Reefer Madness ! : Australian Researchers find brain atrophy in pot heads

[cbelt3]

No surprises here. Of course booze does much the same thing, together with liver damage. Hookers, OTOH, may damage more of the body depending on disease and proper use of protection.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long-term heavy use of marijuana may cause two important brain structures to shrink, Australian researchers said on Monday.

Brain scans showed the hippocampus and amygdala were smaller in men who were heavy marijuana users compared to nonusers, the researchers said. The men had smoked at least five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years.

The hippocampus regulates memory and emotion, while the amygdala plays a critical role in fear and aggression.

[Paul F.]

Umm...

Duh?

[Chupa Chupa]

And, yes, that is the Dell Dude.

[mattkime]

are we sure their brain structures weren't smaller to begin with?

[laarree]

I have just one thing to say --Carl Sagan.

[davester]

uh, what?

[samintx]

OMG I inhaled! but now I have something to blame. You must forget my fox paws online because my brain has atrophied from the weed.

[laarree]

[quote cbelt3]"The men had smoked at least five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years."
That is actually an astonishingly huge amount of pot, analogous to drinking 2 six-packs
of beer on a daily basis for 20 years.

[OWC Jamie]

Any control group to rule out combinations of <> ?

Seems like an awful lot of weed to me too.
Given how it affects me, I'd never be awake. Sleeping Beauty . :-)

[Chupa Chupa]

[quote mattkime]are we sure their brain structures weren't smaller to begin with?

That would be hard data to find since most people don't get brain scans on a regular basis. The study's authors even say the study can't be used to prove causation, only suggest it. But, just the same it would also be quite a coincidence if the study was able to collect 15 random users who by happenstance all exhibited similar shrunken brains vs the 16 random non-users that exhibited more normal brains. But you are correct, it could be that people with small brains have a natural tendency to crave pot while people with larger brains have no natural desire for it.