Early marijuana use tied to long-term brain problems

RockX

Banned
Call it the pubescent pot problem.

New research shows that adults who smoked marijuana before age 15 have significant problems with attention span, impulse control, and "executive function" - the ability to plan and carry out tasks.

How about people who took up toking later in life? The same research showed they were much less likely to have such difficulties.

For the research, scientists at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil used a stardard "card sorting" task to evaluate the cognitive ability of 104 long-term cannabis users, including 49 who had started using before age 15. On average, the early tokers had smoked pot for 10.9 years, the Daily Mail reported.

What happened? The early herb enjoyers made more mistakes than those who waited to use weed, as well as the "controls" who didn't smoke marijuana.

"We found that early-onset, but not late-onset, chronic cannabis users had deficits in their cognitive functioning," study author Dr. Maria Alice Fontes said, according to the paper. "Adolescence is a period in which the brain appears to be particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of cannabis. The brain before the age of 15 is still developing and maturing, so exposure to cannabis during this period may be more harmful."

Marijuana seems to cause both chemical and structural changes in the brain, study co-author Dr. Karen Bolla, associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, told CBS News. She said rapid brain development continues until one's early twenties.

If early pot smoking really is bad for the brain, lots of Americans may be at risk for long-term cognitive difficulties. A 2009 study found that 7 percent of 8th graders and 16 percent of 10th graders had used marijuana in the past month, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website.

Marijuana has been linked to other problems with brain function, including difficulties learning new things and recalling recent events, according to the institute.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20067999-10391704.html

:cig:
Shit, I forgot what I was going to say.
 
i call bullshit

too many doctors are too willing to diagnose your kid with ADD....all to fill their billables and the drug companies cofters
 
Marijuana use increases the chances of developing schizophrenia...so a little ADD is not a super long stretch. I know you all love being pot heads, but that does not mean it isn't harmful. The long term pot heads I know are annoying bumbling dorks who are totally oblivious to being annoying bumbling dorks. My daughter's friend had a mental break from reality at 16 after smoking high grade pot just a few times.
 
Marijuana use increases the chances of developing schizophrenia...so a little ADD is not a super long stretch. I know you all love being pot heads, but that does not mean it isn't harmful. The long term pot heads I know are annoying bumbling dorks who are totally oblivious to being annoying bumbling dorks. My daughter's friend had a mental break from reality at 16 after smoking high grade pot just a few times.

i still call bullshit. i am not a pot head. toppper is. marijuana does have harmful effects, it also has positive effects. too much of any substance, food, etc....is harmful. topspin is a walking example of too much weed. others are example of too much food.

i think marijuana and alcohol should be treated the same, when you turn 18, then you can legally chose. before then, no way, too young.
 
Spews all the brain rotted adults from the most lethal and destructive drug on the planet...

alcoholic_by_artaman.jpg
 
Marijuana use increases the chances of developing schizophrenia...so a little ADD is not a super long stretch. I know you all love being pot heads, but that does not mean it isn't harmful. The long term pot heads I know are annoying bumbling dorks who are totally oblivious to being annoying bumbling dorks. My daughter's friend had a mental break from reality at 16 after smoking high grade pot just a few times.

i'm gonna call bullshit also. I'm not a pothead either. i'm still trying to figure out how congress has the power to ban a weed.
 
i'm gonna call bullshit also. I'm not a pothead either. i'm still trying to figure out how congress has the power to ban a weed.

You guys can call BS all you want; studies are studies-and I know my daughter didn't make up the story about her friend. That you want to deny that THC cannot have a negative effect on the brain seems ridiculous.
 
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