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Smoking cannabis just once a week can damage young brains

Navy Pride

Navy Pride

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For all you pot smokers in denial.....

Smoking cannabis just once a week can damage young brains | Toowoomba Chronicle


  • Charlie Cooper
  • 16th Apr 2014 9:04 AM
  • YOUNG people who smoke cannabis just once or twice a week could suffer "major" changes to areas of their brain important for emotion and motivation, US scientists have said.
    In a study that challenges the idea that "casual" marijuana use is largely harmless, doctors found that young adults who used the drug only recreationally had "abnormal alterations" to the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala.
 
Frankly, I'm not sure that the damage from weekly marijuana use might not be preferable to what we currently deal with at normal function. :lol:
 
How are we defining "young people"? Also, where are all these people advocating for children smoking pot?
 
Kobie said:
How are we defining "young people"? Also, where are all these people advocating for children smoking pot?
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Read the link Kobie before you spout off.
 
lizzie said:
Frankly, I'm not sure that the damage from weekly marijuana use might not be preferable to what we currently deal with at normal function. :lol:
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You have a point Lizzie. Personally I have never touched pot or any other drug unless it was prescribed for me.....
 
Navy Pride said:
a lot of your left wing polls are decided by fewer then that
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No, they're not. Another lie from Navy Pride.

Also, there are no "left-wing polls." I don't think you understand how scientific polling works.
 
Navy Pride said:
For all you pot smokers in denial.....

Smoking cannabis just once a week can damage young brains | Toowoomba Chronicle


  • Charlie Cooper
  • 16th Apr 2014 9:04 AM
  • YOUNG people who smoke cannabis just once or twice a week could suffer "major" changes to areas of their brain important for emotion and motivation, US scientists have said.
    In a study that challenges the idea that "casual" marijuana use is largely harmless, doctors found that young adults who used the drug only recreationally had "abnormal alterations" to the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala.
Click to expand...

A study of 40 people is not what I would call comprehensive.

Furthermore, any serious pot smoker worth their salt will advise teenagers to hold off on the grounds that it's much safer to smoke up after their brains finish physically changing shape, i.e. when they're proper adults.
 
I'm a bit hesitant to trust a study with such a small sample size.
 
If the study is true, then it's great we limit it to people over 21!

Also, small sample size is small.
 
What is this study supposed to prove? It is already widely held and pretty much common knowledge that brains that are not fully developed should not be exposed to marijuana, or other brain chemical altering substances.

It's sad that the people that generally **** all over marijuana are the types of people that dope their kids up on medications prescribed by doctors who typically have no idea about the long-term affects the little white pills will have on Johnny's brain, body and health when he gets older.
 
From experience with people that did smoke pot when they were young, I can say I could believe it. Many of the guys I know that have smoked since they were 15-16 are, well... impaired. Sad to see actually. The problem is, I don't have a clue if they would have turned out dumb as a box of rocks even if they hadn't smoked. At least their laid back dudes. Dumb, but cool.

I do wish that there had been a larger sample size, and that it would have been conducted by... say... Johns Hopkins. But...

After the brain is formed, I don't think that casual use of MJ would be impairing to the brain. But, I don't smoke it, never have, so I can't speak from that.

If a guy (or gal Your Star ;)) wants to indulge, then I don't think that MJ is as dangerous to the public as alcohol, which I do personally partake, and enjoy when I do. SO, to me, MJ should be sold at the local liquor store under a license just like liquor and be held to 21 and above. Tax it baby. Pay for stuff. I just want the concession stand outside the store where I can sell munchies to the patrons in line. I could retire in a year.
 
Key here is YOUNG PEOPLE. Just as the same as YOUNG PEOPLE who binge drink.
 
Same problem as with the other thread. All its purporting is "abnormal scan". Different doesn't necessarily have to mean significant negative consequences. They don't quantify any actual negative symptoms so as of yet this still means squat other than they need to do further testing and actually produce some meaningful results.

Something like X amount of marijuana consumed from 18-25 resulted in an average of 14% reduction in "motivational tendencies", or increased depression, etc.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Just as the same as YOUNG PEOPLE who binge drink.
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That's not even the young anymore.

I've had problems with people binge drinking that are in their 30's, 40's, 50's.

