier to other parts of that motivation and decision-making network, including across the superhighway of 'white matter' that connects the brain's hemispheres."
   
   We already know that at around age 40, the brain begins creating more white matter, which connects pieces of information learned and parts of the brain, so many people will now say that pot smoking increases IQ rather than reduces it.
   
   At the same time, the study came up with some other findings that need replication to be validated and I am eager to see more research on this question.

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      Stacie Lposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Patty; I can find many reports claiming pot increases IQ as well as reduces it. It all depends on what side of the fence you are on,I guess.

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You are totally right about that. It would be nice to have some solid answers sometime!

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            GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Patty, you are right, it would be nice to have some definitive answers, but only so that people would be able to make informed decisions. Not so the government can justify more control of our behavior.
            
            GA

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