Guy I had to have arrested 3 weeks ago must have been 30 something.
 
Jetboogieman said:
That's not even the young anymore.

I've had problems with people binge drinking that are in their 30's, 40's, 50's.

Guy I had to have arrested 3 weeks ago must have been 30 something.
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Sure. Abuse is always a problem. And its a damn shame. Ive dealt with it with close family members. But still I dont think we should make booze illegal again. I dont see the point in arguing that? I dont think anyone is going to argue that we should outlaw alcohol again because , look what happened when we did. Essentially we did just that as we did with alcohol to marijuana and look where its lead us. But thankfully its slowly unraveling.
 
So? Minors are not allowed to smoke pot, cigarettes, or drink alcohol.

What's your point? That parents are incompetant?
 
Navy Pride said:
a lot of your left wing polls are decided by fewer then that
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What? Source that. Cuz otherwise, that is bull****....polls of less than 40 people. :roll:
 
Who cares? People have the right to harm themselves.
 
Lursa said:
So? Minors are not allowed to smoke pot, cigarettes, or drink alcohol.

What's your point? That parents are incompetant?
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My parents were not incompetent, they just couldn't be around me 24/7.
 
The small sample size and admittedly inconclusive results are reasons to not make a huge deal out of this or think it's definitive:

Peter Jones, professor of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, said the study was interesting but inconclusive. "The research is limited as it is only a small study, it is not known whether the reported changes in the brain are necessarily bad. Furthermore, as they didn't measure the brains before and after, it's possible that people with a larger accumbens are more likely to take cannabis."
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Similarly however, a small sample size doesn't INHERENTLY mean it's WRONG. It's one thing to not take it as absolute proof. It's another thing to write it off completely.

I never personally bought the notion it was somehow 100% safe in all fashions anyways. I've seen enough information regarding the possible triggering of underlying mental health issues, for example, to really make such a claim.

That said, nothing in that study suggests to me...even if it was correct...that it's any more (or even as) harmful as a plethora of perfectly legal substances the government doesn't disallow a person from choosing to partake in. Nothing in the article suggest to me any reason why the substance should remain illegal, promoting a nanny state big government that expends significant tax payer funds with little significant gain.
 
Navy Pride said:
a lot of your left wing polls are decided by fewer then that
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I'm a bit surprised here, Navy.

I had you pegged for a guy who would agree that size matters.
 
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Zyphlin said:
The small sample size and admittedly inconclusive results are reasons to not make a huge deal out of this or think it's definitive:



Similarly however, a small sample size doesn't INHERENTLY mean it's WRONG. It's one thing to not take it as absolute proof. It's another thing to write it off completely.

I never personally bought the notion it was somehow 100% safe in all fashions anyways. I've seen enough information regarding the possible triggering of underlying mental health issues, for example, to really make such a claim.

That said, nothing in that study suggests to me...even if it was correct...that it's any more (or even as) harmful as a plethora of perfectly legal substances the government doesn't disallow a person from choosing to partake in. Nothing in the article suggest to me any reason why the substance should remain illegal, promoting a nanny state big government that expends significant tax payer funds with little significant gain.
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I think you're right here Zyph....The bottom line is that more needs to be studied, and more will....Meanwhile, I have about 15 years to retirement, let's hope they get it straight by then, because I plan to enjoy my retirement with some healthy sized spliffs....
 
Zyphlin said:
Similarly however, a small sample size doesn't INHERENTLY mean it's WRONG. It's one thing to not take it as absolute proof. It's another thing to write it off completely.

I never personally bought the notion it was somehow 100% safe in all fashions anyways. I've seen enough information regarding the possible triggering of underlying mental health issues, for example, to really make such a claim.

.
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I agree.

I smoked a lot of dope when I was a teenager, and experimented with a number of other drugs, but stopped when I was in my late teens or early twenties. It's hard to say whether I was experiencing something I would have experienced anyway or whether it affected me in the long run since there is just no way of knowing, but my pet theory is that pot affects introverts and extroverts differently. In my case, it seemed like it accentuated the introversion to such a degree that the resulting overanalization of other people and self-reflection was paralyizing me. It was never paranoia per se, as I was always rational and had no delusions that people were against me or anything, but it was more of an identity crisis sort of thing.
 
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